MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that some of the country’s foreign enemies dreamed of biting off pieces of the country’s vast territory, warning that Moscow “would break its teeth” if they ever tried.

In strong remarks on a conference call with officials, the Russian president noted that foreign efforts to contain Russia go back centuries.

“In all time, the same thing has happened: once Russia got stronger, they found pretexts to hinder its development,” Putin said, alleging that some detractors of Russia that he didn Not named argued that it was unfair for her to keep her vast natural resources to themselves.

“Everyone wants to bite us or bite us something, but those who want to do so should know that we will put their teeth out so that they cannot bite,” the Russian leader said. “The development of our army is the guarantee.”

The Kremlin has made the modernization of the country’s armed forces a top priority amid tensions in relations with the United States and its allies. Russian-Western relations fell to post-Cold War lows following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, accusations of Russian interference in elections, hacking attacks and Other problems.

Putin said Western sanctions against Russia continue a long-standing historical trend of containing a powerful rival, citing Russian Tsar Alexander III who accused “everyone is afraid of our vastness.”

“Even after we lost a third of our potential” when the former Soviet republics became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, “Russia is still too big for some,” Putin said.

“No matter what we do, no matter how we try to satisfy the appetites of those who try to contain us, the containment will continue because many of our opponents just don’t want a country like Russia. “Putin said. “But we, the citizens of the Russian Federation need it, and we will do everything to not only preserve it, but strengthen it.”

He claimed that Russia now has the most modern strategic nuclear forces compared to other nuclear powers, including advanced weapons such as the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle.

The military said the Avangard is capable of flying 27 times the speed of sound and performing abrupt maneuvers on its way to the target to dodge the enemy’s missile shield.

It was installed on existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles instead of older type warheads, and the Avangard’s first armed unit entered service in December 2019. The military said that at the In the future, Avangard could be equipped with the future heavy missile called Sarmat under development.

Putin also touted other potential weapons, including the nuclear-powered Poseidon atomic-powered underwater drone capable of generating devastating tsunami waves near an enemy coast. His tests are continuing.

Putin accused the country of having succeeded in reorganizing its arsenals without placing too heavy a burden on the national economy by carefully choosing military priorities.

He noted that Russia is expected to spend the equivalent of $ 42 billion on defense this year, against a Pentagon’s $ 700 billion budget.

“We have succeeded in supporting our armed forces without militarizing the state budget, and we will continue to do so,” Putin said.