Even if the Kremlin wasn’t shell-shocked by Sunday’s devastating drone attack on military targets across Russia by Ukraine’s intelligence service, would today’s UK Strategic Defence Review be awaited with bated breath in Moscow?
As Keir Starmer talks of achieving 2.5 per cent of GDP spent on defence early in the next parliament, Vladimir Putin increases spending year-on-year by about 3.5 per cent. Some 40 per cent of Russia’s budget now goes on defence and security, notably prosecuting its war with Ukraine.
