Russia faces a ‘‘fortress’’ United States and must embrace high technology to keep up in a growing arms race, as well as in fierce economic competition, President Vladimir Putin said today in his seventh state of the nation speech since his election in 2000.Addressing both Houses of Parliament and other top officials in the nationally televised, hour-long speech, Putin said Russia must remain on guard in a post-Cold War arms race.‘‘It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race,’’ Putin said. ‘‘It is in reality rising to a new technological level.’’Putin said the United States spent 25 times more than Russia on its defence budget. ‘‘Their house is their fortress — good for them,’’ he said. ‘‘But that means that we also must make our house strong and reliable. We must always be ready to counter any attempts to pressure Russia in order to strengthen positions at our expense.’’‘‘The stronger our military is, the less temptation there will be to exert such pressure on us,’’ Putin said.He 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 against the United States drained Soviet resources.In his sweeping address, Putin also laid out a vision of a Russia switching from an ageing and uncompetitive Soviet-era infrastructure to an economy centered on high-tech areas such as nanotechnology.‘‘In conditions of fierce international competition, the country’s economic development must be based, essentially, on its scientific and technological advantages,’’ he said. ‘‘Unfortunately, one has to face that the majority of the technical equipment used in the national economy is not years behind the top level, but decades.’’In another apparent barb aimed at the US, he said countries should not use Russia’s World Trade Organisation membership negotiations as a vehicle to make unrelated demands. ‘‘The negotiations for letting Russia into the WTO should not become a bargaining chip for questions that have nothing in common with the activities of this organisation,’’ Putin said.In April, US Senators visiting Moscow said Russia’s democracy record and its stance in the Iranian nuclear crisis would influence Congress as it considers Moscow’s bid to join the global trade body.Expressing concern over what he said was an annual decline of nearly 700,000 people a year, Putin said that childcare benefits should be increased and other incentives created to raise the birthrate.‘‘We must at least stimulate the birth of a second child,’’ said Putin, lamenting that concerns about housing, health care and education and income prompt many families to stop at one.
