Now it’s official: Putin is “all in”! It is clear that he does not plan to withdraw from Ukraine in 2024, but rather exactly the opposite.
For the West, Moscow’s new announcement is a “wake-up call”, as one expert says. The war could enter a new phase.
Putin does not give in: the army is a clear priority
On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Finance confirmed that military spending will grow enormously in 2024. The armaments budget is increasing explosively by almost 70 percent! The Kremlin wants to invest 10.8 billion rubles (equivalent to around 106 billion euros) in the army. This would represent about 6% of Russia’s expected gross domestic product next year.
Despite high inflation and although the ruble will have lost around 30% of its value in 2023, Putin wants to take things to the next level and invest even more in weapons. The priorities are therefore absolutely clear: according to calculations by the AFP news agency, around three times more money will flow into the army than into the education, health and environmental protection budgets combined!
Expert warns West: “Much greater effort is needed”
Eastern Europe expert Janis Kluge from the “Science and Policy Foundation” sounds the alarm on X (formerly Twitter): “The Russian budget plan for 2024 should be a wake-up call for the West. Putin wants to win. It will take much greater effort and expense on the part of the West to stop it.”
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The Russian army must compensate for losses
Putin also needs many billions to compensate for the huge losses of his troops. The Ukrainian General Staff claims that Putin’s army had already lost almost 4,700 tanks on the battlefields of Ukraine by the end of September. The Ukrainian side also claims that around 9,000 armored fighting vehicles and hundreds of aircraft and helicopters have been destroyed since the start of the war. Even if these numbers cannot be verified, the losses will likely be serious.
According to media reports, Russia wants to restart production of the old Soviet T-80 tank. This would be appropriate if Putin wanted to quickly make up for high losses.
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Christoph Wanner, Moscow correspondent for “Welt”, reported on Friday that Russia wants to buy short- and medium-range missiles from Iran. The UN export embargo expires on October 18. “It looks like Russia will attack then,” Wanner said. These missiles would be a complementary weapon to the kamikaze threats that Putin has already purchased from Iran for his war.