Most European countries spend less than 2% of GDP on defense; China spends 2%; the United States, 3.5%. Only nine countries in the world, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel, spend more than 4% of GDP on military expenditures.
Russia’s military spending now stands at 9% of GDP (based on the first quarter of 2015). But even if that share falls on an annual basis, it will still remain above 4% of GDP.
Be sure to read Sergei Guriev’s article explaining why Russia simply cannot sustain defense spending at this level.
I would add one more thing: unfortunately, defense spending is precisely where corruption reaches monstrous proportions. If this is what happens in weapons procurement, where the price can at least be checked, then you can imagine how much is being siphoned off where no comparison is possible. And as for “Oboronservis” (a major Russian Defense Ministry corruption scandal), you’ve all heard about it.
For objective reasons, military spending has always been and will always remain closed to public oversight and media scrutiny, and in our situation that is simply a golden key to kickbacks of 150%. No one is saying that procurement should be opened up for anyone who wants to inspect it, but there ought to be oversight from the FSB, the military prosecutor’s office, and so on.
It’s not just that we are spending 4% of GDP on the military; we are doing it while cutting spending on healthcare and education, and that is especially painful when you know that even more money will be stolen there than in government spending on average.
This was formulated as the most important socioeconomic demand of the “Spring” March and should remain a key demand of the united opposition.