Approval of Russia’s next armament program has been moved from 2015 to 2018. President Vladimir Putin was supposed to approve the state armament program for 2016-2025 in December this year, but due to the unstable economic situation this has been postponed three years, sources in the Government and the president’s administration says to Kommersant.
The armament program for 2016-2025 was supposed to be Russia’s most expensive ever and has a 30 trillion rubles (€425 billion) price tag.
Already in January it became clear that it would be impossible to approve the new armament program – the most expensive one in the history of Russia – this year. “The macroeconomic prognosis has changed and will continue to do so. To prepare a ten year armament under such circumstances is very difficult,” a source said to Kommersant. The issue was supposedly up for discussion at a meeting in the presidential military-industrial commission on January 20. “Vladimir Putin agreed to postpone approval of the new state program until the situation has stabilized,” the source said.
The current arms program, which goes to 2020, was approved by then President Dmitry Medvedev in December 2010 and had a 23 trillion rubles (325.9 billion) cost frame, according to Kommersant.
Since 2011 Russia’s spending on the armed forces has grown faster than other posts in the state budget. If the current plan is followed, defense spending would have increased 68 percent in the period 2011-2015, a significantly higher growth than for the total budget expenses, the Norwegian Intelligence Service writes in its report FOKUS-2015.
In 2013 Russia spent a larger share of its gross national product (GNP) on the military than USA did. The budget post “national defense” corresponded to 3.1 % of GNP. In 2014 the share to the military increased to 3.4 % of GNP, and in 2015 the share is expected to reach 4.2 %. This means that Russia this year plans to spend more money on national defense than on the health care system.
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