Kathrine Frich
He praised the Russian that donated.
Wars consume massive amounts of money, often draining a country’s reserves faster than anyone expects. When the official state budget begins to strain under the weight of a long conflict, governments sometimes look to their own citizens to fill the massive financial gaps.
Passing the hat
The Russian president recently announced a massive financial contribution from ordinary people, according to a report by The Moscow Times cited by Onet.
Speaking at the “All for Victory” forum, Vladimir Putin praised the millions of citizens stepping up to fund the ongoing military campaign.
According to the Interfax news agency, he claimed that people have willingly handed over enormous sums of cash. The donations flowed through the All-Russian Popular Front.
“You have united around you more than 20 million people: citizens of the Russian Federation, and citizens, trusting you, have transferred almost 70 billion rubles for the special military operation,” Putin told the crowd.
A ballooning budget
That huge sum equals roughly 3.5 billion Polish zloty. Putin noted that these civilian efforts are actively helping the military push forward on the front lines.
But behind those proud declarations lies a staggering financial reality. The state is burning through its official funds at an unprecedented rate.
Jan Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International Security Research, recently ran the numbers. He found that Russian military spending hit a record 5.9 trillion rubles in the first quarter of this year alone.
That figure marks a nearly 30 percent jump from the same time last year. For the first time since the conflict began, the military swallowed up 46 percent of all federal spending.
Finding more funds
Basically, almost half of every ruble spent by the national government now goes straight to the armed forces. And the bills are only getting larger.
Bloomberg reports that Moscow is quietly preparing to boost its defense spending even higher. The original budget set aside 12.9 trillion rubles for national defense, but actual costs could soon rocket to nearly 18 trillion.
To cover this massive shortfall, officials are scrambling for solutions. Sources told Bloomberg that the government might slash spending on everyday civilian programs, dip into emergency reserves, and borrow even more money.
Sources: The Moscow Times, Interfax, Onet
