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Posted On

29
March
2023

Russia classifies third of all its budget expenditures to increase spending on the war – ISW

KYIV. March 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russian officials continue the campaign launched in December 2022 to create internal conditions for a protracted war, and the costs of the Russian Federation’s war in Ukraine continue to take away a significant part of the Russian federal budget, according to a report of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) for March 28.

“The Russian budget continues to reflect the overall costs of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Bloomberg reported on March 28 that Russia has classified an unprecedented one-third of its entire budget expenditures and noted that classified spending as of March 24 is twice as high as it was during the same period in 2022. Bloomberg also found that Russian defense and security spending is the second largest budget category after spending on social programs. Bloomberg concluded that the classified share of the Russian budget will account for nearly a quarter of all expenditures for the whole of 2023 and will be due to an increase in expenses classed as ‘other expenses in the field of national defense,’” the message reads.

Analysts also report that the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation plans to submit a proposal to reduce the number of federal state institutions subordinate to federal authorities in order to improve the efficiency of budget expenditure management.

“Such expenditure manipulations suggest that Russia is trying to cut spending in a variety of spheres to support increased defense spending, further responding to costs associated with the war and setting conditions for a long war,” the ISW note.

It is also noted that the Russian authorities have been preparing many aspects of Russian society for a protracted war by carefully creating information conditions and involving the Russian military-industrial complex since the end of 2022.