The Russian Defense Ministry announced its future procurement plans, citing the expansion of radical extremism and what it calls "unfriendly" NATO policies.

Russia's military procurement plans include the purchase of roughly 200 planes and helicopters, up to 30 surface ships and submarines, and an additional 600 armored vehicles per year.

"The state program for armaments extending till 2021 will increase the share of modern weapons and military hardware to no less than 70 percent," General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, Russia's Deputy Defense Minister told Russian state-owned news agency TASS at a press briefing.

The announcement came as Russian Defense Ministry expressed concerns for growing militant terrorism, radical extremism, and increased NATO military activity.

"First of all, the NATO military policy, unfriendly towards Russia, is a matter of concern," The Russian Defense Ministry wrote on its Facebook page. "The alliance expands its military presence and enhances the activity of its armed forces along the borders of the Russian Federation."

The statement went on to claim NATO's military activity, including enhancing the activity of its armed forces along the Russian border and the deployment of missile defense and other military instruments, was offsetting the balance of power in the region.

NATO leadership has repeatedly criticized Russia for supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Western leaders say is an oppressive head of state. Russian defense officials, however, say their airstrike campaign and military assistance for Assad has bolstered cooperation between the Syrian government and the Free Syrian Army in joint operations against the Islamic State, a Sunni jihadist organization also identified as Daesh and by the acronyms ISIS and ISIL.

"The Russian Federation enhances the unifying of efforts of the governmental troops and formations of the Syrian opposition aimed at defeating the terrorists," the statement continued. "Now units of the Free Syrian Army, which is over 5 000 men strong, jointly with regular Syrian troops are conducting offensive operations across Syria."

Russia's latest military procurement announcement comes as tensions between Moscow and NATO leadership are at the highest since the end of the Cold War.

Mao Zedong's letter to UK politician sells for 600,000 Pounds
London (AFP) Dec 15, 2015 - A letter from Mao Zedong calling on the leader of the British Labour Party in 1937 for help against Japanese invaders sold for more than 600,000 pounds (850,000 euros) at auction in London on Tuesday.

In the letter, typed in English and signed by Mao, the founder of Communist China asks Clement Attlee, Labour leader and future prime minister, to lend the support of his party to "any measures of practical assistance".

The buyer was a Chinese private collector, auction house Sotheby's said in a statement.

The letter was one of the first communications between the Chinese leader and a Western politician, and only the second letter from Mao to be sold at auction in decades, Sotheby's said.

The letter is dated November 1, 1937, and was written in Yan'an in remote northwest China, where the Communists had taken refuge at the end of the 1934-1935 Long March.

In the letter, Mao expressed solidarity with the British people and hoped they would urge the government to help him resist the Japanese invaders, "a danger that ultimately threatens them no less than ourselves".

"Long live the Peace Front of the Democratic Nations against Fascism and Imperialist War!" concludes the letter, which was also signed by Zhu De, founder of the Red Army.