Russian Defense Spending Falls By Twenty Percent

People gather near Russian military vehicles in Tverskaya street before the rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in central Moscow, Russia, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

Reuters: Russian military spending falls, could affect operations: think-tank

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Russian military spending fell by a fifth last year, its first decline in nearly two decades, with tighter purse-strings likely to affect Moscow’s military activity ahead, a report by defense think-tank SIPRI showed on Wednesday.

Russia has flexed its military muscles during the last few years with its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and deep involvement in the Syrian conflict serving as examples of its more belligerent stance.

But while global military spending rose one percent to $1,739 billion last year, Russia’s fell 20 percent in real terms to $66.3 billion, the report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed.

It was the first fall since 1998, a year of a major crisis when Russia’s economy collapsed and it defaulted on domestic debt. The following year Vladimir Putin took power as prime minister and, on New Year’s Eve, president.

Read more ....

Update #1: Sanctions force Russia to cut defence spending: study (AFP)
Update #2: Russian Military’s Tighter Purse-strings to Impact Operations – Think Tank (Moscow Times)

WNU Editor: At the beginning of this year when President Putin was running for re-election one of his promises was to conitnue to cut the defense budget after years of growth .... less guns, more butter. So I am not surprised by the drop .... but I am surprised by the 20% number. This budget will also not be sustainable if the war in Syria escalates into something larger .... or if the conflict in Ukraine and the West continues to grow.