Weekly Russian war spending exceeds annual budgets of most regions
Weekly spending on the war in Ukraine now exceeds the annual budgets of 75% of Russian regions, according to The Moscow Times.
For the second consecutive year, Russia’s weekly military expenditures surpass the yearly budgets of most of its regions.
In 2026, Russia’s military spending is expected to reach 12.9 trillion rubles — almost 30% of the entire federal budget. This is slightly less than in the current year (13.5 trillion rubles), but war spending is three times higher than spending on economic development and four times higher than combined spending on education and healthcare.
The analysis used data on regional budgets for 2022–2026 approved by local authorities, comparing these figures with the “National Defense” category of the federal budget, which primarily covers the costs of military operations in Ukraine.
Budgets of annexed Crimea and occupied Ukrainian regions were not included in the calculations.
