Russia's war costs reach new record as Kremlin boosts military spending
Photo: The Kremlin's reserves are dwindling, while military spending is hitting record highs (Getty Images)
Russia's military spending in the first quarter of 2026 set a new record—it rose by a third compared to last year, according to Janis Kluge, a research fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
How much did Russia spend in first quarter?
Russia’s military spending in the first quarter of 2026 reached 5.91 trillion rubles. That is approximately $83.2 billion.
According to Kluge’s estimates, this amount marks a record high since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine. Compared to previous figures:
- 2025 – a 29.9% increase
- 2024 – a 68.7% increase
- 2023 – a 129% increase
- 2022 – a 4.6-fold increase.
According to Kluege’s estimates, on average, the Russian war machine consumed about 2.7 billion rubles per hour in the first quarter. That is approximately $38 million.
Photo: Russia’s war spending (janiskluge)
Daily expenditures amounted to about 65 billion rubles, or nearly $916 million. Monthly war expenditures reached about RUB 2 trillion, equivalent to USD 28.2 billion.
This amount exceeded the annual budget of Russia’s entire higher education system, which stands at RUB 1.7 trillion. It is also larger than the budgets of all Russian regions, except Moscow.
Every other ruble goes to military
For the first time since the war began, military spending accounted for 46% of the Russian budget. In fact, nearly every other ruble in the federal budget went to the military.
The main growth came from classified budget items. Over the quarter, their volume increased from 3.4 trillion rubles to 4.9 trillion rubles, or from USD 47.9 billion to USD 69.1 billion.
Thus, 38.2% of all federal expenditures from the total quarterly budget of RUB 12.8 trillion, or RUB 180.4 billion, were classified.
Plans not being met
The Russian government had planned to reduce military spending from 7.8% to 6.2% of GDP. Instead, in the first quarter of 2026, it ballooned to 12% of GDP.
According to Kluge’s forecast, Russia’s military spending could reach 9–10% of GDP by the end of the year. This will further increase the country’s budget deficit.
Total amount since 2022
According to Kluge’s calculations, Russia’s total spending on the war against Ukraine since 2022 has already reached RUB 53.079 trillion rubles, or USD 746.6 billion.
This amount is equivalent to:
- 28 years of Russia’s current healthcare spending
- 30 years of education funding
- Approximately 100 annual budgets of regions such as Krasnoyarsk or Sverdlovsk regions.
Ukrainian troops struck three units of Russian forces during exercises at one of the training grounds. Russian losses amounted to dozens of personnel.
At the same time, strikes on bridges have blocked land routes to Crimea and are disrupting Russian plans for potential offensives.
