Putin signs budget with record spending on war

The head of the Kremlin Vladimir Putin signed the Russian budget for 2025-2027 with record expenditures under the article "National Defence". DW writes about it.

According to the law signed by Putin, in 2025 expenditures under the article "National Defence" will reach a record 13.5 trillion rubles. This is more than the planned financing of health care, education, social policy and the national economy combined.

In 2026-2027, military spending will be slightly lower: 12.8 trillion rubles and 13.1 trillion rubles, respectively.

As The Bell notes, 13.5 trillion for defence and national security is a record high for Russia. In the 2024 budget, military spending was set at 10.4 trillion rubles, which was also a historic high at the time, but at that time the government assumed that this was a one-time anomaly: it was supposed to sharply reduce military spending from 2025 to 8.5 trillion rubles.

It is worth noting that only 155 trillion rubles will be allocated for the programme "Development of Health Care" in Russia, 600.2 billion rubles for the programme "Development of Education", and 3.487 trillion rubles for the programme "Social Support of Citizens". 10 trillion roubles will be allocated to support families with children over the entire period 2025-2027.

To cover these expenses, from 2025, income taxes, taxes for small and medium-sized businesses, taxes on gas, oil and coal production will increase, excise taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and sweet drinks will also rise.

Total expenditures of the Russian budget for next year are planned at the level of 41.47 trillion rubles (19.3% of GDP). This is more than the expected revenues by Br1.17 trillion.