Russia has increased its military spending by another 30% year-on-year, reaching a record 11.9 trillion rubles ($149 billion) in the first nine months of 2025, according to new calculations by Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
The data shows the Kremlin consuming nearly 2 billion rubles ($25 million) per hour on its war effort, with defense now absorbing the largest share of Russia’s federal budget in modern history.
The Moscow Times, citing Kluge’s analysis of Russian finance ministry data, reported that defense spending from January through September climbed 2.8 trillion rubles ($34.7 billion), or 30%, compared to the same period in 2024.
Against earlier benchmarks, the surge is even more prominent:
- +95% compared to 2023
- +173% compared to 2022
- +295% compared to pre-war 2021
On average, the Kremlin’s war machine consumed 1.3 trillion rubles ($16.6 billion) per month, 43.4 billion per day ($545 million), or 1.9 billion rubles ($23.9 million) every hour.
Kluge estimates that 59% of Russia’s military budget is now classified – meaning the majority of wartime spending flows through secret defense lines that are not publicly disclosed. According to his calculations, 7 trillion rubles ($88 billion) were allocated to these closed budget items in the first three quarters of 2025, a 39% increase from last year and nearly five times the pre-war level.
By contrast, 4.8 trillion rubles ($60 billion) were spent on open, publicly reported defense categories.
Military spending dominates the federal budget
Russia allocated 44% of all federal tax revenue and 39% of total spending to the war – both record highs.
By comparison:
- 2024: 39% of tax revenue, 36% of spending
- 2021: 18.4% of tax revenue, 19% of spending
Kluge calculates that since February 2022, Russia has spent 42.34 trillion rubles (about $532 billion) on the war – an amount equal to:
- 24 years of funding for Russia’s entire higher-education system
- 22 years of federal healthcare spending
- nearly 80 annual budgets of major regions such as Sverdlovsk or Krasnodar
2026 budget shifts money to security, strips social sectors
Russia’s draft 2026 budget allocates:
- 12.9 trillion rubles ($161 billion) for “National Defense”
- 3.9 trillion rubles ($49 billion) for “National Security,” covering the interior ministry, National Guard, intelligence agencies and the prison system
Combined, security structures would receive 16.8 trillion rubles ($210 billion), or 38% of the federal budget – up from 24% pre-war.
Conversely:
- Social spending drops to 25.1% of the budget (from 38.1% pre-war)
- Economic support falls to 10.9% (from 17.6%)
Both figures are the lowest in 20 years, according to Russian finance ministry data.
Earlier this year, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR), said Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to allocate around $1.1 trillion to rearm Russia by 2036 – the largest armament program since the Soviet collapse.
Budanov said the scale of the plan signals Moscow’s intent to maintain a long-term confrontation with the West.
No major cuts planned
Even if peace talks succeed, the Kremlin has no intention of scaling back defense spending, a government-linked source told Reuters.
“Shells and drones will still have to be produced, though on a smaller scale. Confrontation will remain,” the source said. “The army and weapons spending will have to be larger because the West is also increasing theirs.”
A reduction may only begin after 2027, officials say – and even then, “not to the levels seen before 2022.”