Russia's Spending On War Has Set A New Record
5- 27.08.2025, 20:00
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47 billion Russian rubles a day.
Russia's military budget expenditures in the first half of 2025 set a new absolute record - 8.484 trillion rubles, a researcher at the German Institute for International Security Affairs Janis Kluge has calculated on the basis of data from the Ministry of Finance.
Compared to the same period last year, spending on the army and weapons production increased by 31%; compared to January-June 2023 - by 95%, and if compared to the first year of the war - threefold, according to Kluge's calculations.
On average, the "war machine" ate up 1.4 trillion rubles a month and 46.9 billion rubles a day - an amount that exceeds the annual budgets of poor Russian regions (28.8 billion rubles in Kalmykia, 30.5 billion rubles in Karachay-Cherkessia, 42.7 billion rubles in the Altai Republic).
Almost two-thirds (62%) of the military budget in Russia is classified, Kluge's estimates show: in six months, Br3.203 trillion was spent on open defense items, while Br5.281 trillion was spent on "shadow" items. Over the year, the secret budget increased by 41%, and compared to January-June of the first year of the war - almost 4 times.
In 2022-24, the government spent more than 20 trillion rubles on the army and the state defense order. And the 2025 budget included another 13.5 trillion rubles under the "national defense" item - 30% of all expenditures, or a record share since the Soviet Union.
Including the "national security" item, which includes the budgets of the Interior Ministry, Rosgvardia, Investigative Committee and special services, the security forces were allocated about 40% of the treasury's expenditures, or 8% of GDP. But the actual amount will be even higher, a government source told Reuters.
Even if peace talks in Ukraine succeed, the Kremlin has no plans to cut military spending in 2026, the source said: "We will still need to make shells and drones, although on a slightly smaller scale. The confrontation will continue, the army and spending on weapons will be bigger, because the West is also increasing them."
In case the active phase of hostilities is over, the military budget may decrease from 2027, although "we should not expect a reduction to the levels that were before 2022," the Reuters source emphasized.
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