No army in the world managed to recover as quickly as the Russian one after the collapse of the USSR, writes the British edition of The Economist.
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's once mighty military has weakened. The drivers of Moscow buses have surpassed the pilots of fighters … “ No army in the world is in such a deplorable state as ours, '' the Defense Minister complained in 1994. However, few military forces have managed to recover so abruptly, ”the newspaper writes.
It is noted that in the period from 2005 to 2018, Russia's military spending almost doubled. According to Michael Kofman, leading researcher at the Center for Naval Analysis, Russia's annual military expenditures amount to about $ 150- $ 180 billion, or about 4% of GDP.
The authors of the article write that most of this money was spent on the purchase of new military complexes. Julian Cooper, an employee of the Center for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham, estimates that Russia has added about 600 new aircraft, 840 helicopters and 2,300 drones to its arsenal over the past 10 years. The most important investments were made in precision missile systems such as Iskander, Caliber and Kh-101.
“Ten years ago, the idea that the Russian fleet could hit targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea would be science fiction. Now it is a reality, “The Economist quotes Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the Center for International Security of the IMEMO RAS.
The authors also noticed that the Russian army has become much more mobile. They estimate that Russia will send 100,000 troops with heavy equipment anywhere in Europe within 30 days, while NATO will face serious problems at half of that figure and with lighter weapons.
