Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced plans to invest 16.7 billion euros in hi-tech industry.

He said that the Russian government has never put this kind of money into technology and it will do so between 2008 and 2010.

The cash will go to state-run hi-tech programs and is a bid to wean itself off dependence on the export of natural resources, such as oil, gas and metals, whose prices can fluctuate too much.

State technology industries boomed during Communist times, but was entirely dependent on stealing and retro-engineering gear from the West. This included some nice looking, but outrageously cheap, Apple gear that was made in Bulgaria.