After it was reported that more than a million artillery shells had been shipped from North Korea to Russia, many asked why Russia could not produce its own weapons, despite announcing a 300% increase in military production.

True, Russia manufactures its own weapons and ammunition—in huge quantities, given its national focus on war. Last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denys Manturov said that the defense industry is now producing more ammunition each month than it did in all of 2022.

This is one of the reasons why unemployment is so low, as weapons production is in full swing at many of the country’s arms factories and work shifts are exceeding their maximum numbers, Sky News explains.

Russian authorities have doubled their target for military spending in 2023 to more than $100 billion, equivalent to more than a third of total government spending, according to a document seen by Reuters that sheds light on Ukraine’s soaring war spending.

According to a document seen by Reuters, in the first half of this year alone, the Russian government led by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin spent 600 billion rubles more on defense than the initially set goal of 4.98 trillion rubles (54 billions of dollars). all of 2023.

For six months of the current year, Russia’s defense spending amounted to 5,590 billion rubles, which is 37.3% of the total spending in the first half of the year of 14,970 billion rubles. For comparison, Russia’s budget plans showed that 17.1% of the total amount of funds was supposed to be spent on national defense.

The figures shed light on Russia’s spending on the conflict in Ukraine at a time when Moscow no longer publishes data on budget spending.

The increase in defense spending has had the effect of supporting the economic recovery registered by Russia this year amid high industrial production, but on the other hand, it has contributed to a deficit in public finances that is already around $28 billion. the situation worsened with a decrease in export revenues.

Continued increases in defense spending could further exacerbate Russia’s deficit, while increased arms production could cannibalize other sectors and hurt private investment.

Not all of these funds will go to the production of weapons. It is necessary to fulfill the contracts of the soldiers, to pay the wounded and the families of the dead.

Putin and the director of Rostec talked about the shortage of qualified personnel, as well as the rapid increase in salaries in the country’s military industry, according to a fragment of the discussion encrypted on the Kremlin’s website.

He also spoke about the increase in wages at the company’s defense enterprises, which last year amounted to 17.2%, because many factories worked “both on weekends, and on holidays, and at night, and these days are paid, of course, with allowances.”

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Mykhailo Misustin at a video conference with Vladimir Putin Photo: Xinhua / Avalon / Profimedia Images

Part of this budget will also be taken by the “new territories” illegally annexed by Moscow in Ukraine.

But a significant increase in military production boosted GDP, stimulating economic growth in affected industrial segments.

And all this against the background of Western sanctions, the main purpose of which is to reduce Russia’s ability to continue this war.

Yes, they mean that Russia is forced to improvise and find weapons and technical components for its weapons elsewhere.

Import substitution is expensive; now also such key buyers of arms as India are not very eager to get weapons from Russia.

What weapons is Russia looking for in North Korea?

But Russia’s policy is to get what it can, wherever it can, given the constraints imposed by Western sanctions.

This is why Iran is at least supplying Shahed drones to Russia’s military effort.

It is likely that the North Korean weapons that Vladimir Putin denies buying are relatively cheap.

North Korea’s secret military capabilities cannot be accurately estimated, but a 2021 report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that Pyongyang has about 4,000 tanks, 2,500 armored vehicles, 550 combat-capable aircraft and 5,500 salvo launchers with the appropriate ammunition.

The administrator of the arms monitoring page Caliber Obscura told RFE/RL that Russia would likely seek ammunition for rocket and cannon artillery, as well as some materials used to make projectiles.

“It is possible that ballistic missiles will also be exported,” he added.

right Pinhole caliberit is “difficult to be sure [impactul pe care l-ar putea avea armele nord-coreene]but the increased availability of Russian artillery ammunition or parts and [materialelor] the continuation of artillery fire for longer will undoubtedly complicate the situation for Ukraine.”

Much of the arsenal is either Soviet-made or developed, or compatible with the same Soviet weapons used by Russia.

Make no mistake, however: Russia’s economy is on a war footing, and its defense spending shows that it is in this war for the long haul.