The draft federal budget has not been published publicly. It is due to be submitted to the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, by October 1.
Defense spending for 2026 was set at 12.93 trillion rubles. The 2027 figure represents a 32.2% increase over that level. Compared with the original plan adopted a year ago — 13.5 trillion rubles — the addition amounts to 3.6 trillion rubles, or 27%.
For 2028, the draft allocates 16.6 trillion rubles, up from the previously planned 13 trillion. Over the three years, the authorities intend to spend at least 50 trillion rubles on defense. According to calculations by The Moscow Times, the war will cost 1.42 trillion rubles a month, 46.9 billion a day, and nearly 2 billion rubles an hour. The army will account for 35% of all budget expenditures in 2027.
Economist Janis Kluge, who tracks Russian military spending, calculated that in the first half of 2026 alone Russia spent 10.7 trillion rubles on defense — 83% of the amount planned for the year. At current rates, actual spending could exceed the government's plans for 2027. Since the start of the war, by his estimate, Russia has spent 57 trillion rubles on it, including secret and related budget lines — about 28% of current GDP. By the end of next year the total could reach 74 trillion rubles, or $876 billion.
The authorities plan to finance the spending increase through higher government debt — from 19.9% of GDP in 2026 to 21.7% in 2027. In addition, a "windfall tax" on mining, metals and gold-mining companies will be introduced starting next year: according to Finance Ministry estimates, it will bring in 200 billion rubles a year and 600 billion over three years. The maximum personal income tax rate on passive income — interest on deposits, dividends, and securities transactions — will rise to 22%. VAT at a rate of 22% will be levied on purchases from foreign online stores.
The Finance Ministry estimated the 2026 budget deficit at 3.2% of GDP — 7.3 trillion rubles instead of the initial 3.8 trillion (1.6% of GDP). Total expenditures will rise by 13.2%, to 48.6 trillion rubles, or 20.9% of GDP. The deficit is to be covered through borrowing: 7.7 trillion rubles next year and 7.4 trillion in 2028 — 3.6 trillion rubles more than originally planned.
On the same day, September 28, Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the fourth increase in the authorized strength of the armed forces since the start of the year — to 2,441,630 personnel. The number of service members will rise to 1,550,500, 15,500 more than under the July decree. Military expert Pavel Luzin, in a comment to The Insider, called the army's expansion "paper": in his words, authorized positions mean funding, not the presence of real people.