Russia Unveils Huge Spending Hike to Battle 'Hybrid War' - The Moscow Times
www.themoscowtimes.com
Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defense spending by almost 70% next year, funneling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a "hybrid war" unleashed by the West.

The increased defense spending comes as Russia’s Central Bank warns economic growth is set to slow down in the second half of 2023, with inflation above the bank’s target of 4%. Vladimir Putin and other officials have largely shrugged off the economic effects of the Ukraine offensive, arguing Russia has largely weathered the storm of Western sanctions.

  • magikmwEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    Is it defense spending if it’s spent on a war of aggression?

    • tal@kbin.social
      5·
      1 year ago

      As a percentage of GDP for a peacetime country, it is high, though Russia has generally run high.

      As a percentage of GDP, it’s higher than the US (IIRC currently about 3.5%) or Europe (with a few exceptions, below the 2% target of NATO).

      https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=true

      The global average is a little over 2% of GDP.

      https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/220627-def-exp-2022-en.pdf

      Compared to WW2 spending, it’s quite low.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II

      In 1939, Britain spent 9% of its GDP on defence; this rose drastically after the start of World War II to around 40%.

      EDIT: I’d also add a couple of caveats:

      • Given that this is in rubles, some is probably inflation, if the news source isn’t adjusting for that, as the ruble has fallen in value relative to last year:

        https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/RUBUSD=X?p=RUBUSD=X&.tsrc=fin-srch

        Relative to the dollar, it’d need to rise by 70% to hold constant since a year ago, so a 70% ruble increase may not be so exciting. I don’t know what periods of time the numbers take effect at (like, in this situstion, where in the year the rubles are from may matter a lot).

      • What we have for this is Russia’s word; it could very well be spot-on, but we don’t know yet.

      • We don’t know what the breakdown in spending is. So, for example, I believe that there may be benefits that need to be paid family of solldiers who were killed or injured and suchlike. At least in the US, I’m pretty sure that that’d be counted as military budget.

        https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/03/3/7327915/

        “All members of the families of military personnel who died during the special military operation in Ukraine (Putin’s term for the war in Ukraine – ed.) will be allocated insurance coverage and one-time assistance in the amount of 7,421,000 roubles. Monthly monetary compensations will also be paid to each family member of fallen [soldiers]”.

        Details: Putin also stated that he considers it necessary to set up an additional payment of 5 million roubles for the families of dead soldiers.

        In addition, he promises that the wounded receive a one-time payment of approximately 3 million roubles. And if a soldier becomes disabled during the war with Ukraine, he will be provided with monthly payments.

      So it probably doesn’t translate to something like “Russia has 70% increased capacity relative to last year.”

      I expect that Perun will put something up about it if he hasn’t already, as this is his field.