Russia to increase defense spending by 27% in 2027

Russia plans to allocate 17.1 trillion rubles, or approximately $202.58 billion, to defense spending in 2027, according to government documents reviewed by Reuters. The figure is 27% higher than the 13.5 trillion rubles originally set out in the budget.

According to the available information, this would be the highest defense spending level since the full-scale war in Ukraine began in 2022. The documents indicate that total defense expenditure over the next three years will reach 50 trillion rubles.

Secret spending for 2026

For 2026, the Russian government had initially planned to spend 12.1 trillion rubles on defense, but the actual figure is classified and will not be made public. Part of military spending may also be recorded under other budget categories, making it difficult to assess the true scale of military expenditure.

Rising budget deficit

The documents also show that Russia's government has raised its forecast for the 2026 budget deficit to 3.2% of GDP, up from a previous estimate of 1.6% of GDP. Total budget expenditure in 2026 is set to grow by 13.2%, reaching 48.6 trillion rubles, or 20.9% of GDP.

According to the documents, a new windfall tax on metallurgical and mining companies is expected to bring in around 200 billion rubles annually.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree increasing the size of Russia's armed forces to 2,441,630 personnel.