Russia to increase defense spending by 27.6 percent next year

Russia plans to increase its defense spending for 2005 by 27.6 percent, according to a draft budget released on Friday.

If the draft budget is approved by the finance ministry, some 528 billion rubles (about 18 billion US dollars) will be invested in defense spending next year, while the figure this year was at around 413 billion rubles (nearly 14.1 billion dollars).

The bill will earmark 383 billion rubles (over 13 billion dollars) for the armed forces and more than 8 billion rubles (over 273 million dollars) for the nuclear weapons sector, reported Interfax news agency.

The draft allocates some 81 billion rubles (nearly 2.8 billion dollars) for scientific research in the national defense, and over 1 billion rubles (about 34.1 million dollars) on mobilization operations and training.

The draft budget also projects spending 398 billion rubles (nearly 13.6 billion dollars) on law enforcement and other national security organs, a 26 percent increase over this year's 316 billion rubles, said Interfax.