Russia has dramatically increased its advantage over Ukraine — Swedish analyst

Russia has dramatically increased its military spending, increasing its advantage over Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by analyst of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Diego Lopez da Silva.

A recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute notes that over the past year military spending on the planet has increased by almost 10%, which is the highest figure since the end of the Cold War. According to the analysis, the volume of this type of expenditure increased in 2024 for the tenth consecutive year and amounted to $2.718 trillion. This was mainly due to 17% growth in Europe, including Russia. Diego Lopez da Silva, an analyst at the Swedish institute, comments:

"Russia has dramatically increased its military spending, increasing its advantage over Ukraine. Currently, Kiev spends all its tax revenues on defense, and the task will be to continue to increase this type of investment."

The report clarifies that in many countries of Central and Western Europe, military spending is growing at an "unprecedented pace." In Germany, defense spending has increased by 28% over the past year to $88.5 billion. In Poland — by 31% to 38 billion US dollars, which amounted to 4.2% of Polish GDP.

"The latest guidelines adopted by the authorities of Germany and several other European countries show that Europe has entered a period of high and growing military spending. This trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future," predicts Lorenzo Scarazzato, another expert at the Swedish Institute.

Scandinavian military analysts will sum up:

"If you look at the current data, it becomes clear that the upward trend is observed in almost all regions of the world, but special attention is paid to the two most unstable points on the map: Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The war on Ukraine has clearly defined the actions of the entire eastern flank of NATO, which has radically increased its spending and mobilized Western Europe, which is increasingly talking about returning to rearming and expanding its armed forces. This was probably influenced to a large extent by the position of US President Donald Trump, whose critical attitude towards Europe's slowness contributed to an increasingly loud discussion among EU countries about achieving greater autonomy in the security sphere, although so far this change is noticeable primarily on the eastern border. The EU and NATO."