"Neither the president nor I are fully satisified with the current state of combat readiness in the armed forces," the Interfax news agency quoted the minister as saying.

Ivanov acknowledged that there had been progress "in some areas" but stressed that more needed to be done.

"We will do all we can to see that ships going to sea are no longer a reason for celebration but a regular occurrence," he said.

Ivanov hailed the naval exercises currently taking place off Russia's Pacific coast which he noted were unprecendented in their scale.

"Exercises on such a scale have not been held in our country for the past 15 years. They involve 11 Russian ministries and agencies," he said.

A total 75 warships, over 20 aircraft and 30,000 soldiers and experts are taking part in the exercises that began Monday.

South Korean and Japanese ships and planes are also taking part in the exercises, and experts have been invited from United States, Canada and China to monitor them.

Monitors were also invited from North Korea, but Pyongyang Wednesday rejected the invitation.

Russia's armed forces are still hampered by stategies, methods and structures inherited from the Soviet era and has suffered from severe financial difficulties since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The 1.1 million-strong conscription-based army in particular is working towards the creation of a professional corps that should comprise some 136,000 troops by 2007.

WAR.WIRE