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Putin has warned Russian companies they need to be ready to switch to war production at a minute’s notice.
The Russian president reportedly made the worrying comments at a meeting of military chiefs in Sochi, relating to the Zapad 2017 military exercises in September.
Putin told attendees: “The ability of our economy to increase military production and services at a given time is one of the most important aspects of military security.
“To this end, all strategic and simply large-scale enterprise should be ready, regardless of ownership.”
Putin reminded attendants that in 2015 they “discussed the topic in detail”, according to the Moscow Times.
He said: “Instructions were given to modernise production facilities, build up reserves of material and technical resources and ensure the transportation of troops.”
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The previous day, the president had spoken of a need to catch up and overtake the West in military technology, the Independent reports.
He said: “Our army and navy need to have the very best equipment — better than foreign equivalents.
“If we want to win, we have to be better.”
Putin has been investing heavily in his military in recent years, pumping an incredible 20 TRILLION rubles (£254bn) into modernising and replacing 70 per cent of his forces’ Soviet-era military hardware by 2020.
Much of his latest hardware was on show during the Zapad games, including the deadly Iskander cruise missile – a new weapon that has drawn concern from the US.
The missile, launched from the Kapustin Yar firing range in south-western Russia, hit a mock target at a range in Kazakhstan nearly 300 miles away.
