According to the report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for 2016, Russia came in third place in terms of army spending. The growth of Russian spending on this sphere increased by 5.9% and amounted to 69.2 billion dollars, according to the report.
The first place continues to be held by the United States with an unattainable result of $ 611 billion, demonstrating an increase in military spending by 1.7% over the past year. The second step in spending is China, which spends on the army 215 billion dollars. Saudi Arabia, which previously ranked third, cut its spending by almost a third and fell to fourth place.
The growth in defense spending in Eastern and Western Europe was moderately 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively, despite concerns about the Russian threat. Nevertheless, the 2016 was the second consecutive year of rising military spending in Europe.