War consumes the state: the Kremlin spent 50% of the budget on the front

For the first time since the start of full-scale aggression against Ukraine, the Russian state is spending almost half of all federal budget revenues on military needs. Every second ruble paid by taxpayers goes to support the army and purchase weapons.

This is reported by The Moscow Times, citing analytical calculations by Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International Security. The data was taken from the Russian Federation’s Electronic Budget system.

In the first quarter of 2025, military spending accounted for 50.1% of all budget revenues, and by the end of the second quarter, this share had decreased only slightly to 48.2%.

The burden on the treasury related to the war is growing every year. In 2022, 24.4% of tax revenues were spent on military purposes, in 2023 – already 32.05%, and in 2024 – 39.05%. The previous maximum was recorded in the first quarter of 2023 – 45.4%.

At the same time, in the overall expenditure structure, the share of military spending looks somewhat lower, as Russia’s budget is chronically in deficit – spending consistently exceeds revenue.

In the first half of 2025, according to the Russian Ministry of Finance, the budget received 17.584 trillion rubles, while expenditures reached 21.278 trillion. Of this amount, almost 40% (or rather, 39.9%) was spent on the war. In the first quarter, this figure was even higher — 41.2%.

Analysts emphasize that such a scale of military spending is unprecedented for modern Russia and demonstrates how deeply the war has penetrated the country’s financial system.

Recall that companies in Russia that deal with microloans are showing growth amid strict lending requirements from banks. This is pushing Russians into an even deeper debt trap.

As reported, in the first half of 2025, the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation was executed with a deficit of almost 5 trillion rubles. This is a significant collapse compared to the same period last year, when the budget was in surplus.

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