The drama (and perplexity) surrounding last week's changes in the
Kremlin should not distract attention from the hard facts embodied in the new Soviet 'defence' budget. These facts are very hard indeed. The crucial point is that Soviet expenditure on weapons will be well over a fifth larger this year than the already formidable total laid out for weapons in 1954 a•nd pre- vious years. This harsh conclusion follows from facts which are well known in their orders of magnitude. The acknowledged Soviet 'defence' budget this year totals 112.1 billion roubles, an increase of about an eighth on the corresponding 1954 total of 100.3 billion roubles. Last year the pay, main- tenance, and other non-armament expenditure of the Lti million men in the Soviet armed forces cost, on the best available esti- mate, about 50 billion roubles, leaving about 50 billion roubles over for actual weapons—including bomber and fighter air- craft, cruisers, submarines, tanks, guns and ammunition—for military stores (including petrol, oil, and lubricants), and for freight charges on such items, etc. This year, subject to changes as yet unannounced and unforecast, the pay, maintenance, ttnd other non-armament expenditure for Soviet armed forces at about the same strength should cost much the same as last year —i.e., about 50 billion roubles; and this year's margin for military 'hardware' will therefore be about 62 billion roubles, or a good fifth larger than in 1954. Making a very rough esti- mate on the basis of published British costs, the increase alone in the amount provided for weapons in this year's disclosed Soviet 'defence' budget would pay for, say, 1.000 of the new MiG-17 fighters, together with, say, 100 of the big new Soviet four-jet atomic bombers, together with the tanks needed for ten Soviet (or Soviet-type : Chinese, for example) tank divisions, and would still leave a very handsome margin over for other purposes. And to this large increase in expenditure on weapons in the disclosed Soviet 'defence' budget must be added the outlays concealed elsewhere in it for other purposes— including the immense effort going into hydrogen bombs.
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