The Russian armed forces received more than 3,700 AFVs throughout 2023, according to a Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) end-of-year paper obtained by and reported on by TASS on 29 December 2023.
“Sufficiency level: over 84%. Shipped: over 1,500 tanks, over 2,200 armoured combat vehicles, over 1,400 rocket and artillery vehicles, over 22,000 unmanned aerial vehicles,” TASS reported the document as saying.
The document added that the Russian armed forces had received more than 12,000 other vehicles, of which more than 10% – 1,400 vehicles – were armoured.
Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow on 28 December 2023, the CEO of Russian state corporation Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, claimed the enterprise had “been able to increase production several-fold” in both 2022 and 2023.
In particular, Chemezov told Putin that Rostec had been able to boost the production of munitions for firearms and artillery systems by 50 times and had “increased the output of light armoured vehicles and equipment by 5.5 times and tanks by 7 times”.
In October 2023 the Uralvagonzavod factory, a Rostec subsidiary, announced that the Russian armed forces have taken delivery of a new batch of newly built T-90M and upgraded T-72B3M main battle tanks.
On 27 November 2023 Putin approved a major increase in military spending that will see around 30% of all fiscal expenditure – amounting to around RUB 36.6 Tn (EUR 370 Bn) directed towards the Russian armed forces in 2024. Russian spending on defence and security combined is set to reach around 40% of all budget expenditure in 2024.
This surge in Russian military spending amounts to an almost 70% increase compared to 2023, reflecting the fact that Putin is doubling down on his commitment to the war in Ukraine, no doubt hoping that discord among Ukraine’s Western allies will see military funding for Kyiv start to dry up.
