Russia’s defence spending will increase by 25 percent in 2025 to 13.5 trillion rubles ($145.32 billion) from 10.8 trillion rubles in 2024, state budget documents released yesterday show.

Defence spending will make up 32% of total budget spending and reach 41.5 trillion rubles. In 2022, the year the war in Ukraine began, Russia spent 5.5 trillion rubles on defense.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that the needs of the so-called “special military operation,” as Moscow calls the war in Ukraine, and support for the military would remain a budget priority.

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Defence spending is expected to fall to 12.8 trillion rubles in 2026. About 10% of total defence spending will be allocated to military personnel payments.

State spending on national security, a separate component from national defence that also includes funding for the military and security services, will reach 3.5 trillion rubles in 2025.

Total government spending on defence and security will amount to 17 trillion rubles, or nearly 41% of total spending. It will also amount to 8% of the country’s GDP.

The share of GDP is comparable to the estimated share of military spending in the late Soviet Union, when the Soviet Union was fighting a war in Afghanistan while maintaining a much larger nuclear arsenal to counter its Cold War adversaries.

Budget revenue from oil and gas sales is expected to fall to 10.9 trillion rubles, or 5.1 percent of GDP, in 2025 from 11.3 trillion rubles expected this year.

According to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the share of oil and natural gas in the state budget revenue will reach 27% of the total budget revenue.

The Russian ruble is forecast to weaken nearly 6% to an average of $96.5 per dollar in 2025, with oil prices, Russia’s main export, also falling to an estimated average of $69.7 per barrel in 2025 from $70 in 2024.

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