The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) It presented its annual report on the world's spending on defense. They, by the way, Last year set a record on record, reaching 1,8 trillion dollars, What's on 2,6 percent more, than 2017 m.
The arms race is included in almost all countries, have at least a minimum of political and geopolitical ambitions. US military spending increased by 4,6 percent, China - five percent, Saudi Arabia - on 6,5 percent, and Turkey - as much as 24 percent. Among the world leaders in terms of growth in defense spending - Armenia (a plus 33 percent), Latvia (24 percent), Ukraine (21 percent), Lithuania (18 percent), Czech Republic (18 percent) and Kazakhstan (16 percent).
Against this background, a bit strange - at first glance - it looks Russian, For several years, gradually reduce spending on the army. It got to the, that the outcome 2018 the country has taken off from the top 5 (which was consistently with 2006 of the year), losing to France and took sixth place in the current ranking.
Russian spending on defense decreased over the year by 3,5 percent to 61,4 billion, that looks decent on the background of the Chinese 250 billion and just quietly next to the American 649 billions.
The formal explanation for this surface - Russia has successfully solved the problem of reform and modernization of the Armed Forces, which was invested intensively since the end of zero years.
The state has repeatedly faced with accusations, too much spending on the army in case of serious problems in the economy and the social sphere (3,9 percent of GDP 2018 year), and directly meet the mouth of the first persons, that budget spending on the military sphere will be gradually reduced to a level 2,7-2,8 percent, but national security - the unconditional priority and must first be achieved the objectives set in this area.
Respectively, once the most ambitious and expensive task of reforming the Armed Forces successfully resolved, Russia can not afford to reduce defense spending. what, properly, and there is the fourth consecutive year.
In addition to this simple explanation, there are less obvious, but, seems, far more important and interesting.
Promulgated SIPRI financial and political situation and the global trends of these institutions show, Russia demonstrates that much higher efficiency of investments in the army and the military-industrial complex, rather than partners and competitors on the international scene.
It has long passed into oblivion those times, when the astronomical costs of American defense were amazing, admiration and anxiety. Now the scale of the budget cuts the Pentagon and the US military-industrial complex became a byword. Regularly receives news about never bringing to mind the F-35 or, eg, an epic destroyers Zumwalt.
Against this background, Russia's rate of return on investments in the armed forces and defense industry looks downright phenomenal. However, often overlooked, that the challenge is not only, to the allocated money spent on business. Far more important, and that the case itself, which will be financed, it was determined correctly - and then Russia also has something to boast.
When already a lot of years (not less than one and a half decades) ago, the political and military leadership is considering options for the modernization of Russian Armed Forces, the choice was made, the fruits of which Russia is now reaping.
In a situation of very limited financial resources,, very serious political - both external, and internal - the difficulties and risks, decisions were taken, which not only helped to overcome the degradation of the army and the massive backlog in the country's military after the failure of the 1990s, but without any assumptions and discounting back the Russian Armed Forces in the list of the most powerful and efficient in the world.
The country could not afford many full-scale experiments, it was necessary to choose a specific point for a breakthrough, and almost any mistake threatens to turn fatal consequences.
To sum up - at least intermediate - now can not even shipped to a military perspective, and just regular people who read the news.
From clumsy cumbersome "dinosaur", inherited from the Soviet era, Russian army into a modern highly mobile war machine, skillfully utilizing the, now referred to as "methods of hybrid war". The success of the reforms proved in combat Syrian campaign. And not only there.
Besides, Russia has made several breakthroughs in the field of defense - as the scientific and technological, and organizational, - that has provided global leadership in these areas and to some extent compensates for the continuing lag in a number of other.
Here are some of them:
1. EW - electronic warfare. Russian sphere EW openly acknowledged by Western experts as the most advanced and efficient in the world, West and the backlog here quite significantly.
2. Russia slipped from the "stranglehold" of the Treaty on Intermediate and Shorter-Range Missiles, it inapplicable to US. From the "Movement" to the latest hypersonic weapons - all aimed at the preservation of the global system of nuclear deterrence.
3. Arctic. The last two decades, the world was much discussion of the growing political and economic role of the Arctic region in the XXI century. but, when it became a reality, It revealed, that Russian already deployed there such a defense system (from icebreakers and military bases to - banal - the latest military uniforms), that with them even close, no one can compete.
In light of these circumstances, the SIPRI report begins to play complementary colors, and the repeated statements by the Russian leadership, that Russia will not allow himself to be drawn into a new arms race, gain more weight.
In recent years, the world has got used, Moscow regularly demonstrates the operational-tactical superiority over the West, acting in various parts of the world - from the Crimea to Syria, from Central African Republic to Venezuela, successfully applying in this case and the military factor.
Behind these successes much more rarely seen, that Russia plays a potential enemy and strategically. However, not for nothing that the West often accuses Moscow of, that there is too well have learned the rules and methods of hybrid war.
Irina Alksnis
