Weapons

How Russia's most advanced military equipment stacks up against NATO hardware

Despite Russia's saber-rattling towards NATO allies and its aggressive intervention in the Syrian civil war, 2016 has seen the country do the unthinkable and cut its defence budget for the first time in decades.

Half of the country's government revenues come from oil and gas exports, and its economy has taken a big hit since crude prices collapsed in 2014. Military spending fell by 5.6% in 2016 to £39.8 billion ($49.2 billion) from £42 billion ($51.5 billion) last year.

Despite that, Russia's military spending as a percentage of its GDP continues to outstrip that of countries within NATO by a considerable distance. It currently spends 5.4% of its annual GDP on defence — the closest a NATO country comes by comparison is the United States, which spends just 3.3%.