Russian Defence Chief Unveils Army Spending Spree

MILPLEX

The lid of a Topol-M silo.

by Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Feb 07, 2007
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov unveiled ambitious plans on Wednesday to replace half the Russian army's hardware by 2015 in a speech seen as preparation for a possible presidential bid. "Around 45 percent of current military hardware will be replaced in the framework of army and fleet re-armament" by 2015, Ivanov said in a speech to Russian deputies in Moscow.

Russian army purchases will include 50 new Topol-M missile complexes, 50 new bombers, 31 ships, as well as fully re-arming 40 tank, 97 infantry and 50 parachute battalions, Ivanov said.

Russia would also build up an anti-missile shield covering the whole country, Ivanov said, after earlier criticising US plans to build an anti-missile defence system in central Europe.

The minister said that army spending over the next eight years was planned at 189 billion dollars (146 billion euros) and that military spending had almost quadrupled since 2001.

Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, was appointed as Russia's first civilian defence minister in 2001 and is widely considered a possible candidate in 2008 elections to succeed President Vladimir Putin.

Echoing a speech by Putin to business tycoons on Tuesday, Ivanov said that it was important to diversify Russia's economy and he also voiced doubt that industry could produce the quality weaponry required by the Russian military.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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