International security

Commentary: Russia Must Walk a Fine Line With West Amid Crises in Ukraine, Syria

Russia's economic problems have proved quite manageable; they have had little effect on Russian military spending, which remained on target in 2015 and will face only minor nominal cuts in 2016. The country's ambitious armaments program has not faced any significant disruption. It has run into trouble in some individual sectors (especially shipbuilding) because imports of some types of engines and components from Ukraine and the Western countries have stopped, forcing Russian defense contractors to turn to domestic or Chinese suppliers. The Russian defense industry is still awash in cash from government contracts, and Russian defense exports remain steadily high.