Russia sets record for military spending

 Russia’s military budget spending reached a record 8.484 trillion roubles in the first half of 2025, according to calculations by Janis Kluge of Germany’s Institute for International Security Affairs based on Finance Ministry data, The Moscow Times reported.

Spending rose 31% from a year earlier, 95% from Jan–June 2023, and tripled compared with the first year of the war.

The share of defence in the state budget also hit a record: 41.2% in the first quarter and 39.8% by end-June, compared with 35% last year. More than half of all budget revenues were allocated to the war – 50.1% in Q1 and 48.2% in H1.

About 62% of defence spending is classified: 3.203 trillion roubles in open items and 5.281 trillion in “secret” expenditures. The shadow budget rose 41% in a year and nearly quadrupled since the war began.

A Russian government source told Reuters that even if peace talks on Ukraine succeed, Moscow does not plan to cut defence spending in 2026: “Shells and drones will still have to be produced, albeit on a smaller scale. Confrontation will remain, and the army and arms spending will grow because the West is ramping up too.”