Russia's Armed Forces
SIR,—It is important to keep a sense of proportion when discussing the aimed strength of Russia and comparing it with our own. The details given by Mr. Shinwell, and generally accepted, are imposing as absolute figures of Russian might, btst not so terrifying when allowance is made for the Vast size of the Russian population—approximately four times
our own. For instance, the stated strength of t1 Russian army, 2,800,000, should be compared with the 750,000 in our own armed forces: 25,000 Russian tanks do not seem unduly excessive when a population one-quarter the size has 6,000 in reserve.
It is also stated that the Russians are spending 13 per cent. of their national income on defence, compared with 8 per cent. here. It is well known that the Russian income per head is substantially 'lower than our own, and thus it would appear that the actual amounts of money spent on defence per head are approximately equal in each country, although imposing a greater real burden of sacrifice on the Russians.
Surely it is futile to argue the question of adequacy or excessiveness of armaments without some reference to a fixed point of comparison. If our own defence expenditure be taken as the standard, that of Russia does not seem out of proportion, while if the criterion for our forces is to be set by the Russian preparations, it can scarcely be maintained that our defence bill is inadequate.—Yours faithfully,
HattvEv R. COLE.
44 Avenue Road, Regent's Park, N.W.8.
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