According to the annual study The Military Balance 2025 of the IISSin 2024 Russia allocated 462,000 million dollars to military expensesovercoming the total Europewhich stood in 457,000 million dollars. Russian spending represented 6.7% of the country’s GDP, more than double the levels recorded in the years prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
He IISS estimated that defense spending is likely to continue increasing Russia In 2025, to reach 7.5% of GDPwhich will guarantee to sustain the war in Ukraine Throughout the year.
Russian Yars Intercontinental Balistic missile launchers in the Red Square during the Victory Day Parade, on May 9, 2024. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov / AFP).
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The study of IISS It also details the Russian military losses in the war of Ukraine. In 2024, the country governed by Putin lost about 1,400 tanksraising a 4,400 The total combat cars destroyed from the beginning of the invasion. Many of these vehicles have been replaced by armored ones of the 1960s, which were stored from the Soviet era.
Russia has also lost in Ukraine a quarter of its Su-34 combat planes, according to the IISS.
The document highlights that cooperation of Russia With your allies Iran and North Korea. He mentions that 10,000 North Korean troops have been sent to support Russian forces in the Ukraine War.
It also refers that Iranian production of drones and ballistic missiles for Putin has increased.
Part of the Russian armament used in Ukraine It is of North Korean origin and represents almost a third of the ballistic missiles fired against Ukraine In 2024, according to Ukrainian defense officials and the CNN news chain attacks.
The Russian T-90m and T-14 tanks Armata parade through the Red Square during the General trial for Victory Day, on May 7, 2022. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP).
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But how Russia You can maintain a record military expenditure If the powers of West they have sanctioned with hardness to the country, especially in key sectors such as energythe banking and the technology In order to affect your economy?
The internationalist Francisco Belaunde Matossian explained to Commerce that the sanctions did not lay down Russia because this country had a sovereign fund of hundreds of billions of dollars, which in reality They were their reserves product of the sale of oil and gas.
“Besides, Russia He has achieved new customers for his oil and gas, so he has continued to sell these resources despite the sanctions. While its economy has been beaten, it is not neutralized. The ruble has fallen, inflation is high, but Putin It continues to have great economic resources to face war ”, Belaunde said.
With respect to EuropeBelaunde said that these three years of war have shown that The block cannot cancel Russia.
“To this we must add that now the concern of Europe is focused on the fact that the United States will no longer support Ukraine. In addition, last year approximately a large percentage of support for Ucriania came from Europe, and this is also due to the problem in the United States Congress, which took months to approve a new game of resources for kyiv, ” Belaunde remarked.
Europe also increases its military spending
A Eurofighter Typhoon combat plane in a Bavarian plant of the European Airbus aircraft manufacturer, on January 19, 2024. (Michaela Stache / AFP photo).
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With respect to Europehe IISS He informed that defense spending increased by 11.7% in 2024, marking the tenth consecutive year growth for a total of 50%.
He explained that the annexation of the Ukrainian Peninsula Crimea by Russia occurred in 2014 raised the perception of threat in Europe and renewed the long -standing commitments of the members of the NATO to spend 2% of GDP at least.
So far, 22 of the 32 members of the NATO They have managed to reach 2% of GDP spending in defense, Far from the demand of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who maintains that the goal must be 5%.
The analysis of IISS He argues that if NATO European members maintain the 2024 growth rate, defense expenditure would reach an average of 3% of GDP in five years and 5% in ten.
“European countries are already increasing their expense in defense, with the commitment of 2%. Many countries began to increase their military budget precisely by war in Ukraine. Poland is already above 4%, but it will not be easy for others to achieve what was achieved by this nation ”Belaunde said.
The military expenditure of NATO countries. (AFP).
On a global scale, defense spending increased by 7.4 % in 2024 to reach 2.46 billion dollars. The country that allocates its military apparatus remains the United States, with 842 billion dollars last year.
The defense budget of Chinathe other great world power, grew by 7.4% in real terms to 222,000 million dollars, exceeding the average rate of 3.9% of the rest of Asia.
In the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, the IISS He indicated that the registrable defense expenditure reached 59.5 billion dollars, which represents an increase of 4.1%.
“Despite this rebound, regional budgets have not yet recovered from the cuts related to the Covid-19 pandemic, and growth is still moderate due to the persistent financial pressures and low perceptions of threat,” said the IISS .
He stressed that after seven years of cuts in almost continuous real terms, the defense expense of Argentina began to stabilize and new investments materialized, such as the purchase of 24 second-hand F-16 combat planes to Denmark.
