Defence budget cuts to have no effect on Russia’s defence capability

Russia’s defense budget cuts will not affect the country’s defense capability, member of the Defense Committee at the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament), Col.-Gen Viktor Zavarzin said on Tuesday.
The lawmaker commented on amendments to the budget discussed by the lower house of Russia’s parliament on Tuesday.
The amendments are expected to slash budget appropriations under the "National Defense" spending item by 157,217,500,000 rubles ($2.9 billion) to 3.12 trillion rubles (about $57 billion) compared with the budget outlays approved earlier, the lawmaker said.
The largest cuts are expected under the sub-items "Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" (by 99,741,400,000 rubles or by $1.8 billion) and "Mobilization and Reserve Officers Training" (by 654,400,000 rubles or by $11.9 million), he said.
"Today’s defense budget cuts will not in any way affect the state’s defense capability and the state’s obligations will be fulfilled," Zavarzin said, adding that "military pensions will be increased actually by 7.5% from October 1, 2015."
The Russian government will also not cut expenditures on the state armaments program, although the fulfillment of some of its parts will be shifted to a later period, the lawmaker said.