If Russia refuses to cut back on, or abandon, its rearmament policies, and if the oil price does not recover to above $90 a barrel in the foreseeable future, the Russian government could find its security and prosperity of recent years rapidly transforming into deficits every bit as alarming as the problems now facing the United States.From Space War:
Russia's leaders are determined to massively increase their spending to expand and modernize their armed forces, but with global oil prices collapsing, where are they going to find the money to do it?
Russia is the second-largest oil exporter in the world and the largest combined oil and gas exporter. Oil exports, which were only around $13 billion in 2001, are going to be well above $210 billion this year. Credit for this dramatic expansion goes in large part to the painstaking work of Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin, who has a passionate command of detail as well as overall strategic planning for the Russian energy sector.
The Russian economy was still riding high as recently as a month ago, and Russian leaders were even floating the idea of a gold-backed ruble as a major international currency. The U.S. dollar has not been interchangeable for gold since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the United States off the gold standard three-quarters of a century ago.
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My Comment: Russia will still find the money. Defense and security is Russia's priority right now .... and nothing is going to change this.