How Russia's most advanced military equipment stacks up against NATO hardware

REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin Russian servicemen march during the Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square May 9, 2014. Russia celebrates the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany during World War Two on May 9.

Despite Russia's saber-rattling towards NATO allies and its aggressive intervention in the Syrian civil war, 2016 has seen the country do the unthinkable and cut its defence budget for the first time in decades.

Half of the country's government revenues come from oil and gas exports, and its economy has taken a big hit since crude prices collapsed in 2014. Military spending fell by 5.6% in 2016 to £39.8 billion ($49.2 billion) from £42 billion ($51.5 billion) last year.

Despite that, Russia's military spending as a percentage of its GDP continues to outstrip that of countries within NATO by a considerable distance. It currently spends 5.4% of its annual GDP on defence - the closest a NATO country comes by comparison is the United States, which spends just 3.3%.

But how does the modern Russian military stack up against the best that the Western Alliance has to offer?

Take a look.

This post is based on a previous article by Mike Bird