ISW analyzed the Russian budget: defense spending will be reduced, propaganda spending will increase

In 2026, Russia plans to cut defense spending and social benefits for the military, but instead significantly increase funding for state propaganda.

This is stated in the analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) of the draft Russian budget for 2026–2028, which the Russian government submitted to the State Duma on September 29.

According to the document, the Kremlin will allocate 12.9 trillion rubles ($155 billion) for “national defense,” which is less than in 2025 ($13.5 trillion). At the same time, funding for law enforcement agencies will increase to 3.9 trillion rubles ($47 billion) compared to 3.5 trillion in 2025.

The cuts in social guarantees for military personnel and their families will be particularly noticeable. Payments to the dead, wounded and their families will be reduced from 78 to 58 billion rubles ($698 million). Expenditures on the Defenders of the Fatherland Fund, which takes care of veterans, will be more than halved – from 34.7 to 13.9 billion rubles ($167 million).

Against this background, funding for state propaganda will increase sharply. If in 2025 69.1 billion rubles were allocated for the maintenance of TV channels, then in 2026 this amount will increase by one and a half times – to 106.4 billion rubles ($1.28 billion).

“The Russian budget for 2025 also allocated 4.5 billion rubles ($47 million) and 49 million rubles ($511,000) respectively for the Telegram channel Solovyov Live and the online news aggregator Readovka, likely as part of the government’s attempts to adapt its propaganda to social media. The significant increase in television funding in 2026 indicates a return by the Kremlin to traditional methods of spreading state propaganda, especially against the backdrop of recent restrictions on social media and the creation of the state messenger Max,” ISW emphasizes.

As a reminder, it was previously reported that gas stations in Russia are closing en masse due to a drop in fuel production at oil refineries, which has led to a shortage and instability in the market.

By the way, the Russian economy actually stopped growing in the second quarter of 2025. The Russian Sberbank described the current situation as “technical stagnation.” The reasons for this state of affairs are geopolitical instability, sharp fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, and falling raw material prices.

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