In the first quarter of 2026, the Russian federal budget turned into a real financial absurdity: the deficit reached 4.576 trillion rubles - more than for the entire year 2025. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
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As noted by intelligence, it fell by 1.5%, industry is stagnating, construction and transport are sagging, and regions are closing the year with a 1.5 trillion hole. But even against the backdrop of such a situation, the Kremlin continues to spend funds at a rate of +17% compared to last year's level, advancing contracts even before work begins, the Foreign Intelligence Service reported.
The dynamics of revenues are particularly cynical. Oil and gas revenues collapsed by 45.4%, non-oil and gas revenues increased by 7.1%, and turnover taxes, including VAT, by 8.9%. At the same time, corporate profits in January fell to 70.9% of last year's level, and the share of unprofitable companies reached 38%. How is this possible? It's simple - inflation, tax increases, and total digital control over every ruble. At the same time, it is clear how Russians themselves allow the authorities to impose new taxes on them, silently agreeing to the role of a voiceless donor. They agree to live poorer, and for their money to go not to schools or hospitals, but to "priority tasks" that the Kremlin calls a "special military operation"
The Ukrainian intelligence added that the Russian economy currently looks like this: the military-industrial complex gets everything, the rest gets nothing.
The federal center shamelessly increases spending, while the regions drown in debt. And instead of admitting policy failure, the authorities look at their citizens, as Peter the Great once did, considering them an inexhaustible source of taxes. Russians, who endure rising prices, job cuts, and a falling standard of living, are effectively paying for every missile, every bomb, every day of the war that their government unleashed against Ukraine
Recall
In Russia, against the backdrop of a growing budget deficit, they plan to cut state support for the agro-industrial complex.