Posted on 09/24/2010 4:03:09 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has declared that the country will spend $725 billion over the next decade to modernize the weaponry used by its armed forces.
"The government will spend 22.5 trillion ($725 billion) rubles in the state's arms program in the next ten years. It's an unprecedented sum in our recent history," Ivanov said.
The bulk of the money -- $600 billion -- will be spent on buying arms and military hardware for the Defense Ministry.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has also called for improving the country's weaponry.
"The lack behind the industrially developed nations' in labor efficiency, industrial engineering and quality control backfires on our military and technical cooperation. We have to take action," Medvedev said.
"For two decades we have purchased and built nothing for our armed forces. This money is the minimum required to mount to meet the needs of Russian military," military expert Viktor Litovkin told Press TV correspondent.
The huge rise in Russia's military spending comes at a time when Russia faces a budget deficit of 5 percent of GDP, demonstrating how Russian leaders want to strengthen the military at any cost.
Russia plans to set up a body for developing innovative military technologies similar to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Although Russia's defense spending has increased, it is still nine times less than that of the United States. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia has the fifth highest military spending in the world after the US, China, France, and the UK.
They are not rearming just so they can feel good about themselves.
Russia, China Hold Massive Military Exercises in Central Asia
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