OREANDA-NEWS. November 25, 2010. The ongoing reforms of the Armed Forces have already lead to their better equipment and improvement in social guarantees for servicemen, despite certain problems, the Commander-in-Chief said at a meeting with participants in the assembly of Armed Forces commanders.

Dmitry Medvedev noted that the Armed Forces have been actively undergoing modernisation in recent years. The deadline for the completion of the basic organisational and staffing changes required for the transformation of the Armed Forces is December 2010. The goal is to make the Armed Forces more compact and efficient, equipped with modern weapons and technology, President Medvedev stressed.

From 2010 to 2020, the annual volume of defence allocations will remain at 2.8 percent of GDP thus allowing to equip the military units with new technology in accordance with the State Arms Procurement Programme and to end the involvement of the servicemen with non-professional activities. The Armed Forces should focus exclusively on operational and combat training.

Earlier in the day, the Commander-in-Chief watched the exercises of land forces at the Gorokhovetsky military training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. Dmitry Medvedev was also shown military and special equipment, and inspected an autonomous field camp.

In addition, the President held a meeting with the Defence Ministry’s senior officials.