Putin: Better military training for kids

MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to intensify military training for students, he said in a Monday speech.

Russian secondary schools and universities should improve the military training of their students in light of a planned decision to reduce mandatory military service from two years to 18 months and then one year, Putin said in a televised speech, according to German online daily Netzeitung.

"We need to deal with pre-draft training," Putin said. "With a one-year conscription (the young men) will clearly have problems with handling increasingly complex military hardware."

Russian children since 2002 learn marching and the handling of weapons and gas masks in school.