For the first time since February 24, 2022, the Kremlin spent virtually every second ruble collected from taxpayers for the Russian federal budget on financing its army and purchasing weapons.
Points of attention
- The trend indicates a worrying escalation in war-related expenses, with projections showing a significant increase in military spending in the coming years.
- The record-breaking war spending levels in 2025 highlight the unprecedented strain on the Russian budget, with substantial allocations towards the military machine posing a significant challenge for the country.
For the first time, Russia spent half of its taxes on war
This conclusion was reached by Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International Security Studies.
He made new calculations based on the database of the "Electronic Budget" system.
The specialist draws attention to the fact that the share of war spending in treasury revenues in the first quarter of 2025 was 50.1%, and at the end of the second — 48.2%.
According to him, the burden of the war is becoming increasingly painful and tangible for the Russian budget:
in 2022, the military machine "burned" 24.4% of tax revenues;
in 2023 — 32.05%,
In 2024, it will be 39.05%.
What is important to understand is that the previous record was broken in the first quarter of 2023 — 45.4%.
In January-June, the Russian Ministry of Finance collected 17.584 trillion rubles and spent 21.278 trillion. Of the total spending on war, 39.9% was spent in the first half of the year, and 41.2% in the first quarter.
It is worth noting that these indicators are absolute anti-records in the modern history of the aggressor country.
