Russia's New Tank Is Puting A Hole In Its Defense Budget

© Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresensky

Franz-Stefan Gady, The Diplomat: Is the 'World’s Deadliest Tank' Bankrupting Russia?

Moscow is overspending on its armed forces and still might not get the military it wants by 2020.

Russia is expected to spend more money on its military in 2015 than in any previous year in its entire post-Soviet history.

According to an analysis conducted by Forbes Magazine, Russia will spend an estimated 5.34 percent of its economic output on defense in 2015. This estimate is based on the assumption that the Russian economy will contract by 3 percent and a 15 percent hike in the real value of the military budget.

However, another estimate quoted in the Wall Street Journal based on Russian government data notes that country’s GDP may even decrease by 4.6 percent largely due to lower oil prices and Western sanctions. Consequently, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that this year’s 3.3 trillion rubles military budget will need to be adjusted and cut by five percent or 157 billion rubles.

WNU Editor: Russia's new Armata tank may be putting a hole in their defense budget .... but Russian officials are proud of it anyway .... Russia’s New Armata Tank Hard to Rival - Russian Deputy Prime Minister (Sputnik). More here .... Western Tanks Are 15-20 Years Behind Armata: Russian Dy PM Rogozin (Defense World)