http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080226/100080440.html
Russian defense spending to grow 20% in 2008, to $40 bln
MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Defense Ministry will spend around
one trillion rubles ($40 bln) of federal budget funds in 2008, 20% more than in
2007, a ministry official said on Tuesday.
"The Defense Ministry will spend a little less than one trillion rubles in
2008, which is about 20% more than last year," Deputy Defense Minister Lyubov
Kudelina said.
She also said that in 2008-10, military spending would account for 15.5-16% of
aggregate federal budget expenditure.
She said most of the funds would be spent on the maintenance of the armed
forces, the procurement and repair of military hardware, scientific and
research work, and construction.
The official did not say how much would be spent this year on the procurement
of new military hardware, but last year's figure was over 300 billion rubles
($12 billion), 20% higher than in 2006.
Russia has downsized its Armed Forces to about 1.1 million personnel, but
military spending has increased dramatically under President Putin. Defense
spending is set to total 1.18 trillion rubles ($45 billion) by 2010.
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