Medvedev: Russia plans to produce 1,500 tanks this year

Russia plans to produce 1,500 tanks this year for the war against Ukraine, the deputy head of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said.

"The military-industrial complex has been running hot," Medvedev, a former president of the country, said in an interview published on Thursday on his Telegram channel.

The West is trying to cut Russia off from important components, claiming that the country is running out of artillery shells, tanks and missiles, he said.

"Yet we are producing 1,500 tanks this year alone."

As recently as February, Medvedev, who is also responsible for the arms industry in the Security Council, had spoken of building and modernizing thousands of tanks during a visit to a factory. Experts doubt that his country can produce such quantities.

Medvedev said that Russia does produce its own drones. So far, however, there has been a lack of large combat drones, which Russia will also be making in the future, Medvedev said.

Medvedev said that Russia has arms equal to or better than Western weapons. "The most important thing now is to produce all this in the necessary quantities, and for this new productions still have to be started."

Above all, he said, Russia's strategic nuclear weapons ensured its protection. "If it were not for that, they would have already torn us to pieces."

He addressed the recently issued International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that a theoretical arrest in Germany would be tantamount to a "declaration of war" against Russia.

In that case, Russia would fire missiles at the German parliament building and the chancellor's office, he threatened. Moscow does not recognize the court in The Hague.