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Military power of Russia & NATO

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Russia vs NATO

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Russia NATO

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.

More about Russia military

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (North Atlantic Alliance) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949. NATO is a system of collective security: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by others countries. NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels. The following twelve states signed the treaty and became the founding members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom and United States. The following states joined the treaty after 1949: Greece, Germany, Turkey and Spain. Members who joined after the dissolution of the Soviet Union: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

Before and during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, several NATO countries sent army to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank. Alliance had deployed 40,000 troops along its 2,500 kilometres long Eastern flank to deter possible Russian aggression. On 5 July the North Atlantic Alliance members signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland and formally approved the decisions of the NATO summit.

Finland joined the alliance on 4 April 2023.

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

Military expenditures

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small flag NATO

Military budget

+
86.4 billion $
1321.7 billion $

Percent of GDP

+
4.1 %
0 %

Manpower

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Active personnel

+
1,000,000
3,254,339

Reserve personnel

+
2,000,000
2,633,732

Available for military

+
34,765,736
206,903,543

Land Forces

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Tanks

+
12,267
12,328
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Armoured fighting vehicles

+
24,172
81,916
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Total artillery

+
18,266
12,467
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Self-propelled artillery

+
6,443
4,439
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Rocket artillery

+
4,331
1,751

Air Forces

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Total aircraft

+
4,418
20,987
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Fighter

+
340
903
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Multirole

+
382
3,663
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Attack

+
689
673
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Helicopters

+
1,665
7,945
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UCAV (combat drone)

+
100
965

Navy

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Total naval

+
653
1,990
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Aircraft carriers

+
1
30
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Destroyers

+
14
121
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Frigates

+
11
111
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Corvettes

+
80
54
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Submarines

+
66
144

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.

NATO

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.

NATO

Data not available