Russia boosts defense spending by 25% for 2025, hitting Cold War levels

In 2025, Russia's defense spending will soar to $145 billion, equating to 6.3% of GDP, marking a 25% increase from the previous year, as the Kremlin prioritizes its war against Ukraine.

Oct 1, 2024 - 05:00

Russia boosts defense spending by 25% for 2025, hitting Cold War levels

Russia plans to increase its national defense spending by 25% in 2025, raising it to 6.3% of GDP — the highest level since the Cold War, according to Reuters.

Russia’s defense budget is set to surge to $145 billion in 2025, marking a 25% increase from 2024 as the country enters the fourth year of the all-out war against Ukraine, according to draft budget documents.

The draft budget submitted to the State Duma for review shows that in 2025, defense spending will represent 32% of Russia’s total budget expenditure of 41.5 trillion rubles. It marks a sharp reversal from last year’s draft, which aimed to reduce defense spending by 21% in 2025, highlighting the government’s intensified focus on military priorities.

In 2022, the year Russia launched its war in Ukraine, the country allocated 5.5 trillion rubles to defense spending.

“Resources will be allocated and have already been allocated for equipping the armed forces with the necessary weapons and military equipment, paying military salaries, and supporting defense industry enterprises,” the Russian Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s defense spending is projected to decrease to 12.8 trillion rubles in 2026. About 10% of the defense budget will be allocated to military personnel payments, with frontline service wages reaching a post-Soviet high of 3.25 million rubles annually.

Additionally, spending on national security, which covers military and security agency financing, is set to total 3.5 trillion rubles in 2025.

Russia’s combined spending on defense and security is projected to reach 17 trillion rubles in 2025, accounting for nearly 41% of total state expenditure and 8% of the country’s GDP.

This figure mirrors the late Soviet-era military spending levels, during the Afghanistan war and the Cold War arms race, when the USSR maintained a much larger nuclear arsenal.

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