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Russia is recognized as one of the most militarized countries in the world

From 149 countries on the GMI list Russia turned out to be on the bad 4th place

The makers of the international ratings gave an unpleasant surprise to Russia again. The country was found as one of the most militarized countries in the world. Germany made public the annual Global Militarization Index (GMI), which the Bonn International Centre for Conversion had compiled. From 149 countries on the GMI list Russia turned out to be on the bad 4th place. Meanwhile, the Novye Izvestia daily believes that there are no reasons to regret about it. There are enough reasons to ponder over the nature of such GMI ratings.

The Middle East is found as the most militarized region, and Israel is found as the most militarized country. Russia is ranked fourth, also falling behind Singapore and Syria. However, Russia cannot be reproached of aggressiveness, the newspaper believes. Russia has never dropped lower than the 10th place since 1992, when the country was put on the GMI rating. The GMI rating is made up since 1990.

The level of militarization of a country is estimated on several parameters. The main parameter is the proportion between the military expenditures and the GDP rate. Other indicators are the number of employees in the military industry, the number of reserve servicemen and heavy military hardware per capita and what is noteworthy the comparison between the numerical strength of servicemen and medical workers. The doctors are selected as representatives of one of the most widespread civil professions.

It is absolutely clear that some GMI indicators evoke major questions, the newspaper noted. For instance, the formal numerical strength of the Russian military reserves is very large. The conscript servicemen, the conscript servicemen put in the reserve a long time ago, students from the universities with the military science chair, people partially suitable for the military service – all of them are considered as Russian military reservists, which can drafted in the army if necessary. However, it is more than doubtful that all these reservists will have any combat value in case of a real military conflict. The situation is different in Israel and Syria, where the reservists pass regular army exercises and can shoot until their old years.

It is noteworthy that the United States is ranked only at the 29th place in the GMI rating. The expenditures of that country only for the military and industrial sector make about 687 billion dollars. “Any indexes are calculated by people, therefore, they are biased. According to the level of military expenditures the US outstrips all other countries in the world. Therefore, military expenditures should be the main indicator, rather than any ratios,” director of the Centre for Analysis of World Weapons Trade Igor Korotchenko told the Novye Izvestia daily.