05.06.2023, Moscow.
Considering the current situation, Russia needs to significantly increase the size and quality of the army, the power of the fleet, and the defense spending, said philosopher, political scientist, the leader of the Essence of Time movement Sergey Kurginyan on May 26 in the program Conversation with a Sage on the Zvezda radio.
The political scientist noted that Russia should increase the power of its navy, as well as the entire armed forces. In his opinion, the country needs a professional army at least three-million strong. At the same time, it should be an army “with different infrastructure, with a different way of being, with completely different salaries, with different equipment and a military-industrial complex.”
“This country does not belong to neither bureaucrats nor oligarchs, it belongs to us all — the people. And currently, when it is hanging over the abyss, it’s a good moment to calm down and say: ‘So, what’s next’?” – said Kurginyan.
Today, Russia spends only 2-3% of its budget on defense, its military spending should be completely reviewed, noted the philosopher. He recalled that during the time of war, defense spending in the US took up to a third of its budget, and in other years it accounted for 10-15-20% percent.
“This is not the same thing as spending on luxury housing. These are aircraft carriers or some other type of modern ships, aircraft and everything else. This requires metal, professional workers, wages; this is the revival of industrial development – is there anything wrong with that? Why is that so bad, I don’t understand. Why is this such a taboo?” – the political scientist is asking.
While Russia was focused on integration with the West, the public discourse was about avoiding the mistakes of the USSR in the arms race, noted Kurginyan. He explained that, in fact, the mistakes of the Soviet Union were completely different – it was wrong to believe that the Western path of development is feasible.
“This is where it all started. As I have already quoted one of our very good patriotic singers, ‘no one took us by storm, we opened all the gates ourselves.’ It all started from that point on – from the belief that this is the right track, the right path, from this seduction… that everything is going to be fine, just like over there, abroad… here, we will have everything they have over there. That’s where the defeat in the Cold War had started, at that point,” said the leader of Essence of Time.
The assumption that Russia cannot be engaged in an arms race was wrong, emphasized Kurginyan. At the same time, he stressed that strengthening the Russian fleet in order to control the seas has a strategic importance.
“What are we going to do in the Baltic and Black Seas? Why do we even end up with these wonderful territorial gains if we lose control over the Black Sea? Do we just need Crimea by itself? Is it all about a thing in itself or about control over the strategic Black Sea? It is necessary to control the strategic Black Sea, but Crimea is not the only thing that’s needed,” emphasized the political scientist.
Kurginyan stressed the attention on the fact that there is a need for a different military potential and different results in terms of making territorial gains during the current Russian military operations. In this regard, he pointed out that the size of the army and the expenditure on the military-industrial complex are insufficient.
“If we stay on this path, we need about 3-3.5-million strong army of heroes, and not a fraction of that – like we have now. You can’t put it together all at once, we must be accomplishing it daily, and we need a military-industrial complex. If we stay on a different path, then we must hold on to the Baltic and the Black Sea, but we should not just run away to the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean; there, we’ll have to face a different set of issues,” said Kurginyan.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
