Putin approves Russia's record military budget with 30% allotted to army, arms production

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a military budget with record spending on the army and defense industry since the USSR era, reported the propaganda outlets of the Russian Federation under the control of the Kremlin.

Putin signed the law on Russia's federal budget for 2024-2026 on Monday. For the first time since the times of the USSR, Moscow will direct almost a third of all expenses to the maintenance of the army and the military-industrial complex.

According to the document, the Russians plan to spend 10.775 trillion rubles ($120.5 billion) on the war – this is 70% more than in 2023 (6.8 trillion ($76.1 billion)) and 2.3 times more than in 2022 (4.7 trillion ($52.6 billion)).

The share of military expenditures in the budget will reach 29.5%. The USSR spent a third of its budget on military expenses in the final years before its collapse.

In total, the Kremlin will allocate almost 40% of the budget to the law enforcement agencies. Funding for the economy, education, medicine, health care, small business support, scientific research, aviation industry, and regional support will be reduced and frozen.

Financing of state propaganda will remain at record levels — Kremlin mouthpieces will receive 121.3 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) from the budget against 122 billion in 2023. Spending on propaganda films will increase by 11% to 234 billion rubles ($2.6 billion).