Analysts question benefits of rising Russian military funding

Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev stated on 13 July that the fiscal crisis within the EU, angst over the future of the Eurozone and the resulting fall in the price of two of Russia's major money-earning exports – oil and gas – will not be cause for a reduction in the state defence orders that are geared towards modernisation of the nation's armed forces.

However, analysts in Moscow have stated that simply committing funds is inadequate given the current state of the Russian defence industrial base, and that the armed forces are seeing no increase in either the technological sophistication of their weapon systems or their overall state of readiness.

The Russian military continues to be equipped with "obsolete" weapons, which is a consequence of many years of neglect and low levels of investment by the state in leading defence enterprises, several specialists on the condition of the Russian armed forces told IHS Jane's .

This situation is supposed to be addressed by a defence modernisation programme of more than RUB23 trillion (USD700 billion) that would provide the armed forces with all-new materiel and also upgrade the manufacturing facilities of the Russian defence industry.