Russia plans to slightly boost spending on military equipment in 2010 despite the economic crisis, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday, the first anniversary of the country's war with Georgia.
"Despite the difficult conditions in which we find ourselves today and which are due to the crisis, we have still succeeded not only in maintaining, but also raising the total volume of military orders by 1.2 percent," Putin said of next year's spending, Russian news agencies reported.
The increase is far below that of recent years. In 2007, for example, the budget for defence equipment jumped more than 20 percent on the previous year.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said 470 billion rubles (10.3 billion euros, 14.6 billion dollars) would go toward arms purchases and military equipment in 2010.
Much of the money would be spent on nuclear weaponry and anti-missile defence.
Russia's economy has been hit hard by the global slowdown and the country faces dwindling revenues over the next years amid lower oil prices and dwindling tax receipts.
Russia overwhelmed Georgia's military in their brief war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia last year.
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