Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the country’s budget for 2025, which includes record-breaking spending on military needs amid Moscow’s ongoing assault against Ukraine.
The budget allocates about 126 billion U.S. dollars to national defense, which reportedly amounts to 32.5 percent of the total government spending. This is about 28 billion U.S. dollars higher than the previous record set this year, reportedly over 6 percent of Russia’s total gross domestic product (GDP).
However, the new three-year budget projects a slight reduction in military spending for the years 2026 and 2027, with 114.9 billion U.S. dollars allocated for 2026 and 122.4 billion U.S. dollars for 2027. Lawmakers in both houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and Federation Council, had already approved the budget plans in late November.
