26 November 2025
In 2025, Russian businesses faced a sharp increase in non-payments by state-owned companies under contracts concluded under Federal Law 223-FZ, Vedomosti reports , citing statistics from the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the SME Corporation.
Since the beginning of 2025, 1,173 administrative cases have been opened for non-payment in public procurement—a 20% increase compared to the entire previous year (980). The number of complaints from small businesses regarding non-payment by state-owned companies has jumped 2.5-fold: last year, 200 complaints totaling 1.5 billion rubles were recorded, while in the first half of the current year, there have already been 482 complaints totaling 3.6 billion rubles.
The problem of non-payment under contracts under Federal Law 223-FZ (which regulates state-owned procurement) is indeed growing, notes Elena Dybova, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Often, government agencies simply cannot pay, she emphasizes: the economy is slowing, profits are falling, and the budgets of state agencies are beginning to burst at the seams, following the federal treasury.
Rosneft, the largest state-owned raw materials company, saw its profits fall threefold in the first half of the year. Gazprom posted a net loss of 170 billion rubles in its core gas business over the first nine months. Russian Railways reported losses for the first time in five years , prompting the company to cut construction and procurement spending by 40%. Uralvagonzavod, the country’s largest tank manufacturer, has begun mass layoffs due to financial difficulties. Sberbank has decided to lay off
approximately 20% of its staff. Many large companies are experiencing problems with financial resources and access to credit, confirms Anton Danilov-Danilyan, deputy chairman of Delovaya Rossiya. He believes the difficult economic situation is the reason. Furthermore, if a government customer fails to pay, not only the general contractor but also numerous subcontractors are unpaid, Dybova notes, resulting in a non-payment crisis that spreads “throughout the entire chain.”
According to the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), 39% of large Russian companies experienced non-payments from counterparties in the third quarter. Compared to the second quarter, the number of such companies increased by 1.5 times, and their share increased by 13 percentage points.
Rosstat data confirms this : overdue debt of Russian companies to suppliers reached 3.841 trillion rubles at the end of August. Since the beginning of the year, the volume of non-payments has increased by 395 billion rubles (+11%), and compared to January 2024, by 993 billion rubles (+35%). 4,520 Russian enterprises had outstanding debt to counterparties, with manufacturing companies leading the way, at 1.53 trillion rubles.
The problem of non-payments arose last year, amid a high key interest rate, recalls Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank. Now, however, the cause may be a slowdown in budget spending, she points out: oil and gas revenues are plummeting, non-resource revenues are lagging behind plan, and the authorities are being forced to cut back on civil spending.
The economic clock is ticking … relentlessly.
Jason Smart hit the nail on the head tonight. This war will continue until the FSB can no longer make any money out of it, then the whole mafia state will go under.