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Russia to up defense spending by $2.6bln in 2007

MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will raise military spending by 70 billion rubles ($2.6 billion) in 2007, the finance minister said Wednesday.

"Defense spending will increase primarily to meet army equipment needs," Alexei Kudrin said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

The 2006 defense budget allocated less than $20 billion for defense spending, a fraction of the Pentagon budget's of $447 billion. China plans to spend about $29.6 billion on defense this year.

Kudrin said the increase will also cover service pay, which will rise by 50%.