Putin says Russia plans to cut military spending from next year

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia was looking to cut its military expenditure from next year, contrasting that with NATO’s plan to ramp up defence spending over the next decade. NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5% of gross domestic product in the next 10 years, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.
In his first reaction to that move, Putin told a press conference in Minsk that the NATO spending would go on “purchases from the USA and on supporting their military-industrial complex”, and this was NATO’s business, not Russia’s.
“But now here is the most important thing. We are planning to reduce defence spending. For us, next year and the year after, over the next three-year period, we are planning for this,” he said.