Putin Chastises U.S. on Democratic Ideals

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers the state of the nation address in Moscow's Kremlin, Wednesday, May 10, 2006. President Vladimir Putin called Wednesday for Russia to focus on investment and innovation to win its deserved place in the world economy, as well as to implement new welfare measures to stem the nation's disastrous demographic decline. One of the persistent obstacles to Russia's WTO accession has been its poor record on combating the production and sale of pirated goods. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze) (Misha Japaridze - AP)

Putin said the government would work to strengthen the nation's nuclear deterrent as well as conventional military forces without repeating the mistakes of the Cold War era, when a costly arms race with Washington drained Soviet resources.

He said Russia would soon commission two nuclear submarines equipped with the new Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles _ the nation's first since Soviet times _ while the land-based strategic missile forces would get their first unit of mobile Topol-M missiles.

The new missiles and warheads, which can foil defenses by changing direction in flight, would allow Russia to preserve a strategic balance without denting the nation's economic development goals, he said, adding that Russia needs a military that is capable of answering all modern challenges.

Two-thirds of the army will be professionals instead of conscripts by 2008, he said, allowing the state to reduce the length of obligatory service from two years to one, and nearly 600 rapid-response units will be formed by 2011.

"We need a military that is able simultaneously to carry on battle in global, regional and, if need be, several local conflicts," he said.

The military should be able to guarantee Russia's territorial integrity, he said _ a reference to the threat of Islamic extremists in southern regions surrounding Chechnya. He said the threat of terrorism remained significant, and that "extremists of all stripes" feed off of local and religious conflicts.

"I know that someone very much wants Russia to get bogged down in these problems and, as a result, to be unable to solve a single one of its problems of full-scale development," he said darkly without identifying the foe.

Turning to health care issues, Putin called the demographic slide that has shrunk Russia's population by millions since the 1991 Soviet collapse "the most acute problem of contemporary Russia," and he encouraged legislators to budget for more generous birth bonuses, childcare support subsidies and educational benefits for mothers to encourage women to have children.

"I am convinced that with such an approach, you will earn words of gratitude from millions of mothers, young families, all the citizens of our country," Putin said.

He also called on more Russians to take in foster children from institutions where about 200,000 orphans and abandoned children are interned.

Most Russian families are small, with couples usually having only one or two children. Putin and his wife have two daughters.

Russia's population dropped by about 4 percent to 142.7 million between 1993 and 2006, according to the Health Ministry. Experts attribute the plunge to post-Soviet economic turmoil that has badly hurt the state health care system, leading to a drop in birth rates and life expectancy. Increased poverty, alcoholism, soaring crime and emigration have also taken their toll, leading to an average life expectancy of just 66 years _ 16 years lower than Japan and 14 years lower than the European Union average.

The ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the comments on reversing the population decline prompted 27 bursts of applause and that listeners in all applauded 47 times _ more than in any of Putin's other state of the nation addresses.

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AP reporter Maria Danilova contributed to this story from Moscow.