MOSCOW, July 18 — Russia’s military budget has ballooned since Vladimir Putin took power, but the headline numbers hide a more complicated financial story. Spending rose from $9.23bn in 2000 to $65.9bn — a more than 600% increase — yet even at that peak, it remained far below late-Soviet levels. After the Soviet collapse, defense spending fell by a factor of eight in real terms between 1991 and 1997.
Weapons production dropped at least 50% for every major system from 1988 to 1993. The 1998 financial crisis pushed military expenditure to its lowest point — one-quarter of the USSR’s 1991 level and two-fifths of 1992 levels.
The catch is that recovery came slowly, driven by the poor state of preparedness exposed in the Chechen Wars and accelerated after the 2008 military reform. By 2012, real spending was the highest since independence but still far below the USSR’s 1990 estimated $291bn in 2012 prices. The budget expanded until 2015, then economic problems — including a sharp oil price decline — forced a 5.3% cut in 2016, despite analysts’ warnings that large increases were needed.
In 2014 the budget stood at 2.49 trillion rubles (~$69.3bn), higher than any European nation and about 14% of the U.S. budget. But the rouble collapse reduced the 2015 dollar value to $52bn even as ruble terms soared 33% to 3.3 trillion; later that increase was trimmed to 25.6%, yielding 3.1 trillion rubles.
The planned 2016 budget of 3.36 trillion rubles was cut to 3.145 trillion, a mere 0.8% increase. SIPRI reported Russia’s 2021 spending at $66bn, compared to the U.S.’s $801bn and other NATO members’ $363bn. The official 2022 budget was 4.7 trillion rubles (~$75bn).
For 2023, initial plans rose to $84bn, then over $100bn according to Reuters. SIPRI estimated 2024 spending at $140bn, representing 35% of all government spending. Between 2022 and 2025, Russia plans total spending of $600bn on military and police.
The Strain Behind the Numbers
Yet the real burden may be larger than stated. On February 4, 2026, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) reported that Russia spent about half its state budget on the military in 2025, and that real defense spending was 66% higher than official figures. Deploying and sustaining personnel imposes enormous financial strain, especially given the need to fund equipment modernization, inflation, and the impact of Western sanctions on the economy.
The official figures are one thing; the actual cost of war is another. With sanctions squeezing revenue and inflation eroding purchasing power, the Kremlin faces a classic dilemma: sustain military spending at the expense of everything else, or risk the kind of cuts that previously followed oil price shocks.
The next few years will show whether the budget can hold — or whether the numbers will once again tell a different story from the ground.
