ST. PETERSBURG, June 16. /TASS/. The small budget deficit in Russia is due to shifting scheduled expenses to earlier periods, President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"I would like to note that our public finance are balanced overall. There is a small current deficit of the federal budget but this is largely associated with the transfer of scheduled expenditures to earlier periods," the head of state said. "We made such step knowingly, to increase implementation pace of state and regional programs," Putin noted.

Russia has also increased security and defense expenditures and this decision justified itself, the President said. "Certainly, additional funds were required also to strengthen the defense security, to purchase weapons. We ought to do this to protect the sovereignty of our nation," he added.