---
title: "Putin Just Declared Russia’s Military The Strongest In The World"
date: "2016-12-22"
modified: "2016-12-22"
authors:
  - name: "Sarah Sicard"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/sarahsicard/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/putin-just-declared-russias-military-strongest-world/"
categories:
  - "Around the World"
  - "News"
  - "Russia"
tags:
  - "European Command"
---

# Putin Just Declared Russia’s Military The Strongest In The World

![](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/04/19038241-1.jpg>)

At an annual end-of-year meeting with his defense ministry on Dec. 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered up quite a boast. “We can say with certainty: we are stronger now than any potential aggressor,” he said, according to [the Associated Press](<https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_MILITARY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-22-06-35-19>). “Anyone!"

Big words. Are they true? The numbers suggest otherwise.

In 2016, the International Institute for Strategic Studies released its annual [Military Balance 2016 study](<https://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military%2520balance/issues/the-military-balance-2016-d6c9>), which focused on 2015 international defense spending. It found that the United States spent $597 billion on its military, while Russia only spent around $65.6 billion. And as of 2016, the U.S. military has [1,334,911 active-duty](<https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/dwp/dwp_reports.jsp?utm_source=viz&utm_medium=viz.referral&utm_campaign=viz.ref.625&utm_viz_id=eI6GrknP7kp&utm_pubreferrer=www.ibtimes.com%252Fus-army-size-2016-fewest-active-soldiers-world-war-ii-pentagon-reduces-troops-2366224>) personnel, while active duty Russian troops [number around 845,000](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/03/03/ukraines-military-is-far-smaller-than-russias-but-theres-3-reasons-it-might-not-be-so-easy-to-crush/?utm_term=.c74253633a74>).

Meanwhile, [the U.S. military boasts](<https://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military%2520balance/issues/the-military-balance-2015-5ea6>) 10 aircraft carriers to Russia’s one; 62 U.S. destroyers to Russia’s 18; and 3,680 U.S. military aircraft to Russia’s 1,337.

Then again, when it comes to cyber warfare, the battlefield on which the two nations’ are mostly likely to meet next, [the jury’s still out](<https://www.businessinsider.com/us-behind-russia-cyber-warfare-2016-7>).