Putin Backs Trump’s Proposal for US, Russia, China to Cut Defense Spending by 50%

Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed President Donald Trump’s proposal that the U.S., Russia, and China – the world’s three largest nuclear powers – should cut defense spending in half.

The Details: Putin’s remarks came during a televised interview on Monday. He said, “I think the idea is a good one: the United States would reduce by 50%, and we would reduce by 50%– and [China] would then join in if it wants to.”

For Context: The U.S. is the world’s biggest defense spender, accounting for approximately 37%, according to 2023 figures from Wikipedia. China and Russia are second and third, spending about 12% and 4.5% respectively.

Geopolitical Context: Russia and the U.S. have signaled they are aligned against Western Europe in several ways this past week. On Monday, the U.S. voted with Russia against a European-backed Ukrainian resolution at the United Nations. It then brought a competing resolution to the United Nations Security Council that called for an end to the conflict but refrained from blaming Russia – France and Britain abstained from voting. There has also been reporting that U.S. businesses could return to Russia, and Putin has proposed striking a rare earth metals deal with the U.S.

How The Media Covered It: As of early Tuesday, Putin’s remarks were not widely covered by sources AllSides has rated, and notably not by American sources. Barrons (Center bias) and Moscow Times (Center) both ran wire coverage from France’s AFP. The Washington Post (Lean Left) was the only mainstream American outlet AllSides found to cover the remarks, though it framed its headline around Putin’s rare earth minerals remarks, which were more amply covered by Western mainstream media.