Russia’s military spending will rise to 17 trillion rubles by the end of 2026, Bloomberg says

Russia’s military spending will rise to 17 trillion rubles by the end of 2026 — Bloomberg

That is 40% more than the 12.1 trillion rubles allocated in the budget at the end of 2025.

According to sources close to the Russian government who spoke to the agency, the 2026 budget was planned against the backdrop of the summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska. It was expected that the meeting could lead to a peace agreement within a year and reduce military spending.

But by January, the Kremlin had concluded that reaching an agreement with Ukraine would not be possible and that U.S. efforts had not led to a breakthrough, a source said. After that, the government began rapidly increasing military spending through domestic borrowing and gold sales.

According to the new draft budget, in 2027 Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion rubles on defense.

@meduzalive