Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged on Tuesday to spend 2.5 percent of GDP to boost scientific research in the country, a plan which he said would see scientists contributing to the modernization of the country's military.
Speaking at a meeting at the Russian Academy of Sciences to announce the decision, Putin said research could "increase Russia's defense capabilities."
He did not give any timeframe for when the funding is expected to increase, however.
"We intend to actively involve research organizations and universities... in our plans to modernize the military," Putin said.
But he also hit out at "those who sponge off science" and called for tougher measures against the "discreditation" of the research community.
Putin also said that Russia needed "a system of long-term scientific, technological and defense forecasting."
"The world has entered a period of global turbulence, new geopolitical centers are being formed, social and demograhic trends are changing," he said. "All of these processes need a very in-depth examination."
Addressing senior figures at the Academy in Moscow, Putin also called for the creation of the public audit of a government program to intergrate Russia's research centers.
