The State Duma adopted the draft federal budget for three years in the main reading. A third of expenses are for “defense” (that is, for war)

15:12, November 15, 2023Source:

State Duma deputies adopted the draft federal budget for 2024-2026 in the second, main reading.

According to the press service of the lower house of parliament, more than 900 amendments to the draft were prepared for the second reading, of which 769 were recommended for adoption. In total, the State Duma said, almost seven trillion rubles were redistributed over a three-year period, while the main parameters of the budget remained unchanged.

Chairman of the Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes Andrei Makarov explained that 3.254 trillion rubles were redistributed in the open part of the budget “for the most necessary expenses.” Among them, according to Makarov, are expenditures on social policy, healthcare, education, culture and cinematography, civil science, and agriculture, writes RBC.

According to the publication, the updated document also suggests a reduction in closed expenses in 2024 by about 3% – from 30 to 26.8% of all expenses. The bulk of this redistribution falls on the “National Defense” section, the open part of which increased by 725 billion rubles.

Of this amount, according to RBC, 305.26 billion rubles will be used for the purchase of goods, works and services for government needs in the defense sector and social guarantees for the military. Another 370 billion will go to pay personnel in the armed forces.

The Faridaily telegram channel, run by journalists Farida Rustamova and Maxim Tovkaylo, notes that in total in 2024 the authorities plan to spend more than 14 trillion rubles on “defense” and law enforcement activities – this is about 39% of all expenses of the federal authorities. Journalists called the budget itself “the most militarized budget in the modern history of Russia.”

(C)MEDUZA 2023