No new armament in Russia
Critics say Russia is not following up its ambitious military plans with sufficient funding and that the country therefore might not be able to modernise its military hardware.
In a new plan on military modernization presented recently by President Dmitrii, ambitions are high while financial resources are sparse, newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Despite an increase in defence budgets, the money allocated to new military hardware remains too low, critics say. The 2009 defence budget totals 1,38 trillion RUB, which is 2,67 percent of the Russian GDP. Criticism now also comes from the State Duma, where the leader of the Defence Committee, Viktor Zavarzin indicates that the defence plans could make the Russian military incapable of coping with challenges. He especially fears a disbalance between investments in the maintenance of the Armed Forces and investments in new hardware. The committee leader argues that the Russian National Security Council wants 70 percent of investments to go to new hardware by year 2015, while the Kremlin’s plans will hardly open up for more than 50 percent. At the same time, Defence Minister Anatolii Serdyukov says the Russian Army over the next four years will be reduced with 135,000 men, thus reaching a total of one million.
