Russia to Increase Defense Spending to Record Amount

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Facts

  • Russia reportedly looks poised to increase its spending on defense by over 28% next year. If approved, it would be the highest figure spent on its military in the country's history.[1][2]
  • A draft budget sent to the State Douma — the lower house of the Russian legislative assembly — on Monday proposed spending 13.5T rubles (over $145B) on defense in 2025, 12.8T rubles ($140B) in 2026, and 13.1 rubles ($144B) in 2027.[3]
  • While the figures could change as the budget is yet to be debated in the Douma or the Federation Council, if approved in its current version, 32.5% of Russia's expenditure next year would go towards defense.[1][4]
  • Elsewhere in the budget, 1.68T rubles ($18.5B) was earmarked for education in 2025, while $1.86T ($20.5B) was allotted for health.[3]
  • Meanwhile, Russia's military started another round of conscription on Tuesday, stating that 133K people will be called up for service — 3K more than the number conscripted in the spring.[5]

Sources: [1]AP News, [2]France 24, [3]TASS (a), [4]CNN and [5]TASS (b).

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Guardian. Irrespective of whether the war in Ukraine comes to a close or not, the latest budget shows that Russian Pres. Putin is seeking a form of military Keynesianism — enacting excessive spending on defense in the hopes it will revive Russia's fledgling economy.
  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by TASS. Russia's budget is well thought-through, taking into consideration all the needs of the state so that every sector is adequately funded to meet the country's needs.

Predictions