Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the increase on Thursday after the release of the Russian Finance Ministry’s draft budget for 2024, which showed a 68 percent jump in defense spending compared to 2023. The ministry proposed spending up to 10.77 trillion rubles, or 111 .04 billion dollars for “national defense”, which is almost 70% more than last year, reports CNN.
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Asked for comment during a conference call on Thursday, Peskov said: “It is obvious that such an increase is absolutely necessary because we live in a state of hybrid war, we continue the special military operation. I mean the hybrid war being waged against us. And that requires big costs.”
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Finance Minister Anton Siluanov highlighted the budget’s main focus on military spending when asked about Russia’s 2024 budget priorities at a financial forum in Moscow on Thursday. “The structure of the budget shows that the main emphasis is on ensuring our victory – the army, the defense capabilities, the armed forces, the fighters – everything necessary for the front, everything necessary for victory is in the budget,” Siluanov said. “It’s a significant strain on our budget. But it’s definitely our priority,” he added.
We recall that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States and other allies providing aid to Ukraine of being at “direct war” with Russia.
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