Medvedev: Russian economy must modernize

MOSCOW, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Modernizing the Russian economy is vital for the country's survival in the 21st century, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.

In his state of the union address in Moscow, Medvedev said, "We must start modernizing and technologically upgrading the entire production sphere. This is an issue of our country's survival in today's world," the Russian news agency Novosti reported.

Russia must learn from the global crisis and act quickly to improve the country's economy, Medvedev said.

"We have to admit that in previous years we failed to do enough to solve problems inherited from the past," he said. "We have failed so far to dismiss the economy's primitive structure, the humiliating raw materials dependence and reorient production to people's real needs."

He also said some Russian state corporations have outlived their usefulness and should be reorganized for possible privatization.

State corporations "operating in a commercial, competitive environment" should be restructured as shareholding companies, which "will continue operating in the public sector or will be sold to private investors," Medvedev said.

Medvedev previously ordered a review of Russia's seven state-run corporations, saying attention should paid to spending, use of state property and the corporations' compliance with federal regulations.