Russia is completely shifting economy to military — military expert Zgurets

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“According to various estimates, Russia can conduct high-intensity hostilities for about two years. This is provided that they have a stockpile of weapons close to the current one. However, this applies to different categories of weapons. Since the number of tanks in Russia has significantly decreased, they need to increase the production of ammunition, but the production of missiles has increased,” Zgurets explained.

The expert noted that the capabilities of the military-industrial complex and the economy will have a significant impact on the course of hostilities.

“Russia is completely shifting its economy to the military. Accordingly, this will lead to an increase in the rate of arms production in Russia. That's why we have an arms race between Russia, the US, European countries and Ukraine. The course of hostilities will directly depend on the pace of arms production by our partners and Ukraine. I hope that our allies realize this. In particular, with regard to the production of ammunition. We have entered the format of a war of attrition, where the capacities of the military-industrial complex and the economy will play a key role on the battlefield,” he added.

• On May 12, Sergei Shoigu resigned as head of the Russian Defense Ministry.
• On May 13, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin replaced Sergei Shoigu with Andrei Belousov as Russia's defense minister, moving Shoigu to the post of security council secretary instead of Nikolai Patrushev in preparation for a protracted war in Ukraine and a future confrontation with NATO.