European powers would together have to find an extra $102 billion to meet his latest demands, it added. Western powers were concerned about Russia’s upgrades of air bases and air defense systems in Crimea - the peninsula it seized from Ukraine in 2014, the annual report said. Its stationing of an S-400 air defense system there increased Moscow’s reach in the Black Sea, where it seized three Ukrainian ships last year. China’s stated ambition to modernise its People’s Liberation Army by 2035 was “supported by defense spending that has been on a relentlessly upward trajectory”. Slower Chinese economic growth had caused a slight deceleration in spending - but the defense budget still grew nearly six percent between 2017 and 2018.

Source: bd News24 February 15, 2019 11:03 UTC