Russia to increase spending on nuclear arsenals by 50 pct in three years

Russia would increase spending on its nuclear arsenals by 50 percent in the next three years, a parliamentary defense committee said Tuesday.

According to the committee's report, submitted for federal budget discussions, Russia intends to spend more than 46 billion rubles (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) on nuclear weapons building and maintenance in 2014-2016.

Though the federal budget for 2014 is expected to be tight, it envisages defense spending will increase from 2.1 trillion rubles (65.6 billion dollars) in 2013 to 3.38 trillion rubles (105.6 billion dollars) in 2016, or by 60 percent.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in September the planned budget deficit would result in no cuts in military procurement plans until 2020.

Also last month, President Vladimir Putin voiced his dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the nation's military rearmament, warning outdated military equipment threatened to hurt the efficiency of the entire army.

He urged military industrialists to stay on the cutting edge of arms development, demanding new military equipment be delivered to the armed forces starting from 2014.

Earlier this year, Putin said nuclear weapons remained the most important guarantee of Russia's sovereignty and integrity.

Russia plans to upgrade some 85 percent of its strategic nuclear weapons by 2020. The government has earmarked 20 trillion rubles (about 600 billion dollars) for the massive rearmament program until 2020.