Moscow spends record defense budget, 2 countries consider closing border with Russia

Russian soldiers participating in military operations in Ukraine

TASS SCREENSHOT

According to Meduza news site on November 23, the Russian Parliament has just approved the 2024 budget with defense spending increasing to more than one-third of total government spending.

Combined with the budget for domestic law enforcement agencies, this expenditure accounts for 40% of the total budget. In the next step, the budget plan will be sent to President Vladimir Putin for signature.

The plan has undergone numerous revisions, with an additional 725 billion rubles allocated to defense spending in the second draft. In addition, Russia plans to spend at least 2.6 billion rubles on the territories it unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in September 2022.

To finance increased defense spending, Russia needs to increase revenues, with the first draft calling for a 22% increase in budget revenues compared to 2023.

According to AP, the final draft approved by the National Assembly on November 22 will increase the budget by 25% in the period 2024-2026, including a large amount for defense.

The report did not give specific figures, but said that for the first time defense spending exceeded social spending in Russia's modern budget.

Ukraine looks to US for support, Russia says aid is just a 'sedative'

In another development, TV2 on November 22 quoted Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store as saying that the country could follow Finland in closing its land border with Russia "if necessary".

The only legal land border crossing between Norway and Russia is the Storskog border crossing located in the far northeast of Norway.

On the same day, Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets accused Russia of organizing a "hybrid attack campaign" to bring migrants to the border, and said Estonia was prepared to close border crossings if "migrant pressure from Russia escalates," according to Reuters.

“Unfortunately, there are indications that Russian border officials and possibly other agencies were involved,” he said. Russia did not immediately comment on the reports.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/moscow-chi-ngan-sach-quoc-phong-ky-luc-2-nuoc-tinh-dong-cua-bien-gioi-voi-nga-18523112316271992.htm