Russian regions will cut social spending to fund payments to military personnel

Against the backdrop of rising military spending, Russian regions are being forced to cut funding for key social programs in order to redirect funds toward payments to military personnel and their families.

In particular, authorities in the Tula region diverted more than 54 million rubles ($637,000) that had been earmarked for social support for the population and redirected these funds to payments for military personnel.

Among the programs affected by the cuts were payments to foster parents for the care of orphaned children, as well as funding for assistance to low-income families, retirees, and labor veterans.

Even more extensive spending cuts are planned in St. Petersburg. Officials there are proposing to slash budget expenditures by 70.2 billion rubles ($828 million).

The funding cuts will affect sectors such as education, healthcare, and housing and utilities.

At the same time, the St. Petersburg authorities plan to increase spending on payments to war veterans and their families by an additional 6.4 billion rubles ($75.5 million).

These decisions are being made against the backdrop of significant local budget deficits in Russian regions. Consequently, the authorities are redirecting funds that were previously allocated for the population’s social needs to finance war-related payments.

As a result, programs supporting orphans, low-income families, and retirees, as well as those in the medical and educational sectors, are facing cuts, while funding for payments to military personnel and their families is increasing.

This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation. 

Earlier, the St. Petersburg authorities proposed a significant revision of the city’s 2026 budget expenditures. The draft amendments were sent for review. According to the document, the budget’s expenditure side could be cut by 70.2 billion rubles—to 1.58 trillion rubles.

As a reminder, in Russia—an aggressor state—President Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting the authorized strength of the armed forces at 2,441,630 personnel. 

Russia, as an aggressor state, plans to allocate 17.1 trillion rubles to defense in 2027. This is approximately 27% more than the initially planned 13.5 trillion rubles and is the highest figure since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022.