MOSCOW, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Russia's spending on nuclear weapons will increase by 50 percent by 2016, a draft budget released Tuesday by a parliamentary committee said.
The draft defense budget allocates more than 46 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) for nuclear weapons in 2016, RIA Novosti reported. This year's budget calls for a total of almost 30 billion rubles (almost $1 billion).
The State Duma Defense Committee's report said overall defense spending would rise 60 percent from 2.1 trillion rubles ($65 billion) to 3.4 trillion rubles ($104 billion).
The government submitted a proposed 2014 budget Monday. While Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the spending plan "very harsh," it projected a deficit of 391 billion rubles ($12 billion) in 2014 and 817 billion rubles ($25 billion) in 2015.
The country has been modernizing and upgrading its armed forces. New nuclear weapons systems that are being introduced include the Bulava ballistic missile designed to be launched from submarines, the Kh-102 long-range cruise missile and land-based intercontinental missiles.
