Russian defense budget set to grow again

Even the current economic stagnation in Russia won’t force the government to cut military spending. A draft federal budget for 2014 and for 2015-16, which passed its first reading in parliament this October, calls for yet another double-digit hike in national defense expenditures. These are set to grow by 18.4% to 2,489 billion rubles ($76.6 billion at the current exchange rate) next year, and by a further 21.6% (to 3,027 billion rubles) and 11.6% (to 3,378 billion rubles) in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Defense expenditures will grow steadily as a proportion of the country’s overall budget from 15.6% in 2013 to 17.8% in 2014, 19.7% in 2015, and 20.6% in 2016. The defense budget will amount to 3.4% of Russia’s GDP in 2014, 3.8% in 2015, and 3.9% in 2016 – a significant increase from the 3.2% level reported in 2013.

Despite its growing size, Russia’s defense budget is growing increasingly less transparent. The parliamentary defense committee reports that less than 50% of defense spending for the year 2014 (just 1,012 billion rubles) is open to public scrutiny, and this proportion will become even smaller in the coming years. According to the committee, “the budget funding allocated [for defense purposes, while being] on the whole sufficient for the accomplishment of major strategic goals in developing the Russian armed forces”, does not succumb to proper analysis, including the money earmarked for re-armament with new weaponry and equipment.

Russia's defense expenditures