Russia may set a record for military spending this year. Moscow has significantly increased funding for the war compared with its initial budget plans. Bloomberg reports this, writes UNN.
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Dictator Vladimir Putin decided to increase spending at the end of last year. This happened after he concluded that talks with the United States in Alaska would not lead to an acceptable deal to end the hostilities.
By the end of 2026, defense spending is expected to reach nearly 17 trillion rubles ($199 billion). This is approximately 40% more than provided for in the initial plan announced by the Russian government at the end of 2025. The current trend sharply contrasts with the situation a year ago, when Moscow planned to contain the growth of military spending in an attempt to reduce the budget deficit and replenish reserves depleted during the war.
In January, the Kremlin concluded that reaching an agreement with Ukraine was unattainable, and that U.S.-led efforts had failed to achieve a breakthrough. After that, the Russian government began accelerating advance payments to defense-industry companies and increasing other war-related expenditures.
As a result, the projected budget deficit for 2026 rose to more than 7 trillion rubles (over $81.9 billion), compared with the initially planned 3.8 trillion rubles (approximately $44.5 billion). The government financed the additional spending in 2026 through increased domestic borrowing and gold sales.
According to budget plans, Russia's military spending in 2027 will amount to 17.1 trillion rubles (approximately $200 billion). In 2028, it will decrease to 16.6 trillion rubles (approximately $194 billion), and in 2029 it will amount to 16.3 trillion rubles (approximately $190 billion).
"The government is finally building a scenario of a prolonged war in Ukraine into the budget, but at the same time it still underestimates its cost. Maintaining nominal defense spending at the same level will be difficult, as the war of attrition drags on and military production costs rise," says Kateryna Vlasova, an economist specializing in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.
According to her, next year's war expenditures will again exceed the planned level, although the excess will be smaller than this year. This will make it possible to keep the budget deficit at around 3% of GDP.