MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Defense Ministry will allocate more than 1.4 trillion rubles ($24 billion at the current exchange rates) to implement the state arms procurement program in 2017, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said Tuesday.
"Taking into consideration the financial and economic capabilities of the country, more than 1.4 trillion rubles are reserved to implement the state procurement program in the sphere of arms procurement, as well as of military and special equipment," Borisov told Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.
He added that the implementation of the procurement programs in recent years had given grounds for full implementation of the program in regard to the strategic weapons.
Russia is in the process of implementing a large-scale rearmament program, announced in 2010, which is expected to end in 2020. The cost of the modernization is estimated at about 20 trillion rubles.
