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Putin backs Trump's proposal to halve defense spending
"I think it's a good idea. The US would cut by 50 percent and we would cut by 50 percent and then China would join if it wanted," Putin said in a televised interview.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on Dec. 19, 2024. (AFP/Alexander Nemenov)
R
ussian President Vladimir Putin on Monday backed a suggestion by US counterpart Donald Trump for Russia, the United States and China to all cut their defence budgets in half.
"I think it's a good idea. The US would cut by 50 percent and we would cut by 50 percent and then China would join if it wanted," Putin said in a televised interview.
Russia has massively ramped up military spending since launching its offensive in Ukraine in 2022, boosting economic growth but also inflation.
Putin said last year that over 2024 defence and security spending would reach about 8.7 percent of GDP.
He said Monday he could not speak for China but that Russia "could come to an agreement with the US (on cutting spending), we're not against it."
"We think it's a good proposal and we are ready for a discussion about this," he concluded.
Late last week, the Pentagon said on Friday it would cut 5,400 jobs as part of Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, a day after some Republican lawmakers faced jeers back home from voters angry about the aggressive effort.
The cuts, due to take place next week, are a fraction of the 50,000 Defense Department job losses that some had anticipated but they might not be the last. One top official, Darin Selnick, said the Pentagon will implement a hiring freeze and could ultimately reduce its 950,000-strong civilian workforce by 5 percent to 8 percent.
The cuts are the latest in a fast-moving overhaul led by tech billionaire Elon Musk that has laid off more than 20,000 workers and dismantled programs throughout the US government, from foreign aid to financial oversight.
Legal challenges have had mixed results so far, as federal judges have declined to stop the layoffs. A federal judge on Friday cleared the way for Trump to put more than 2,000 workers at the US Agency for International Development on leave.
However, the US Supreme Court blocked Trump from immediately firing the head of the Office of Special Counsel, an independent watchdog agency.
