Medvedev: Sanctions force Russia to "give more attention" to defense, security expenditures
MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - The new sanctions imposed on Russian companies and banks force the Russian government to pay more attention to defense and security expenditures, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
"The pressure on Russia cannot help but impact our budget policy. There is no doubt social commitments will be fulfilled, we have enough funds for that. But we will also have to give more attention to our defense and security expenditures," he said at a government meeting.
There will be a budget conference to that effect on Thursday, the premier said.
"Russia has to adjust its economic development models to these decisions, switch to import substituting technologies and expand the use of domestic points of growth, among them financial resources," Medvedev stressed.
"This is normal or even not so bad for our economy; to some extent, this may be even useful," the prime minister indicated.
The 2015-2017 federal budget projects stipulate a 22.7% growth in national defense expenditures to 3.031 trillion rubles and a 3.6% increase in national security and law enforcement expenditures to 2.140 trillion rubles in 2015.
In 2016 the national defense budget will go up 10.2% to 3.339 trillion rubles, while national security expenditures will dip by 0.9% to 2.122 trillion rubles. National defense expenditures will grow again, 5.4%, to 3.521 trillion rubles, and national security expenditures will go down 6.7% to 1.980 trillion rubles in 2017.
