One day of war costs Russia nearly one billion dollars, and 41 percent of the country's budget goes to defense, said in an interview with Ukrinform the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Kirill Budanov.
"This is a very expensive war in general. One day of this war costs them a little less than one billion dollars, and this is a huge amount of money," Budanov said.
"The problems have already appeared, but we should not deceive ourselves. Even official data confirms that 41 percent of their spending is on defense. These are abnormal figures, almost all social programs, healthcare, education were cut to maintain this budget. That is, the negative financial and economic impact on the Russian Federation is already tangible," said the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, after being asked about Russia's economic potential. At the same time, Budanov stressed that as long as Russia has oil, gas, minerals, precious metals and stones, "they will balance out".
As Ukrinform reported earlier, Craig Kennedy, a fellow at the American Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and a former banker, wrote in his publication for the "Navigating Russia" website that Russia's total military spending far exceeds its budgetary capabilities and could lead to the bankruptcy of corporations and banks. It is noted that Moscow secretly finances about half of its military spending through significant debts, forcing banks to provide loans on non-market terms to companies that supply goods and services for the military effort.