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Russia Now Burning Record $516 Million a Day on War—$94B in First Half of 2025
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Russia’s military expenditures reached a new all-time high in the first half of 2025, totaling $94 billion, according to calculations by Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, based on data from Russia’s Finance Ministry.
Link to chart ($PPP is a new function in my budget browser...) https://t.co/lFZly6CjcN
— Janis Kluge (@jakluge) August 27, 2025
Compared to the same period in 2024, defense spending rose by 31%. Against the first half of 2023, the increase was 95%, and compared to the first year of the war in Ukraine, military outlays have tripled, Kluge’s estimates show.
On average, Russia spent $15.6 billion per month—or $520 million per day—on its military. This daily sum exceeds the entire annual budgets of some of Russia’s poorest regions, including Kalmykia (about $320 million), Karachay-Cherkessia ($340 million), and the Altai Republic ($475 million).
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Russia’s defense budget is classified, according to Kluge. Over six months, around $35.6 billion was spent through open defense channels, while $58.7 billion went into “shadow” budget lines. The size of this secret budget has grown 41% year-on-year and is almost four times larger than during the first half of 2022.
Between 2022 and 2024, the Russian government spent more than $225 billion on the military and defense procurement. The 2025 budget allocates a further $150 billion to “national defense”—roughly 30% of total federal spending, the highest share since the Soviet Union.
When combined with the category of “national security,” which covers the Interior Ministry, the National Guard, the Investigative Committee, and intelligence agencies, security structures account for around 40% of all state spending, or about 8% of GDP. But the actual figure is expected to be even higher, a government source told Reuters.
Even if peace talks on Ukraine succeed, the Kremlin does not plan to reduce military expenditures in 2026, the source added:
“Shells and drones will still need to be produced, although on a slightly smaller scale. Confrontation will continue, and the army and weapons spending will grow further because the West is also increasing its military buildup.”
A reduction in the defense budget may only begin in 2027, but “a return to pre-2022 levels should not be expected,” the source stressed.
Previously, it was reported that Russia’s flagship rocket and spacecraft manufacturer, RKK Energia, is on the verge of bankruptcy, as internal documents reveal severe financial and structural problems within the country’s space sector.
