Years of investment give Vladimir Putin lethal force

Russia is a more capable military power than at any time since dissolution of the USSR, with billions invested in modernising its forces.

Russian combat crews with their S-400 air defence system driving during joint exercises with Belarus. Picture: AFP.

Russia is now a more capable military power than at any time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with billions of pounds invested in modernising its forces, experts have said.

James Hackett, editor of The Military Balance, an in-depth assessment of military capabilities that is published each year, said that in the early 1990s Russia suffered from a reduction in defence procurement, with many projects shelved. However, after the conflict with Georgia in 2008 Russia invested in modernising its military, with tanks and heavy artillery systems upgraded and its naval forces transformed.

Figures released alongside the publication of this year’s assessment showed that Russia’s total defence budget – which includes military housing, social spending and pensions – came to $62.2 billion, up from $57.3 billion in 2016. Fenella McGerty, senior fellow for defence economics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which publishes The Military Balance, pointed out that in real terms Russian defence spending had fallen over that time frame, from $60.8 billion to $55.7 billion.

Dr John Chipman, director-general of the institute, said that concerns over Russia’s military capabilities and possible actions in recent years had been “important in motivating European states to increase defence spending”.

European defence spending grew by 4.8 per cent in real terms last year, the fastest pace recorded for any region.

The assessment said European countries had “turned a corner in terms of their defence spending since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and subsequent military intervention in eastern Ukraine up-ended the continent’s security landscape”.

A Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bomber (L) and a Su-35 multirole supermaneuverable fighter flying during joint exercises between Russia and Belarus. Picture: AFP.

It also said “concern over Chinese and Russian military developments was driving regional as well as wider international military developments”.

The UK overtook India to become the third largest defence spender, according to the assessment of 171 countries. The UK’s defence budget for last year was $71.6 billion, with only the United States ($754 billion) and China ($207.3 billion) spending more. Russia was fifth, behind India.

Chipman said Russia’s armed forces were different to those that fought the short war with Georgia in 2008. Its troops are now mostly contract personnel, not conscripts, while its weapons, including its nuclear arsenal, “are on the whole more modern”. He added: “Its cruise missiles can strike from ranges over 2,000km.”

He said Russia had effective mobile air defence systems and an increasingly modern air force, adding: “Less progress may have been made in modernising army equipment, but Russia’s ground manoeuvre capabilities are nonetheless superior to those of Ukraine.”

In reference to the tensions with Ukraine, Chipman said Russia had a “wide range of tools at its disposal” when it came to attacking the country, including cyberattacks. He said that rather than a full-scale invasion considered possible by the West, there were probably enough troops present to conduct a “more limited ground operation”, including seizing eastern regions.

The Times