§ Mr. Cryerasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what is the basis of Western assessments that military expenditure in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics accounted for 11 to 13 per cent., of its gross national product be- 54W tween 1969 and 1979, contained in paragraph 104 to Cmnd. 1826–1;
(2) what is the basis for disputing the figure of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics military expenditure given in paragraph 104 of Cmnd. 7826–1 as 17 billion roubles for 1979.
§ Mr. PymThe figures published by the Soviet Union for its military expenditures have shown a slight but steady decline from 17.9 billion roubles in 1972 to 17.2 billion roubles in 1979 with a further decrease planned for 1980. The size and trend of these figures are, however, belied by the known growth of the Soviet Armed Forces and the widespread and thorough re-equipment programme they have undertaken during the 1970s. These programmes are expensive at all stages from research and development through production to final deployment and will have entailed a substantial growth in spending. Since the Soviet figures are so unreliable, we have to make our own estimates of its expenditure and this is done in great detail every year by assessing the cost to the Soviet Union of all known items of spending, and aggregating them for purposes of comparison according to the NATO definition of defence expenditure. The figures used for the size of Soviet GNP are constructed from published Soviet sources.
Independent assessments by the United States accord closely with those made by the United Kingdom.