The Duma's reluctance to fund rearmament reflected more than indifference to national defence. Legislators distrusted a state with a long record of repression and feared that the forces they financed might be turned against them. That political relationship weakened support for both naval and army procurement. Fleet construction was therefore a civil-military problem as well as an industrial and budgetary one.
Notable Point · 44:21-44:58
Why the Duma mistrusted military rearmament
Parliamentary resistance to naval and army spending reflected fear that the autocracy would use the same forces to repress its domestic opponents.