Putin warns of limits to defense spending

Russia will not get bogged down in an arms race, the president has said

Russia cannot increase its military spending indefinitely at the expense of other spheres of society, President Vladimir Putin has said.

Addressing a meeting of top Russian Defense Ministry officials on Monday, Putin revealed that Moscow is currently spending 6.3% of its gross domestic product on defense.

“In order for all in the components of the country’s life – the economy, the social sphere in the broadest sense of the word, science, education, healthcare – to develop, we can’t increase these expenses infinitely,” the president said.

Putin noted that Russia’s current level of defense spending is still not as high as in some countries around the world not currently engaged in armed conflicts.

“Nevertheless, this is a lot of money, and we need to use it very reasonably,” he said, from payments to troops and the effective work of the military industry to supplying the military with equipment, weapons and ammunition.

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“It is very important to receive everything on time, to correctly evaluate what is received, to be able to use it and to train personnel, to do it correctly and effectively,” Putin told the Russian Defense Ministry leadership.

While Russia will take measures to ensure the security of itself and its allies, this will be done “carefully and thoughtfully, without getting drawn into a full-scale arms race to the detriment of the social and economic development of our country,” the president explained.

Lessons of the military operation in Ukraine need to be applied to the defense industry, in terms of priorities for weapons development and the introduction of advanced technologies, Putin said, adding that the production of drones in particular needs to be increased.

During the meeting, Putin revealed that more than 430,000 Russians have enlisted voluntarily in the armed forces.

Strategic nuclear forces remain one of the key instruments for defending Russia’s sovereignty and their modernization has already reached 95%, the president said. The new intermediate-range hypersonic missile, Oreshnik, can be as powerful as a nuclear weapon if used in volleys, but without any fallout, according to Putin.