MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax-AVN) - The negative trend, when the Russian Defense Ministry actually ate away its budget, has been reversed in the past five years, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
"When I was took office, 70% of the budget were spent on maintaining the Armed Forces, and only 30% on developing them. At the present time these figures amount to 60% and 40% respectively, given the fact that the defense budget constantly increases," Ivanov said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda weekly, published on Thursday.
He pointed out that the 2006 expenditures on re-equipment exceeded the entire 2001 defense budget. Nevertheless, the best ratio, expected to be reached by 2011, is 50/50, the defense minister said.
Ivanov noted that the GDP share of defense expenditures had remained almost intact in the past five years. However, given inflation rates, defense expenditures increased by 2.7%, 2.8%, and 2.9% depending on the year, and the GDP, he said.
At the same time he emphasized that it was standard civilized practice. "The U.S. allocates the same percentage on its defense budget, but it has a 30-fold greater GDP. Thus, Russian defense expenditures are 30-fold inferior to those of the U.S.," Ivanov stressed.