Russia: Procurement Plans Reflect the Military's Modernization Struggles

Russia will shell out billions of dollars on military hardware this year, but the devil is in the details. On Jan. 15, the country's Defense Ministry announced that it would spend 1.44 trillion rubles ($21.5 billion) on military procurement in 2019 as part of a larger program to modernize outdated equipment within the armed forces. With the expenditures, the share of new equipment in the military will rise to 67 percent, just 3 percent short of its stated goal for 2020, the Kremlin has claimed – even if the numbers might not reflect the reality....