MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin on Friday lauded the health of Russia’s public finances and said additional defence spending had been needed to bolster national security as Moscow conducts what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Putin, speaking at the plenary session of Russia’s flagship St Petersburg International Economic Forum, said the public finances were generally balanced, putting the $42-billion budget deficit so far this year largely down to the postponement of some planned expenditures.
Analysts and data, however, suggest that slumping energy revenues and soaring military spending have played a key role.
“Naturally, additional funds were needed to strengthen defence and security, to purchase weapons,” Putin said. “We were forced to do this to protect our country’s sovereignty.
“I should say that on the whole this justifies itself from an economic point of view,” Putin added.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Gareth Jones)
