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Russia’s Weekly War Expenses Exceed Yearly Budgets of Most Regions
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![Vlad Litnarovych]( "Vlad Litnarovych")
Only 18 out of 83 Russian regions have annual budgets exceeding the country’s weekly spending on its war in Ukraine, according to The Moscow Times report on January 28.
This figure dropped from 23 regions last year as Russia’s federal war expenses increased by 18.9%, while regional budgets saw minimal growth or declines.
In 2025, Russia plans to allocate a record $147 billion for its war effort, averaging nearly $2.8 billion per week. This sum dwarfs the yearly budgets of 80% of Russian regions.
Among the few regions with larger annual budgets are Moscow ($51 billion) and St. Petersburg ($13 billion), along with industrial hubs like Sverdlovsk ($4.9 billion) and Nizhny Novgorod ($3.67 billion). However, five regions—Sakhalin, Leningrad, and Kemerovo regions, along with Perm and Primorsky regions—dropped off this list in 2025 due to sluggish budget growth compared to surging war expenses.
Kemerovo’s region 2025 budget shrank by 18% to $2.33 billion, impacted by reduced tax revenues from coal mining. The region also faces social challenges: over 11,000 orphans await housing, with local authorities estimating it could take 50 years to address the backlog.
Primorsky region, with a $2.39 billion budget, struggles with inadequate infrastructure, including a shortage of 24 schools and 8 kindergartens. Some 20% of its students still attend classes in two shifts.
Sixty-five regions operate with annual budgets smaller than Russia’s weekly war spending. Of these, 25 regions have budgets under a third of weekly war costs (less than $880.5 million). These include republics with high poverty rates, such as Tuva, Kalmykia, and Ingushetia, and depopulating regions like Magadan, Pskov, and Chukotka.
Chukotka, with a $610 million budget, allocates only 35% to social services—less than Russia spends on the war in a single day. The region also faces severe social issues, including high rates of suicide, drug overdoses, and alcoholism.
In contrast, Kalmykia’s $295 million budget is overshadowed by debt burdens: its population owes 133.9% of its annual income in loans. Despite receiving $1.43 million for irrigation projects in 2024, only 8% of Kalmykia’s residents have access to safe drinking water.
Four regions—Jewish Autonomous Region, Ingushetia, Kalmykia, and Nenets Autonomous Okrug—have annual budgets lower than Russia’s daily war spending ($377.2 million). Ingushetia, which spends just $376 million a year, has 27.7% of its population living below the poverty line and leads in overdue loan rates.
Earlier, reports emerged that the latest US sanctions on Russian oil, introduced by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, could strip the Russian budget of one-fifth of its oil and gas revenues in 2025.
