MOSCOW, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense spending should be comparable with that of any other nuclear power, but never at the expense of economy, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
"In terms of GDP, our defense spending is comparable or slightly lower than in other nuclear powers, France or Britain for example," Putin said in his annual state of the nation address to parliament.
"However, in absolute figures, which is the most important, it [defense spending] is half as much," Putin said.
He added that the figures were incomparable with the United States' spending on defense, which in absolute terms is 25 times higher than in Russia.
"This is what you call 'my home is my castle," he said. "It means that we should make our home strong and reliable because we see what is happening in the world."
In 2005, the Russian budget allocated less than $20 billion for defense spending, against a Pentagon budget of $447 billion. China planned to spend about $29.6 billion on national defense this year.
But Putin cautioned against military development at the expense of the economy and social sphere.
"While understanding how acute the problem is, we should not repeat the mistakes of the Soviet Union, of the Cold War era either in politics or in defense strategy," Putin said.
