Oleg Davygora01:59, 30.09.23

In total, over three years, Putin will cost the treasury an amount comparable to the annual budget of the average Russian region.

The maintenance of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the next three years will cost Russian taxpayers 74.7 billion rubles. The government included this amount for the “functioning” of the head of state in the draft federal budget for 2024-26, which was submitted to the State Duma on Friday.

Compared to the previous 3-year budget, spending on Putin will increase by 20%, or 12.79 billion rubles, according to the explanatory note to the document, which is posted in the database of the lower house of parliament.

In 2024, the budget will allocate 24.64 billion rubles for the “functioning of the president and his administration”, in 2025 – 24.65 billion, in 2026 – 25.74 billion.

Expenses will increase by 4.66 billion rubles in 2024 (+23%), by 4.055 billion in 2025 (+19%) and by 4.087 billion in 2026 (+19%).

In total, over three years, Putin will cost the treasury an amount comparable to the annual budget of the average Russian region.

Every year, the budget will spend 26% more on the maintenance of the president than on the federal project “Development of large-scale scientific and scientific-technological projects” (18.9 billion rubles); twice as much as for the “development of human resources potential in the IT industry (12.6 billion rubles); almost 5 times more than for the federal project for the “development of artificial intelligence” (5.2 billion rubles) and 20 times more than for the federal project to provide medicine with qualified personnel (1.2 billion rubles)

The increase in spending on the president will be a record among all branches of government. Thus, allocations for the maintenance of the government apparatus in 2024 will increase by only 9%, to 10.655 billion rubles.

Budget of the Russian Federation – details

Russia intends to increase military spending in 2024 by 68% compared to the current year. The Kremlin stated this need in view of the “hybrid war” that is allegedly being waged against the Russian Federation.  

The Russian Ministry of Finance presented the draft budget for 2024 on Thursday, September 28. The department proposes to allocate up to 10.77 trillion rubles ($111.04 billion) for “national defense.”

(C)UNIAN 2023