Vladimir Putin's resolution to lift defence spending by 70 per cent reveals that Western sanctions simply aren’t working, specialists stated final evening. The Russian chief has introduced that he intends to spend 10,775 trillion rubles (£96bn) on defence subsequent 12 months, a lot of which can go to improve Soviet legacy weapons and missiles which Russia has been deploying towards Ukrainian forces.

Last week overseas secretary Lord Cameron urged Nato counterparts to ship extra weapons to assist Kyiv defeat Russian forces, and warned that Moscow shouldn't be underestimated. Russia was focused by a raft of sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in 2021, which have been alleged to cripple its manufacturing base.

But its financial system has remained remarkably resilient, with inflation hovering at simply 6 per cent - roughly that of the UK. More than 40 per cent of all Russian authorities spending is now happening defence, and fewer of that cash is being misplaced to inflation than hoped by the west.

”Sanctions are supposed to change and restrict Russia’s decision-making functionality, however Russia has been making ready for sanctions since 2014. The Kremlin knew what they needed to do and so spent the years making ready the financial system to climate the storm.

“Add to this the fact that Russia has one of the largest military industrial complexes in the world and is geared up to feed a war in a way which most Western countries aren’t.“ William Freer, of the Council on Geostrategy think tank, said: “This defence boost is about the fact that Putin is running out of Soviet-era weapons and munitions.

“And he is finding it frustratingly easy to bypass sanctions. We might look at how countries like Kurdistan and Uzbekistan have quintupled orders from Germany and Poland for an answer.”

Bill Browder, activist and former ceo of Russia’s largest funding portfolio, added: “The six per cent inflation figure should be treated with suspicion. But the real point is that, while many are trying to force President Zelensky to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, a country that hikes its defence spending by 70 per cent is not a country that it planning to negotiate.”