Russia’s military spending soars

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Published time: February 25, 2011 09:49
Edited time: February 25, 2011 13:20

MI-28 Night Hunter assault halicopter on airfield (RIA Novosti / Kiselev)

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Arms, Budget, Marina Dzhashi, Military, Russia, Sara Firth

Russia has revealed details of its ambitious plan to upgrade its army over the next ten years, planning to spend US$650 billion on the project.

The unveiled large-scale plans of the Russian defense ministry propose the spending of vast sums of money up to 2020.

First and foremost, Russian defense will focus on the development of strategic nuclear weapons, construction of over 100 military vessels for Russian Navy, including construction of four originally French-made Mistral-class amphibious assault ships, and the introduction into the Air Force of over 1,000 helicopters and 600 military planes, including fifth generation PAK-FA fighter.

Most of the military hardware will be equipped with next-generation weaponry.

For the first time ever, Russia is planning to buy military equipment from NATO-member countries – two Mistral helicopter carriers will be bought in France (with two more licensed to be built in Russia), as well as samples of armored vehicles from Italy and elements of personal combat systems also from France.

Moscow’s plans to modernize Russian strategic nuclear forces do not contravene the newly-signed New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US, which aims at the reduction of up to a third of the strategic nuclear weapons in both Russia and the US.

President Dmitry Medvedev came out and said that he really wants the Russian military to be a source of innovation, and upgrading military forces is what all the spending is based upon.

Comments (10)

Mike (unregistered) 10.02.2012 08:22

Russia is being ignored and so they are building up their military to maintain the image they had during the cold war. I'm sorry but Russia's military is the biggest joke ever. Sure they're building ICBMs but who cares. If they use it we're all dead. If Russia manages to survive, the fallout will eliminiate any survivors in the months after.

If you think of it, Russia is like a 12-year-old internet troll who goes around creating anger amongst internet users. They fund Iran and Libya and protect regimes like Syria just to make the West angry. They know they can't do anything else except use their UN powers to anger the west.

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nikolai 10.12.2011 23:10

With so many european countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland) and also the USA facing economical difficulty since 2007 after stock-market crash, I am puzzled why Russia is to spend one-fifth of its budget on military update. (Almost two trillion rubles ($60 billion) will be allocated for the country’s military's modernisation program in 2011). Should they not rather spend it to upgrade their existing industries and create new industries to be competitive with other countries now that Russia is joining the WTO ?

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Carllos 13.10.2011 03:13

This RT news really has interesting articles .. and it shows the kind of news that the Russian people get on their televisions ..
it is good that the Russian military can be so strong again .. you can never trust the West .. NATO and the Americans .. they pretend to be free and advanced countries .. even the Russian people who go there to live will tell you that it is great there .. so much freedom .. and the people can even vote for their leaders in real elections .. but you never know .. NATO might really want to take over Russia because Europe has too many people right ? Oh well .. it is just good that the Kremlin has control of things .. you can never be too careful ..
so what if the TV stations like RT are controlled by the Kremlin .. can't you see that these are really first class commentators and journalists .. ? you may have heard that the people of Moscow are not allowed to vote for their own mayor .. the mayor is appointed by the Kremlin .. well don't worry .. that is OK .. because it is much safer to have the Kremlin control things .. otherwise the criminal organizations could take control of the media and the local governments and then challenge the power of the central command in the Kremlin .. you have to understand that during the communist times that it was illegal to have a business so all the businessmen were criminals .. well after the communists fell from power all the business were still criminals so only the KGB fellows could really control the order of the country for the protection of the people .. otherwise the criminals would have complete control .. so now you understand .. ? don't worry about Russia .. it will protect you too ..

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