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US shelled out almost five times more than Russia on nukes in 2020, says report

In 2020, Russia's spendings on nukes made up $8 billion

GENEVA, June 7. /TASS/. The United States turned out to be the world’s leader in nuclear weapons spending last year, earmarking a whopping $37.4 billion or 4.7 times more than Russia, according to a report published by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons on Monday.

As the report suggests, spending on nukes by all countries totaled $72.6 billion in 2020, or $1.4 billion more than in 2019. Apart from the United States, the world’s top five spenders also were China with $10.1 billion, Russia ($8 billion), Great Britain ($6.2 billion), and France ($5.7 billion).

According to the publication’s data, with adjustments made for inflation, Russia shelled out $600 million less on nuclear weapons in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on June 2, 2020, approving the Fundamentals of Russia’s Nuclear Deterrence State Policy. Under the document, Moscow views nuclear weapons "solely as a deterrence means whose use is an extreme and forced measure."