Does the Russian government really spend 40% of its budget on the military?
More or Less: Behind the Stats
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
According to the head of the British military, the Russian government spends 40% of its budget on its war machine. But is it true? With the help of Professor Bettina Renz from Nottingham University and Dr Richard Connolly from The Royal United Services Institute, Olga Smirnova investigates the figure. Presenter: Tom Colls Producer: Olga Smirnova Production Co-ordinator Katie Morrison Series Producer: Tom Colls Sound Mix: Graham Puddifoot Editor: Richard Vadon
Image: Russian Military Perform Victory Day Parade Night Rehearsal in Moscow Credit: (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan |
| 0:05.2 | I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy |
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| 0:40.3 | Hello and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast with me Tom Coles. |
| 0:45.0 | Each week we turn the numbers in the news upside down. |
| 0:49.0 | We give them a good shake and see which figures don't crumble into dust. |
| 0:57.0 | The military might of Russia, or lack thereof, has been in the news ever since their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. |
| 1:02.0 | One stat in particular has been doing the rounds in recent months |
| 1:05.5 | that seems to express the terrifying scale of the Russian war machine that Russia |
| 1:10.8 | spends 40% of its entire government budget on the military. |
| 1:15.6 | This claim has turned up on podcast. |
| 1:18.4 | 2.5% Russia of course spends nearly 40% of its budget on defence. |
| 1:23.0 | 40. |
| 1:25.0 | It's percolating around on social media, |
| 1:29.0 | and it's even been stated by the head of the British military. |
| 1:32.0 | The Russian economy is being twisted even more out of shape. |
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