President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia must maintain its nuclear deterrence to counter what he called growing security threats, after Moscow test-launched an intercontinental nuclear missile.
With ties between Moscow and the West frayed by the crisis in Ukraine, Putin also took greater control of a commission that oversees the defense industry and made a new call for Russia to become less reliant on imported Western equipment.
He said NATO was using rhetoric over the Ukraine crisis to "resuscitate itself" and noted that Russia had warned repeatedly that it would have to respond to such moves.