Finance minister: Russia cannot abandon military spending

MOSCOW, Oct 17 (PRIME) -- Russia cannot allow itself to cut military spending in the current situation, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday at a meeting with A Just Russia party.

“I am well aware that we cannot abandon military spending in the current situation…Today, security and defense account for about one third of all budget spending, it is a large share, but it is completely justified by the fact that our country is a nuclear superpower and the need to fend off all those political attacks that they direct at our country,” he said.

“Modernized and strong armed forces make the government strong today.”

On Monday, Siluanov said that the ministry proposed to raise military spending by 200 billion rubles in 2017.

(57.0861 rubles – U.S. $1)

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