^ At $325 billion, the U.S. military budget request for FY'02 is nearly six times larger than that of Russia, the second largest spender.
- -Does Russia spend US$50 billion? This is 12% of their GDP and - -40% of public spending, I think. Is it possible to sustain - -this massive spending? Did this figure change since 1998?
Russia spends about 5% of GDP on the military.
Incidentally, in 1988, the USSR produced 3,500 tanks. In 1998, Russia produced 5.