Kathrine Frich
Maintaining a flawless public image during a long conflict is hard.
Day after day, state media channels do everything they can to project total strength and endless resources to the public. But sometimes, the reality slips out.
Shock on air
A prominent Russian television host just stunned his audience. On live TV, Vladimir Solovyov revealed that critical defense projects have ground to a halt because the state has run out of cash.
According to the media outlet Agentstvo, this marks the first time the well-known commentator has publicly acknowledged these economic strains. It is a rare glimpse into the true cost of the war.
Specifically, Solovyov announced that workers stopped building protective dams around key bridges. These structures shield vital supply lines from Ukrainian attacks, but the funding has suddenly dried up.
Broken defense promises
The TV host did not hide his anger. Instead, he explicitly linked the construction halt to a broader lack of funds for vital military equipment.
“Now we are building dams to protect the bridges that the Ukrainians are attacking, to disrupt our infrastructure. We are building dams. But in the last few days there has been no work, no money. How is that possible? Oh, yes. We must not, God forbid, drive up inflation… Did inflation hit Moscow? The question is, why did it fly in? Because we need modern air defense systems, which we have, but they need to be expanded,” Solovyov said, according to LA.LV.
The commentator blamed the issue on the Russian Central Bank. He argued that their high interest rates are hurting the economy when the state desperately needs money for defenses.
Soaring military bills
The public outburst highlights a massive problem that Moscow normally tries very hard to hide. The war has simply become too expensive to manage comfortably.
“So did inflation hit Moscow? The question is why did it come? Because we need modern air defense systems,” Solovyov repeated during his broadcast.
These struggles match recent economic data. According to Bloomberg, Russia’s military spending this year could skyrocket by up to five trillion rubles over the original budget.
That represents a staggering 40 percent increase. Economist Jānis Kluge previously estimated that nearly half of all federal budget spending in the first quarter went directly to the military.
Sources: LA.LV, Agentstvo, Bloomberg
