Editing Vladimir Putin (section)

=== Military development ===
{{Main|2008 Russian military reform}}
[[File:Vostok-2018 military manoeuvres (2018-09-13) 23.jpg|thumb|Putin with Russia's long-serving Defense Minister [[Sergei Shoygu]] (left) and Chief of the General Staff [[Valery Gerasimov]] at the [[Vostok 2018|Vostok 2018 military exercise]]]]
The resumption of long-distance flights of Russia's [[strategic bomber]]s was followed by the announcement by Russian defense minister [[Anatoliy Serdyukov]] during his meeting with Putin on 5 December 2007, that 11 ships, including the aircraft carrier ''[[Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov|Kuznetsov]]'', would take part in the first major navy sortie into the Mediterranean since Soviet times.<ref>Guy Faulconbridge [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-navy-idUSL0518563620071205 Russian navy to start sorties in Mediterranean]. Reuters. 5 December 2007.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url = http://president.kremlin.ru/appears/2007/12/05/1940_type63378_153373.shtml |script-title = ru:Начало встречи с Министром обороны Анатолием Сердюковым |trans-title = Start of the meeting with Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov |language = ru |publisher = Kremlin.ru |date = 5 December 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080608051601/http://president.kremlin.ru/appears/2007/12/05/1940_type63378_153373.shtml |archive-date = 8 June 2008 }}</ref>

Key elements of the reform included reducing the armed forces to a strength of one million, reducing the number of officers, centralising officer training from 65 military schools into 10 systemic military training centres, creating a professional [[Non-commissioned officer|NCO]] corps, reducing the size of the central command, introducing more civilian logistics and auxiliary staff, elimination of cadre-strength formations, reorganising the reserves, reorganising the army into a brigade system, and reorganising air forces into an airbase system instead of regiments.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rieas.gr/research-areas/global-issues/russian-studies/104.html |title=Reforming The Russian Military: Problems And Prospects<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=12 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504155608/http://www.rieas.gr/research-areas/global-issues/russian-studies/104.html |archive-date=4 May 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:№ 3009 А.И. Старчков.jpg|thumb|Russian postage stamp honoring a soldier killed in the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]].]]
According to the Kremlin, Putin embarked on a build-up of [[Russia and weapons of mass destruction#Nuclear weapons|Russia's nuclear capabilities]] because of U.S. president [[George W. Bush]]'s unilateral decision to withdraw from the 1972 [[Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty]].<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Majumdar |first = Dave |date = 1 March 2018 |title = Russia's Nuclear Weapons Buildup Is Aimed at Beating U.S. Missile Defenses |url = https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-nuclear-weapons-buildup-aimed-beating-us-missile-24716 |work = The National Interest |location = US |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref> To counter what Putin sees as the United States' goal of undermining Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent, Moscow has embarked on a program to develop new weapons capable of defeating any new American ballistic missile defense or interception system. Some analysts believe that this nuclear strategy under Putin has brought Russia into violation of the 1987 [[Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]].<ref name="Hurlbert-2018">{{#invoke:cite|news|last = Hurlbert |first = Heather |date = 26 October 2018 |title = Russia Violated an Arms Treaty. Trump Ditched It, Making the Nuclear Threat Even Worse. |url = https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-nuclear-weapons-buildup-aimed-beating-us-missile-24716 |work = New York |location = US |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref>

Accordingly, U.S. president [[Donald Trump]] announced the U.S. would no longer consider itself bound by the treaty's provisions, raising nuclear tensions between the two powers.<ref name="Hurlbert-2018"/> This prompted Putin to state that Russia would not launch first in a nuclear conflict but that "an aggressor should know that vengeance is inevitable, that he will be annihilated, and we would be the victims of the aggression. We will go to heaven as martyrs".<ref>{{#invoke:cite|news|author = <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date = 19 October 2018 |title = Aggressors Will Be Annihilated, We Will Go to Heaven as Martyrs, Putin Says |url = https://themoscowtimes.com/news/aggressors-will-be-annihilated-we-will-go-to-heaven-as-martyrs-putin-says-63235 |work = [[Moscow Times]] |location = Russia |access-date = 26 October 2018 }}</ref>

Putin has also sought to increase Russian territorial claims in the Arctic and its military presence there. In August 2007, Russian expedition [[Arktika 2007]], part of research related to the [[Continental shelf of Russia#2001 extension claim|2001 Russian territorial extension claim]], planted a flag on the seabed at the North Pole.<ref name="pole_flag">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = William J. Broad |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/world/europe/19arctic.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1311810481-IXSrMDBjzhfGopGmYcf6tw |title = Russia's Claim Under Polar Ice Irks American |work = The New York Times |date = 19 February 2008 |access-date = 27 July 2011 }}</ref> Both Russian submarines and troops deployed in the Arctic have been increasing.<ref name="Military_buildup1">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Adrian Blomfield |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2111507/Russia-plans-Arctic-military-build-up.html |archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2111507/Russia-plans-Arctic-military-build-up.html |archive-date = 10 January 2022 |url-access = subscription |url-status = live |title = Russia plans Arctic military build-up |work = The Daily Telegraph |date = 11 June 2008 |access-date = 27 July 2011 |location = London }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Military_buildup2">{{#invoke:cite|news|author = Mia Bennett |url = http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/07/04/russia-arctic-states-solidifying-northern-military-presence/ |title = Russia, Like Other Arctic States, Solidifies Northern Military Presence |newspaper = Foreign Policy Blogs |publisher = Foreign Policy Association |date = 4 July 2011 |access-date = 27 July 2011 }}</ref>