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MINSK, 26 February (BelTA) – Global military spending is off the charts now, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov said as he addressed the high-level segment of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 26 February, BelTA has learned.
“Today, global military spending is off the charts. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2023 total military expenditures increased by almost 7% and exceeded $2.4 trillion. In Europe, this spending grew by 16% to $588 billion. And some countries have increased their military spending tenfold in recent years. We don't want to look into other people's pockets, but these figures are very telling,” the minister said.
He wondered what successes in disarmament the representatives of these states would talk about. Maksim Ryzhenkov cited the example of Great Britain that, as was reported in the news, was increasing defense spending by 0.7%. “And as a news story about it was unfolding, a news ticker was saying that household spending on utilities like heating, electricity, water, and so on would increase by almost 7%. Is it a coincidence? Consider it a coincidence," the diplomat said.
He cited the example of Belarus' nearest neighbor Poland that has repeatedly stated that it intends to create the strongest army in Europe. In 2023 its military spending amounted to almost $34 billion, or nearly 22% of the country's budget. For the same purposes in 2025 Poland plans to spend as much as $46 billion.
“Is all this being done for defense purposes? Is this how countries that do not want to go to war do it?! Ridiculous!” the diplomat remarked.
Lithuania's military expenditures in 2024 amounted to more than 11% of the country's state budget, Maksim Ryzhenkov said. And if Lithuania directs 7% of GDP to military expenditures, as NATO wants today, it will take almost a quarter of the state expenditures.
“And our other neighbor, Latvia, will have to increase its military expenditures to a third of the state budget. It would be nice if the citizens of these countries saw and understood what these figures mean for them. Then they would be able to put their finger on the reasons why healthcare and education are so expensive for them, why the social infrastructure and public services are deteriorating in their countries. We, as neighbors, see this,” noted Maksim Ryzhenkov.
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