Putin To Begin Series Of Defense Consultations On Monday With Trip To Kazan - Kremlin

Putin to Begin Series of Defense Consultations on Monday With Trip to Kazan - Kremlin

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin will begin on Monday a series of defense consultations, with the first meeting set to take place in the Russian city of Kazan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Sunday, adding that the president also planned to pay a visit to another Russian region later in the week.

"Yes. I confirm this. And he will travel to one more region," Peskov said, when asked to confirm that Putin planned to travel to Kazan on Monday to start the series of defense consultations.

Putin held the final meeting in a series of consultations with the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry and representatives of the country's defense sector back in November. Before that, three defense consultations were held in Putin's residency in the southern Russian port city of Sochi.

During these consultations the president stressed that Russia was obliged to ensure a balanced development of its army and navy and not become involved in the ongoing armed race. In addition, Putin instructed the Russian Armed Forces to improve combat training. He also noted that it was important to continue fitting the army and navy with modern equipment.

During his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in February, Putin announced that he intended to change the format of defense consultations and also to personally supervise the process of assigning new defense systems for combat operations.