MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold a meeting on defense budget spending in 2016 and 2017-2018 on Wednesday.
- Russia to spend almost $15 million on preparing and launching ExoMars mission
- Russian Defense Ministry may spend up to $4.7 billion on new weapons in 2015
- Russia to spend $4.3 million for equipping checkpoints on Ukraine border
- Russia to spend around $50 billion on space program in 2016-2025
- Russia to spend $600 billion on state armaments program by 2020
The governmental press service said that among participants in the meeting will be First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, presidential aide Andrey Belousov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Federal Space Agency head Igor Komarov, Rosatom head Sergey Kiriyenko and representatives of other ministries and departments.
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved on Monday amendments to law on federal budget in 2015 and planned budget in 2016-2017.
On July 10, the Finance Ministry released a report proposing to optimize defense spending, saying it should not exacerbate conditions for economic growth and fulfilling other countyr’s priorities. "Taking into account the uneasy geopolitical situation, it is necessary to find the level of spending that, on the one hand, will not exacerbate conditions for economic growth and other country’s priorities, and, on the other hand, will allow to effectively solve the issue of strengthening the country’s defense capabilities," the report said.
Defense spending in Russia is more than average figures among OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries. Russia spends around 4% of its GDP on defense, while other BRICS and OECD countries - around 1-2%.