The Kremlin's war spending will remain the largest item in the state budget over the next three years

Over the next three years, Russia will continue to spend about 13 trillion rubles ($154.7 billion) annually on the war, according to the draft state budget for 2026-2028, which has seen Faridaily Telegram channel.

Kremlin's spending on the army will remain the largest item in the state budget for the next three years.

According to the draft budget approved by the Russian government on Wednesday, next year the government will spend 12.6 trillion rubles on the army (the "National Defense" item), 13.6 trillion in 2027, and 13 trillion in 2028.

A year ago, when adopting the next three-year budget, the authorities envisaged military spending in 2026 at 12.8 trillion rubles, and in 2027 at 13.1 trillion rubles.

The annual expenditures under the "National Security and Law Enforcement" line item (which funds, for example, the police, the Russian Guard, and special services) will amount to 4-4.5 trillion rubles in the coming years. The increase, compared to the current budget law, is more than 20%.

The total share of spending on the army and security forces in the 2026 budget will be 41%.

In 2025, the Russian authorities planned to spend 13.5 trillion rubles on war and 17 trillion rubles on security, or 8% of GDP, but in reality, these costs are higher.

on September 24, Russia announced a VAT increase to finance the war against Ukraine. The standard rate of value added tax (VAT) is proposed to be increased from 20% to 22%, and the income threshold for paying VAT under the simplified system is to be reduced from 60 million to 10 million rubles.

• Ukraine plans to spend UAH 2.8 trillion, or 27.2% of GDP, on defense. The draft state budget envisages record spending on arms procurement and production - UAH 955 billion.