Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, in her annual speech to the House of Representatives on Monday, said the government would buy more Russian warplanes in the near future.

Megawati, who visited Moscow in April last year to sign the 192million US dollars purchase deal of four Sukhoi jet fighters and two MI-35 military helicopters, planned to increase them into one squadron each.

"We hope that in the not-too-distant future, and in line with the increasing capability, we shall complement that air power so that they (Shukoi and MI-35) will respectively compose a squadron," she said.

She stressed that "however great the fund that must be allocated to build and deploy a defense and security force, it must be realized that it is one of the consequences of statehood."

The draft budget for fiscal year 2005, unveiled Monday by Megawati, allots 22 trillion rupiah (around 2.4 billion US dollars)to the Ministry of Defense.

The first arms deal with Russia sparked protest among legislators who accused the government of making the deal without their consent. The House established an inquiry committee into thearms deal but the Russian planes arrived here last August without further protest from legislators.

Source: Xinhua