"Russia boosts military spending despite sanctions" Topic

Russia boosts military spending despite sanctions: study

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Before the 'Europe doesn't spend enough/not paying their way' brigade chips in:

"This is despite the fact that Russia's spending in 2016 was only 27 per cent of the combined total of European NATO members," he added.

Geopolitically speaking, the new status quo in Europe is characterized by Eurasianism and nationalism versus Atlanticism and globalism.

Comparing spending alone isn't helpful.
The question is, what is bought?
There is a big difference in "bang for the buck" between different nations. On the high end, Taiwan and Israel do very well. The money spent is very well spent and translates into a lot of military power.
On the low end, the rich Gulf oil states get very little for their level of spending. Saudi Arabia spends almost as much as Russia, no one would claim they are anywhere comparable in military power.

In general, wealthy western nations achieve less with the same input, because more must be spent on payroll and creature comforts.

I would not expect the Poles or Greeks to have the same creature comports or pay as US forces do.

Also, re Russian pay from 2012 (if it happened):

'The salaries of Russian servicemen will be lower than in the leading NATO countries even after the approved increase, but the increase will cut the gap tenfold.

Under the new law, a lieutenant's salary will range from the starting salary of 50,000 rubles ($1,600) to as much as 80,000 rubles ($2,600), which is more than lieutenants earn in Israel.

Their French colleagues receive upwards of $2,300 USD, U.S. upwards of $2,800 USD, German more than $3,000 USD and British lieutenants $3,500. USD The highest salary for lieutenants in NATO forces is $3,000 USD-$4,000 in Western Europe and $800 USD-$1,400 a month in Eastern Europe.

The above shows that service pay in the leading NATO armies is higher than in Russia, but income tax in Europe is also higher, despite a developed system of subsidies and tax deductions approved for civil servants. If the new system takes effect in Russia, the salaries of our service people will be approximately the same as in Europe in terms of take-home pay.'

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Sanctions?

I thought Germany did away with most or all their nuclear power plants and were now completely dependent on Russian oil. That let's them call the shots.

Dan

+1 Morale bonus for actually getting paid?

The pay raise for the Russian military…

Well, it did happen, and it didn't.
It only happened for "contract" personnel, not the draftees.
It was planned prior to the oil bust that hurt the Russian government spending plans. (Far more than sanctions) It was scaled back because of the cash shortage caused by the drop in oil prices. By incredible non-coincidence, the oil bust was right about the same time that Russia stopped talking about military pay increases.
It wasn't followed through to balance inflation, which has been high in Russia.
So yes, and no. Which is more or less life in Russia.