MOSCOW, December 7 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev confirms importance of the country’s defence budget, but stresses that the social budget is bigger.
In an interview with Russian television channels, he said that Russia “is not going to have a war with anybody, we are a peace loving country.” The prime minister spoke about bigger expenses planned for the defence industry.
“The budget of the Defence Ministry, of the Armed Forces for 2013 is 2.1 trillion roubles,” he said adding that this money will come from the federal budget.
Financing of the education and healthcare comes from three sources – from the federal and from regional and municipal budgets.
“If we look at the consolidated budget of the education and healthcare, it would be bigger than that of the Defence Ministry,” the prime minister said.
Medvedev said that in 2013, the education expanses will make 2.5 trillion roubles, those for healthcare – 2.2 trillion roubles, “and both budgets are by 2.5 times bigger than the budget planned for the Armed Forces.”
“The budget’s priorities are clear,” the prime minister said.
He explained bigger expenses of the Defence Ministry. “We were to raise the money allowances for the military and we were to settle their housing problem. The second component is the armament. The situation with the armament was very and very complicated, critical, as the equipment at certain arms of the service was 70-80 percent worn out. We adopted a huge programme to change the situation by 2020, where practically all armament would be new. This is very important for the country, especially for this nuclear country,” Medvedev said.