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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that his armed forces must be better prepared to ward off attacks in cyberspace as well as from outer space.

He warned that damage from cyberattacks could be higher than that of conventional weapons.

“We need to be prepared to effectively ward off threats to informational networks … first and foremost for strategic and critically important installations,” the president told a Russian Security Council meeting dedicated to improving the country’s armed forces through the year 2020.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had the previous day called for more computer programmers to join the armed forces, calling them part of “a new generation of people who will advance military science.”

“The character of military conflicts is literally before our eyes,” Putin said Friday. “There is a militarization of the cosmos and cyberspace … and instruments of soft power are being used.”

He also noted the development of precision-guided weapons around the world, saying that such arms were “practically every bit as good as strategic weapons.”

“We need to take all of those factors into account in our practical work,” the president said.