Ekaterina Girnyk20:08, 11/17/23

In 2024, a third of the country’s budget will be spent on war.

The Russian State Duma has adopted a draft federal budget for 2024, as well as for the planning period 2025–2026, which proposes to increase spending by approximately 25% in 2024, with record amounts going to defense . According to the Washington Times , next year defense spending is expected to exceed social spending for the first time in modern Russian history.

According to the law , state budget revenues in 2024 will amount to 35 trillion rubles, in 2025 – 33.5 trillion rubles, in 2026 – 34.1 trillion rubles.

The budget provides for military spending that is record-breaking in modern Russian history. As stated in the explanatory note, in 2024, 29.4% will be allocated to the “national defense” item – about 10.8 trillion rubles.

This article finances not only the army, but also the military industry, as well as social payments to combatants. In the budget for 2023, military spending included only 6.4 trillion rubles, that is, we are talking about an increase of more than one and a half times.

In total, military spending will amount to about 6% of GDP – one of the first places in the world.

Russian lawmakers said the 2024-2026 budget was designed specifically to fund the military and mitigate the impact of “17,500 sanctions” on Russia.

As experts note, the draft budget “is aimed at understanding the war in Ukraine and being prepared for an eternal military confrontation with the West” and amounts to “mass remilitarization of Russian society.”

(C)UNIAN 2023