SIPRI

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) was founded in 1966 and is based in Solna, Sweden. It is an independent policy institute producing authoritative annual data on global military expenditure, arms transfers, and arms control. Governments, journalists, and international organisations treat SIPRI figures as the closest available neutral ledger in a field where every party has an interest in shaping the numbers.

SIPRI has been central to two major datasets in 2026. Its arms-transfer figures, released 9 March, showed Russia's arms exports fell 64% over the most recent five-year period, while EU member states grew 36%, outpacing the US at 27% and China at 11%. It also published Julian Cooper's analysis of Russia's 2026 federal budget, revealing defence and security consuming 38-40% of all federal spending — a Soviet-era ratio. That finding has since been underscored by Reshetnikov's own April 2026 admission that Russia's internal reserves are 'largely exhausted', with Q1 oil tax revenue halved year-on-year.

SIPRI's authority rests on methodological consistency across decades: it compares what states actually spend, not what they declare. With 84% of Russia's military budget classified, independent verification is near-impossible, which makes SIPRI's estimates both indispensable and contested. The institute's data on European export growth has also reinforced arguments that NATO partners are steadily closing the capability gap with the US.