October 02, 2024

Military Budget Soars in 2025


Military Budget Soars in 2025
The State Duma in Moscow.  Ssr, Wikimedia Commons

A draft of the 2025-2027 budget issued by the Russian Ministry of Finance proposes increasing military spending from 10.4 trillion ($110 billion) to 13.2 trillion rubles ($140 billion), a difference of R2.8 trillion, or nearly $30 billion. 

According to the draft, defense spending would comprise 40 percent of the annual budget, more than the amounts allotted for education, healthcare, social policy, and the national economy combined. This budget will become official once it is voted upon in the State Duma. 

This funding, of course, comes as Russia's invasion of Ukraine drags on, into its third year.

You Might Also Like

Russia Readies for More War
  • July 07, 2024

Russia Readies for More War

Russian president Vladimir Putin says that the armed forces need to shore up in case of some explosive international developments.
Forced to Go Back to War
  • June 10, 2024

Forced to Go Back to War

Hundreds of Russian soldiers who left their service without permission are being held in military units, beaten, and then forcibly sent back to the front.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

Fearful Majesty
July 01, 2014

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955