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Military power of Russia & European Union EU

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Russia vs European Union EU

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Russia European Union EU

Russia is a country located in North Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean with an area of 17,098,242 km2 (land boundries: 22,407 km and costline 37,653 km). The capital of Russia is Moscow. The number of inhabitants is 146,171,015.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with an estimated 150 k troops. Russia is the leading member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Russian Federation's military is equipped with domestically-produced weapons systems. Russia is the world's second largest exporter of military hardware and has the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.

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The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union countries that are located in Europe with an area of 4,233,255 km2 The capital of Ukraine is Brussels. The number of inhabitants estimated is about 447 million. Members of EU: Germany, Latvia, France, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Sweden, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

The European Union were not devised as a military alliance because most of the members are in the North Atlantic Alliance. Since the withdrawal of the UK, France is the only member recognised as a nuclear weapon state. Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium participate in NATO nuclear sharing.

If you want to check the comparison in terms of economic ratios check out CompareEconomy.com

Military expenditures

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Military budget: 86.4 billion $ 295.8 billion $
Percent of GDP: 4.1% 0%

Military budget

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Highest value in the world: 916 billion $ (USA)
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Manpower

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Active personnel: 1,000,000 1,277,969
Reserve personnel: 2,000,000 1,687,132
Available for military: 34,765,736 92,594,951

Active

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Highest value in the world: 2,035,000 (China)
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Land Forces

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Tanks: 12,267 4,244
Armoured fighting vehicles: 24,172 29,656
Total artillery: 18,266 6,056
Self-propelled artillery: 6,443 1,856
Rocket artillery: 4,331 674

Tanks

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Highest value in the world: 12,267 (Russia)
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Air Forces

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Total aircraft: 4,418 5,350
Fighter aircraft: 340 415
Multirole aircraft: 382 883
Attack aircraft: 689 142
Helicopters: 1,665 2,336
UCAV (combat drone): 100 68

Total aircraft

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Highest value in the world: 13,175 (USA)
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Navy

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Total naval: 653 1,306
Aircraftcarriers: 1 7
Destroyers: 14 18
Frigates: 11 69
Corvettes: 80 23
Submarines: 66 48

Total naval

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Highest value in the world: 967 (North Korea)
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Nuclear weapons

Russia

The second most important state when it comes to researching, developing, and then storing nuclear weapon. Although the Russians managed to catch up with Americans later on, it was only in 1949 that the first nuclear test conducted by then the Soviet Union occurred. It was still quite a surprise for the Western Powers, who believed that Russia won’t be capable of producing nuclear warheads until 1953-1954. After the first test, the nation in question started to rapidly increase the amount of warheads they possessed. In the end of 1980s, they were the leading power when it comes to total number of warheads stored. It was approximately 40,000 warheads.

Nowadays, similarly to United States, the Russians store a total number of 6490 warheads, what is scarcely more than USA. When it comes to the number of deployed warheads, the amount is the same as in case of Americans, namely 1600 deployed warheads. We should also remember about the fact that Russia conducted over 700 tests, what makes them the second most important nation when it comes to developing nuclear weapons. However, it was the Soviet Union that managed to create the biggest bomb in the world. Known as Tsar Bomba, it had blast yield of 50 megatons of TNT.

European Union EU

Data not available

Military service

Russia

18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 1-year service obligation (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16, cadets classified as members of the armed forces.

European Union EU

Data not available