Anton Siluanov, Russian Finance Minister (Image: vedomosti.ru)

Yesterday, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov became the most senior Moscow official to say what many independent analysts have said before: large increases in defense spending and falling oil prices led to the disintegration of the USSR, and the same two trends can have the same impact on the Russian Federation.

The finance minister said that spending on the army and the production of military goods has now reached the level of three trillion rubles and that such spending, unlike investments in other sectors, “does not have a productive character.”

The Soviet authorities at in the 1980s faced the same problems when they increased military spending, Siluanov continued, and “when to this was added a decline in the price of oil, we saw what this led to: the state disintegrated.” Failure to recognize these linkages can have equally serious consequences for the Russian Federation.

Related:

Dear readers! We need your help. COVID-19 has hit independent media outlets hard, but even more so in Ukraine, where most outlets are controlled by oligarchs. To make matters worse, several English-language media sources from Ukraine have closed recently. And even worse, this comes at a time of troubling government tendencies and amid a pro-Russian resurgence in Ukraine. Help keep us online and reporting on the most important of Ukrainian issues for you in these troubling times, bringing the voices of civic society to the forefront of the information war. Our articles are free for everyone to use but we depend on our readers to keep going. We are a small independent journalist team on a shoestring budget and have no political or state affiliation. If you like what you see, please Help keep us online and reporting on the most important of Ukrainian issues for you in these troubling times, bringing the voices of civic society to the forefront of the information war. Our articles are free for everyone to use but we depend on our readers to keep going. We are a small independent journalist team on a shoestring budget and have no political or state affiliation. If you like what you see, please support us with a donation

Related

Tags: international, Russia, Russian economy, Russian military spending / budget