Russian MPs approved the third and final reading of the draft law on the budget for the period 2025-2027, which foresees a 30 percent increase in defense spending next year, in the height of the intensifying conflict in Ukraine, reported France Press, quoted by BTA.
From 2022 The Kremlin has largely refocused its economy on military lines, ramping up its defense industry, notably by hiring hundreds of thousands of new employees, a strategy that nevertheless drives up inflation.
According to the text voted today by the Russian State Duma, the lower house of the parliament, defense spending will reach almost 13.5 trillion. rubles (about 127 billion euros at today's exchange rate) in 2025, or more than 6 percent of Russia's GDP.
A total of at least 40 percent of the 2025 federal budget. will be dedicated to defense and national security.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2024. the national defense budget has jumped by almost 70 percent, and this year will be 8.7 percent of GDP, the first such jump in Russia since the collapse of the USSR more than 30 years ago, according to AFP.
In recent weeks, Russian authorities have done everything to minimize the jump in defense spending, preferring to highlight planned investments in the social sector and for “national projects” with relatively vague outlines.
The approved budget “guarantees all social obligations, solves the problems of development and meets the challenges facing our country”, Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin noted today.
The text remains to be approved by the Federation Council (the upper house of the parliament - note ed.) at the end of the month before being promulgated by the Russian president, which is expected to be a formality, notes AFP.