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Russian ambassador calls efficiency of increasing British military spending questionable

Andrey Kelin noted that the British military department's 2025 overruns may amount to more than 2 billion pounds

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The efficiency of London’s boosting military spending is highly questionable, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said in an interview with The International Affairs magazine.

He said that "black holes" remain in Britain's national budget, while the Defense Ministry "does not meet the limit of funds allocated to it." According to the ambassador, the military department's 2025 overruns may amount to more than 2 billion pounds.

"And therefore, when the British authorities decide on another tax increase, it will be safe to say that the indirect reason was London’s militaristic ambitions. However, the English press reports that the government orders the country's armed forces to find ways to save money," Kelin noted. "This obviously means the efficiency of the promised increase in the defense budget is questionable in principle."

The evidence of the steps taken

The diplomat said that the reasons for "such demonstrative efforts by the British to increase military spending" are understandable.

"On the one hand, they are trying to demonstrate to their overseas partners their zeal in providing European military potential with their own forces. Of course, they do this in such a way that the US military industry turns out to be the beneficiary," he said. "On the other hand, [British Prime Minister Keir] Starmer's team is solving domestic political problems related to the Labor Party's retention of power."

Kelin also added that official London is "flirting with the British business, promising to focus the military procurement system on a local manufacturer and thus allow local companies to profit from the war," while the situation with the F-35 "speaks of a hidden agenda of such engagements."

"At the same time, the cabinet of ministers, in an effort to improve the rating, promises to the general population facing the cost-of-living crisis that things will soon get better thanks to the ephemeral defense dividend - the grotesque antipode of the peace dividend that helped the development of Western Europe after the end of the Cold War," the ambassador continued.

"The credibility of this thesis, however, is questionable."

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