Putin has ordered preparation of Russian Federation’s budget for coming years of war: Kremlin has already spent more than $746 billion, - Russian media
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has ordered that priority funding for the defence sector be included in Russia’s federal budget for 2027–2029. Despite record military spending, the Russian Federation’s budget deficit continues to grow, and the authorities are being forced to cut civilian programmes and increase public debt.
According to Censor.NET, this is reported by Russian media outlets, including The Moscow Times.
Putin made this statement during a meeting with members of the 8th State Duma of the Russian Federation. He traditionally accused the West of "Russophobia" and of exerting pressure through sanctions, stating that Russia could not be "broken". According to him, the main priorities of the new budget should remain the strengthening of defence capabilities and the fulfilment of social obligations.
At the same time, the Kremlin’s actual expenditure on the war has already significantly exceeded the initial budget plans. Whilst 12.9 trillion roubles were earmarked for the ‘National Defence’ budget line for 2026, actual expenditure may be a further 4–5 trillion roubles higher.
To cover these costs, the Russian Ministry of Finance is preparing to cut funding for civilian programmes and plans to issue a further 2–3 trillion roubles of government debt.
According to estimates by Janis Klüge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International Security, Russia spent 5.9 trillion roubles on the war against Ukraine in the first quarter of 2026 alone. This is almost 30 per cent more than in the same period last year.
In total, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia’s expenditure on the war has already exceeded 53 trillion roubles, or over 746 billion dollars. According to one expert’s estimates, this sum would be enough to fund Russia’s entire healthcare system for almost 28 years, or to fund education for approximately 30 years at current spending levels.
Experts also point out that the concentration of resources on the war is having an increasingly severe impact on other sectors of the Russian economy. Despite tax increases, budget revenues are falling short of expectations, and the federal budget deficit for the first half of the year has already approached 6 trillion roubles. By the end of the year, it could rise to 7 trillion roubles.
