Russia acknowledges first defense spending cut since 1998

By Joel Gehrke

Published May 3, 2018 6:53pm ET

Russia acknowledges first defense spending cut since 1998 — Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, second right, watch a military exercise at a training ground at the Luzhsky Range, near St. Petersburg, Russia, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. The Zapad (West) 2017 maneuvers have caused concern among some NATO members neighboring Russia, who have criticized a lack of transparency about the exercises and questioned Moscow's real intentions. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) | (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russia cut its military spending in 2017, a Kremlin spokesman acknowledged, just as the United States and its European allies have imposed steep sanctions on the former Cold War rival’s economy.

“There is a tendency of a small step-by-step decrease in spending,” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday.

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