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Russia Yet Again Increases Military Budget, Allocating 40% of 2026 Spending to Defense and Police
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Russia’s planned defense spending for 2026 has increased by another $3.25 billion (325 billion rubles), with nearly 40% of the total budget allocated to the military and police, as reported by The Moscow Times citing the federal budget proposal for 2026–2028, submitted to the State Duma on September 29.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, the government plans to allocate $129.3 billion (12.93 trillion rubles) for the “National Defense” section next year. This is an increase from the $126.1 billion (12.61 trillion rubles) previously projected in last week’s preliminary materials from the Ministry of Finance.
Together with spending on “National Security,” total expenditures for the military, police, and security services in 2026 will amount to $168.4 billion (16.84 trillion rubles), or 38% of total spending.
As is customary, most of the spending in the “National Defense” section remains classified, with $108.5 billion (10.85 trillion rubles)—84% of the total—hidden from the public, according to the budget proposal’s annexes.
In total, the government plans to allocate $127.1 billion (12.71 trillion rubles) to classified items next year, or 28.8% of the entire budget. For 2025, the government had classified $130.8 billion (13.08 trillion rubles), or 31.5% of total spending.
Last week, the Russian government approved the budget for the next three years, with one of the key changes being a plan to increase the value-added tax (VAT) to 22% starting next year to fund the military and police.
Previously, experts from the Institute of National Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences concluded that the country’s GDP growth is stagnating, The Moscow Times reported on September 16.
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