2024-10-05
23 分钟This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
Dineshans, Tetris holding.
BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts.
Hello.
It's 954 days since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine.
And Vitaly, the Russians have announced they are hugely increasing their spending on defence.
That's correct.
Russia is hiking defence spending yet again, this time by a quarter to another, all time high of 13.5 trillion rubles, which translates into more than 100 billion pounds, or almost $150 billion in 2025.
That's 40% of government spending next year.
That is an astonishing amount of money.
So if this is the highest level of defense spending on record for Russia, what does that tell us about how they view their approach to what's happening in Ukraine?
Well, clearly the message that Russia is sending to itself, its own people and the world is that it's determined, or Vladimir Putin is determined to continue pursuing the war.
Can he afford that?
Well, let's look at the numbers.
Despite all the Western sanctions, Russia's income from oil exports, for example, has surpassed pre war levels.
The Russian economy is expected to grow faster this year than any of the G7 economies.
That's the world's seven most advanced economies.
So Russian economy is doing pretty well.
And that's what we're going to explore, especially how it will impact the war in this episode of UkraineCast.
Ukraine cast from B.