This year, the Russian Federation's budget is short $28 billion for the war
Russia’s spending on the war against Ukraine this year has significantly exceeded projections, and the budget can no longer sustain the burden. Estimates suggest that additional costs could reach at least $28 billion, creating a serious deficit in the Russian Federation’s finances. This is reported by the Financial Times.
The Financial Times reports this, citing internal documents from the Russian Ministry of Finance, which, according to the publication, indicate a significant increase in military spending and the impossibility of maintaining the stated budget limits without cutting funding for other sectors of the economy.
The point is that war-related overspending of 2 trillion rubles could rise to at least 4 trillion rubles, and additional expenditures of the same magnitude are projected for the coming years, which effectively means a long-term strain on the Russian budget due to military spending.
The FT article notes that the Russian Ministry of Finance is already being forced to consider freezing part of non-military spending, which could amount to 2.9 trillion rubles this year and potentially rise to 7.1 trillion rubles by 2028, demonstrating a gradual “cutting back” on civilian spending in favor of the war. “Against the backdrop of rising military spending, Siluanov has asked the government to freeze 2.9 trillion rubles in spending across other areas as early as this year,” writes the Financial Times, citing a letter seen by the publication.
Despite the fact that Russia has already allocated about 16.84 trillion rubles to defense and security—accounting for nearly 40% of the country’s budget—the financial system continues to deteriorate: the deficit for the first four months of the year reached 5.9 trillion rubles, and this, as the FT notes, is the highest figure since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine.
Experts note that this trend may indicate a gradual depletion of the Russian economy’s resources, as it becomes increasingly dependent on military spending and is forced to sacrifice other sectors to sustain the war effort.
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