Putin made this statement at a meeting on the results of state defense order fulfillment in 2016 and the efficiency of budget spending control in this sphere.

"In 2016, as you know and we discussed these figures, state defense order was 97% fulfilled," Putin said.

Russia’s air force operation in Syria and the tasks of border strengthening in the Arctic require adjustments to the approaches to army revamping, Putin added. "I would like to note that the combat experience received during the operation in Syria and the necessity to strengthen our Arctic territories and western and southwestern borders require adjustments to the approaches to army revamping," he said.

He reminded that from Tuesday he starts the ninth series of meetings with top defense officials and defense-sector executives to discuss the current state of and prospects for further development of the Russian Armed Forces and the defense sector in general. "We have been holding such meetings regularly since 2013 to assess interim results of the large-scale army and navy reboot program, to identify problems in its implementation and, naturally, to outline measures to accomplish our tasks in due time," Putin said, adding that currently work is being done to implement the state arms program for 2011-2020.