Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has stated that the Kremlin plans to reduce defence spending, the share of which in the national budget has reached record levels not seen since the Soviet era.

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/217472

Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has stated that the Kremlin plans to reduce defence spending, the share of which in the national budget has reached record levels not seen since the Soviet era.

Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet

Details: Putin said current military expenditures amount to RUB 13.5 trillion (US$150 billion), with Russia’s GDP standing at RUB 223 trillion (US$2.5 trillion), which equals 6.3% of GDP.

Quote from Putin: “We are planning to reduce defence spending. For next year, and the year after that and so on – for the next three years – we are planning, although there is not yet a final agreement between the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development, but overall everyone is thinking in that direction.”

Details: He stressed that the increase in military spending has led to inflation, which the government continues to battle. Putin said that Russia’s GDP growth this year will slow compared to previous years, when the economy was growing by more than 4% annually.

Putin stated that the slowdown is a deliberate measure to fight inflation. Meanwhile, he mentioned NATO’s plans to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.

Other top officials have also pointed to problems in the Russian economy. Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov stated that the country is already “on the brink” of economic recession. Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, warned of depleted resources that had previously supported growth amid warfare and sanctions. She said Russia has run out of spare labour, idle industrial capacity and reserves from the National Wealth Fund, two-thirds of whose liquid assets have already been spent.

Alexander Shokhin, Chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, said that many companies are on the verge of default. Alexey Mordashov, the main shareholder of Severstal, which is one of Russia’s largest steel and mining companies, warned of a risk of large-scale bankruptcies due to high interest rates and falling demand. Businessman Arkady Rotenberg noted that businesses are struggling to survive under expensive loans, calling the current situation “not a very good factor for business”.

Background:

Russia is gradually exhausting its macroeconomic reserves, in particular the Russian National Wealth Fund (NWF), but its potential to further finance the war remains.Earlier, Russian analysts predicted that the liquid part of the National Wealth Fund could be completely exhausted by early 2026. These estimates were made against the backdrop of falling oil and gas prices.

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  • el_bhm@lemm.ee
    1·
    2 hours ago

    Yeah, sure.

    Col Potiomikn and Ms NukeEm on TV will now start banging the drum that NATO is doing 5% gdp, wont they? So they can hype up the crowd for the Baltics.

    Cool. Baltics should just send some rockets into their troops near their borders and play Ruskie - Oh, probably Ukraine, i dont know.

  • amlor@lemmy.world
    2·
    3 hours ago

    Considering how classified the russian budget became during the last few years he can claim that they are not spending a single kopeyka on defense and you wouldn’t be able to prove otherwise anyway.

  • charade_you_are@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    9·
    5 hours ago

    I have a hard time believing any of this. Why would he care about inflation? He doesn’t give a fuck anyone’s life but his own. It’s not like he’s going to run out of money. Maybe the other oligarchs are pissed or something? China and NK not supporting him as much?

    • el_bhm@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 hours ago

      NATO had a summit and they finally are openly speaking about intel on russia plans to invade Baltics and then Poland. Within a few years. Hard commit to art 5 and do 5% gdp u fucks.

      So now putana does the song and dance of pulling back to ease the public into complacency. Not leaders in the EU. Not russian citizens. Public in the EU.

      Watch as the internet is bombarded with propaganda about crumbling and oh so worried about inflation rusia. Go see what lemmygrad and tankies will spam.

      Ground is already being prepped for the tankie dummies to eat this up.