Russia’s military expenditures in the first half of 2025 reached a record level — 8.48 trillion rubles ($105.59 billion). This is reported by Russian mass media.
Compared to the same period in 2024, spending on the army and arms production increased by 31%, compared to January-June 2023 – by 95%, and with the first year of the full-scale war against Ukraine – tripled. On average, Russia spent 1.4 trillion rubles a month and 46.9 billion rubles a day ($583.69 million) on the army — an amount that exceeds the annual budgets of Russia’s poorest regions.
Almost two-thirds of defense spending — 62% — is classified. 3.2 trillion rubles were spent openly in the first half of the year, while 5.28 trillion were spent on “shadow” items. Over the year, the volume of secret spending increased by 41%, and compared to the first half of 2022, it almost quadrupled.
In 2022-2024, Russia spent more than 20 trillion rubles on the army and state defense orders. The budget for 2025 foresees another 13.5 trillion rubles for “national defense” – this is 30% of all expenses, which became a record share since the times of the USSR. Even if the negotiations on the end of the war are successful, the Kremlin does not plan to reduce military spending in 2026. A reduction in the military budget is possible only from 2027, but it is not worth waiting for the levels that were before 2022.
