Russia well capable of resisting US with far less military spending: Defense minister

[Ray Allan]

Russia's defense chief says Moscow - unlike the United States - sees no need to pump large amounts of taxpayer money into its military budget since the Russian military has no intention of attacking others and is already well capable of defending the country against enemies.

Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told the Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper on Sunday that Washington's military budget far exceeds that of Russia, but that Moscow does not seek to compete with Washington in that area because it is "already resisting the United States thanks to our science, industry, projects."

"We do not compete with them on all fronts. If you study the military budget of the United States in details, you'll see that huge amounts of money [are] spent on various military bases located across the world," Shoigu added.

"The US spends huge amounts of money on private military contractors, on aircraft carriers," he pointed out. "Well, does Russia really need five or ten aircraft carrier strike groups, considering that we do not intend to attack anyone?"

Shoigu said Russia solely seeks the kind of military equipment that are required to "use against the enemy's carrier strike groups should our country come under attack," adding that such defensive weapons are "far less costly and more efficient."

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/...tary-US-budget