Russia's defense spending will rise rapidly in the first half of 2026

Russia's spending on armaments and the army has so far increased unabated in 2026 despite austerity targets. This is the result of a current evaluation of the Russian Budget Monitor by Janis Kluge, economist and Russia expert at the Berlin Science and Politics Foundation (SWP).

In the first half of the year, military spending rose by 30 percent to 10.7 trillion rubles (the equivalent of around 107 billion euros). This means that defense spending by the end of June alone corresponds to 4.7 percent of the economic output expected for the year as a whole.

“It was a very ambitious goal that would have been difficult to achieve even with a ceasefire,” said Kluge. Nevertheless, it is a surprise "that the increase in spending is so drastic. The war is fundamentally developing in the wrong direction, especially for Putin."

There have been rumblings in Russia for some time because of the budget situation: the Bloomberg news agency reported in the summer that high-ranking government officials had warned President Vladimir Putin. Spending on the war had reached a level that was no longer affordable. Representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank have pushed for cuts in military spending.