Russian lawmakers approve massive increase in defence spending

Russian lawmakers approved an almost 30 per cent hike in defence spending next year, committing the country to yet more huge outlays on its military offensive against Ukraine.

Moscow had already ramped up military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet era, pumping out missiles and drones to fire on Ukraine and paying lucrative salaries to its hundreds of thousands of frontline soldiers.

Lawmakers in the lower house State Duma voted to approve the final

President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Moscow was already spending close to nine percent of its economy on defence and security — the highest level since the Cold War.

That figure includes other parts of its budget that are essentially security spending but which are not classified as "national defence".

reading of a budget that will see a record 13.5 trillion rubles ($134 billion) spent on "national defence" — more than six per cent of Russia's GDP.

The budget now needs to be rubber-stamped by the upper house of parliament before being signed into law by Putin.