NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has admitted that Russia spends much less on defence but does it much more effectively than the alliance’s member states, RIA Novosti reported.
“Don’t forget, comparing Russian figures, that [in Russia – ed.] you can buy with the same money much more, because they don’t have our high salaries, our bureaucracy, they can act faster, they have actually created a military economy, switched industry to military,” Mark Rutte said.
In addition, the Secretary General noted that Russia has produced more weapons in three months than all NATO countries in a year.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was going through a difficult period in Russian history. He emphasised that in the emerging conditions of the new world reality, “someone is striving” to preserve its fading hegemony through Russia.
