Among the most important lessons the world is learning from Russia's sting operation in Ukraine, Romney argues, is how the US and its Western allies "were caught off guard by the real strength of the Russian military."
“Countless inaccurate assessments have clearly shown that the United States should invest much more resources in understanding what our military power is like compared not only to Russia, but also to China,” the senator said.
In the letter, he urged the head of the Pentagon to immediately fund and conduct a study that will provide insight into how Beijing and Moscow are investing in their defense sectors, including human resources, new conventional and nuclear weapons, advanced capabilities such as cyber weapons, and how to correlates with American budgeting.
Romney noted that more than 18 months ago, he proposed to Congress to conduct a similar analysis, but the work has not begun.
The parliamentarian also drew Austin's attention to the fact that the Russian authorities intend to continue to build up the country's military power, despite the sanctions.
In this regard, the politician proposed to find out what effect American restrictive measures have on the Russian military budget.
In July, the lower house of the US Congress approved the country's defense budget for fiscal year 2023.
Its amount can be about $850 billion.