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Stephen Harper has been one of the toughest-talking leaders throughout the Ukraine crisis, yet newly released figures show National Defence is expected to face an even deeper budget hole in the coming year than previously anticipated.

The ongoing reductions come as the prime minister is expected to resist pressure from allies at this week’s NATO summit to spend substantially more on the military.

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Annual spending on the military, when compared with 2011, is slated to shrink by a total of $2.7-billion in 2015, according to a briefing note prepared for the deputy defence minister.

That would be almost $300-million more than earlier internal estimates, and roughly $600-million higher than the figure defence officials acknowledged last fall when they rolled out the department’s renewal plan.

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In addition to planned cuts under the government’s strategic review, deficit reduction action plan, and wage restraint measures, defence is expected to face “other planning pressures,” according to a Sept. 16, 2013 memo.