In the first quarter of 2026, Russia's military spending reached a record 5.908 trillion rubles. This was reported by Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, based on data from the Russian Ministry of Finance. This is reported by The Moscow Times, according to UNN.
Details
According to Kluge's calculations, spending on the army and arms production in January-March 2026 increased by 29.9% compared to the same period last year. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the growth was 68.7%, compared to 2023 – 129%, and compared to the beginning of 2022 – 4.6 times.
As a result, for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the share of military expenditures in the budget reached 46%. In other words, every second ruble went to the army, Kluge emphasizes. On average, as follows from his calculations, the Russian military machine "consumed" about 2.7 billion rubles per hour and 65 billion rubles per day — an amount comparable to the annual budget of the Novgorod or Orel regions (69 and 61 billion rubles, respectively). Monthly war expenditures — about 2 trillion rubles — exceeded the annual budget of Russia's entire higher education system (1.7 trillion) and all Russian regions except Moscow,
According to the publication, the main increase in military spending fell on classified budget items. At the end of the first quarter, their volume increased from 3.4 to 4.9 trillion rubles. As a result, the share of secret expenditures reached 38.2% of all budget spending, which amounts to 12.8 trillion rubles for the quarter.
Recall
Russian dictator Putin plans to spend about 40% of budget funds on defense and the security sector, which is a record since the times of the USSR. This indicates the Kremlin's intention to continue the war despite the budget deficit and the reduction of social programs.