Abstract
The article views the Russian defense budget as a representation of national strategic interests, priorities, and policies. Although Russia conforms to the United Nations' statistical standard for reporting military expenditure, several budget categories are hidden in other parts of the federal budget. Transparency in defense spending has been decreasing steadily. The budgeting process itself is cumbersome and opaque. Parliamentary control over the budget process and control over the execution of defense appropriations are limited. Importantly, frequent changes in the system of national accounting impede historical comparisons. The study finds that the low quality of defense management, dominated by members of the military-industrial complex, is a major problem locking Russian defense policy in an institutional trap.
Highlights
Inside Russia, the topic of military expenditure is usually disregarded by economists and does not receive close scrutiny
The definition of military expenditure used by IET is based on a framework proposed by the United Nations – the U.N
The main part of military expenditure is concentrated in the National Defense budget function and covers the country’s spending on its military atomic program and its armed forces
Summary
Military budgets as “a visible manifestation of national strategic intentions, priorities, and policies” still are worthy objects for study and monitoring. In the Cold War era, western economists devoted serious attention to the Soviet economy in general and to Soviet military expenditure in particular. In the Cold War era, western economists devoted serious attention to the Soviet economy in general and to Soviet military expenditure in particular The validity of these efforts is obvious but, for the latter, their effect was mostly contradictory and some times disappointing. (Statistically, there is still little known about past Soviet military expenditure.3) With few exceptions, contemporary Russian military expenditure cannot boast of such attention, even though the United Nations (U.N.), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and others continue to monitor this subject. Inside Russia, the topic of military expenditure is usually disregarded by economists and does not receive close scrutiny Breaking this tradition of relative inattention, since the year 2000 the Moscow-based Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET), an independent research body, has begun to publish annual estimates of Russian military expenditure.. Prospects for the future, as announced by high-ranking Russian officials, are reviewed and some problems encountered when researching Russian military expenditure are discussed
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