NEWS: Russia announces rearmament plan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said Moscow will begin a comprehensive military rearmament from 2011.

"The primary task is to increase the combat readiness of our forces, first of all our strategic nuclear forces," he told top military officers.

Explaining the move, he cited concerns over Nato expansion near Russia's borders and international terrorism.

Last year, the Kremlin set out plans to increase spending on Russia's armed forces over the next two years.

Russia will spend nearly $140bn (£94.5bn) on buying arms up until 2011.

While this has been made easier while oil revenues were increasing in recent years, correspondents say, the new announcement is a surprise.

But analysts say the brief war in Georgia exposed problems with outdated equipment and practices within Russia's armed forces and led to calls for military modernisation.

Mr Medvedev says the move is necessary in response to the current military situation in the world, says the BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow.

Russia has long been angered by Nato's post-Cold War expansion and by the United States' plans to place elements of a missile defence system in parts of Eastern Europe," our correspondent adds.