The Russian government has allocated 17.954 billion rubles in its 2027-2029 budget for the implementation of the national project “New Health-Saving Technologies,” the goals of which include the development of innovative drugs, biomedical technologies, and longevity-extending technologies.

The project, which  The Wall Street Journal reports is linked to efforts to prolong the life of 73-year-old Vladimir Putin, will be one of the few state medical projects protected from funding cuts.

According to the explanatory note to the budget law, spending will increase by 12% next year, from 5.171 billion to 5.737 billion rubles, and by the same amount in 2028, to 6.495 billion rubles. A reduction to 5.782 billion rubles is planned for 2029. However, it will remain 12% higher than 2026 levels.

Nearly 20% of the project’s total expenditure—1.129 billion rubles—will be allocated next year to the development of “future biomedical and cognitive technologies.” Of this amount, 288 million rubles will go toward the development of “bioprinting,” which allows for the creation of new tissues and organs for humans.

625.4 million rubles are allocated for “preventive medicine technologies that ensure active and healthy longevity,” and 137.4 million rubles are allocated for “identifying the causes of aging.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, as part of a project overseen by the president’s daughter, Maria Vorontsova, and Putin’s friend, Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, scientists are working, among other things, to slow cellular aging using gene therapy and to grow organs for human transplantation inside genetically modified minipigs. The first such pig is expected to appear by 2030. 

Kovalchuk, who oversees the project and one of Putin’s closest friends, previously stated that science could eventually allow for the “repair” and replacement of human body parts, extending human life. Putin himself raised the topic of immortality and organ replacement in a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping, claiming that this could extend life to 150 years.

Other key healthcare programs will see budget cuts next year due to a deficit (5.4 trillion rubles) and record war spending (17.1 trillion rubles). For example, the federal project to combat cancer will be cut by a factor of 12 (from 44.9 to 3.8 billion rubles); the “healthcare infrastructure development” project will lose 30% of its funding (54.4 billion rubles instead of 77 billion). Expenditures under the item “medical and sanitary support for certain categories of citizens,” which include military personnel, disabled people, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, victims of the siege of Leningrad, and Chernobyl victims, will be reduced by 17%.

(C)THE MOSCOW TIMES 2026