Russian president says all Russian businesses must be ready to meet war-time demands at any moment

Russian president, Vladimir Putin has said that all Russian businesses must be ready to meet war-time needs at any moment. 

Putin made the remarks at a meeting of world military chiefs in Sochi on Wednesday.

It comes a day after he said Russia should aim to overtake the West in terms of military technology because: 'If we want to win, we have to be better.'

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 said.

To this end, all strategic, and simply large-scale enterprise should be ready, regardless of ownership.

Putin's remarks were reported by The Independent.

Russian military spending largely declined throughout the Nineties, but starting in 2000 the country has massively increased its defence budget.

The amount it spent on its armed forces more than doubled between the turn of the millennium and 2004, and has shot up even faster in recent years.

It is now the world's third largest military spender, behind the US and China.

The Kremlin now boasts regiments of cutting-edge tanks, a next-generation armament of nuclear missiles and will soon have supersonic bombers.