The Russian government has doubled its targeted defence expenditure for 2023, which has now reached more than $100 billion, or one-third of the total state budget spending, Reuters reports, citing a government document.
The journalists note that these measures mean that the Ukraine war costs are increasing.
According to Reuters, Russia spent 12% more than planned on defence in the first six months of 2023 (600 billion rubles or €5.7 billion). In total, the Russian government spent 14.97 trillion rubles (€144 billion) in the first half of 2023, while 5.59 trillion rubles (€53.7 billion) out of the total amount was allocated for defence purposes, or 37% of all spending in the first six months of 2023. The defence budget for the whole year initially only had 4.98 trillion rubles (€47.8 billion).
Reuters points out that between 2011 and 2022 Russia spent 13.9%-23% of its budget on defence.
The latest available data shows that in January and February 2023 Moscow allocated 2 trillion rubles (€19.2 billion) for army purposes.
