Speaking at a meeting of the Eurasian nation’s Science and Education Council board, the senior official noted that, in the current tense situation, both science and technology play an essential role in ensuring state security.
He drew attention to the importance of advancing innovative developments and promising research, with the aim of maintaining the country’s defensive capability and countering the most serious threats Russia is facing, the TASS news agency reported.
“We are talking mainly about an attempt to expand the presence of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) near our borders. And this is no longer a figure of speech, it is not a set of standard threats. We have to be prepared for those aggressive actions that could occur,” he said.
The former Russian president highlighted the need for the country to build a system that allows it to have the most modern weapons, for which it requires, he said, reliable, high-tech and powerful equipment, both military and dual-purpose.
He warned that all that technology “doesn’t just come into being, especially when sanctions are imposed on the country.” He stressed that it is the specialists trained in universities and research centers who can advance these processes.
“And it is to the training of these specialists that we must pay more attention today,” Medvedev emphasized. He stressed that it is not only a question of technological independence, but also of state survival.
The declarations of Sweden and Finland about their possible entry into NATO in recent days activated the alarms of Russia, which could reinforce its western borders in case that happens.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the Alliance’s land borders with Russia will more than double. Naturally, these borders will have to be reinforced,” said the vice president of the country’s Security Council.
He warned that if that happens, there will be no talk of a nuclear-weapon-free zone status for the Baltic Sea region, so “the balance will have to be restored,” the former Russian president wrote on his Telegram social network channel. .
His words responded to recent demonstrations by the authorities in Stockholm and Helsinki, interested in their countries joining the Atlantic Alliance, while the bloc’s leadership confirmed its intention to accept them.
In this context, Moscow must react “without emotions, with a cool head”, emphasized Medvedev, who considered that the Russian ground and air defense forces will have to increase significantly in that region and it will be necessary to deploy considerable naval troops in the Gulf. from Finland.
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