Putin says Russia must build up defenses

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday emphasized the need to strengthen the country's air defenses amid NATO's military activities near Russia's borders.

Speaking during a meeting with military officials and arms makers in the southern Russian city of Sochi, Putin specificially noted the deployment of NATO's U.S.-led missile defense components in Eastern Europe and increasingly frequent missions by NATO ships near Russian waters in the Baltic and Black Seas.

Even now, a US warship has entered the Black Sea, and we can see it in binoculars or crosshairs of our defense systems, he said in an apparent reference to the deployment of the U.S. destroyer USS Porter, which sailed into the Black Sea over the weekend.