As Norway fears alleged Russian spy whale, economists wonder if the Kremlin’s military has finally peaked
By Rick Noack Rick Noack Foreign affairs reporter focusing on Europe and international security Email Bio Follow April 29 at 8:09 AM BERLIN — When Norwegian fishermen spotted a beluga whale last week, there was nothing that immediately indicated a national security threat.
In this part of Europe, nobody would be surprised if the latest Norwegian discovery did indeed turn out to be the fallout of a military experiment gone wrong. Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin has been behind creepy reminders of the massive military apparatus lurking on Europe’s eastern outskirts: mystery submarines, unidentified jets that almost crashed with a passenger plane in at least one instance and strange troop movements.
But the numbers indicate that years of Russian military operations abroad, Western sanctions and falling global oil prices have left a mark. The Kremlin funded a major modernization program starting in 2010 that resulted in a surge in Russian expenditure, but annual spending has decreased substantially over the past two years after the project was completed.
Increased military spending in the European Union may also be a result of growing U.S. pressure to comply with the NATO obligation of 2 percent of gross domestic product, which many member states do not meet. The SIPRI figures may put countries that haven’t sufficiently increased spending, such as Germany, in an awkward position once again.
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