Russia Plans to Increase Military Spending by Another 4–5 Trillion Rubles This Year

According to the agency, Moscow plans to raise the necessary funds through borrowing on the domestic market. Bloomberg’s sources speak of 2–3 trillion rubles in new borrowing.

Experts note that in the current version of Russia’s budget, spending on servicing already accumulated domestic debt amounts to 4 trillion rubles. That is about 9% of all federal spending and the fifth-largest budget item after defense, national security, social policy and the economy.

Bloomberg writes that new borrowing will be unavoidable. In the first five months of 2026, Russia’s budget deficit rose to 6 trillion rubles, or 2.6% of GDP. That is roughly 60% above the target set for the entire year.

In early June, Bloomberg reported that representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank had warned Vladimir Putin that the current level of defense spending was leading to a dangerous increase in the budget deficit. However, according to the agency’s sources, Putin instructed the Finance Ministry to look for opportunities to cut other spending items without touching defense spending.

On June 10, the State Duma approved amendments to the Budget Code allowing the government to increase spending and expand state debt beyond the limits set by the budget law. Andrei Makarov, head of the Duma committee on budget and taxes, presenting the bill, said that “the law is urgently needed.”