Military spending will remain a priority in preparing the budget for the next three years, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered, quoted by The Moscow Times.
At a meeting with deputies of the State Duma, Putin accused the West of deploying a “Russophobic machine” and setting “world records” for sanctions, but they will not break the Russian people.
“Our political system and institutions of power are formed on sovereign principles in full accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and are ready to defend the country, capable together with society to resolutely repel any hostile steps“, Putin said. In addition to “strengthening the "the country's defense," he said, and the priority for the 2027-2029 budget should be "solving urgent social problems."
According to estimates, the war against Ukraine has so far cost Russian taxpayers 53.079 trillion rubles, or $746.6 billion. This amount covers 28 years of current budget spending on healthcare, 30 years of education spending, and 100 years of the budgets of large regions such as Krasnoyarsk Krai or Sverdlovsk Oblast.
The aggressive actions carried out by the West against Russia for many years provoked the conflict in Ukraine and forced Moscow to launch what it calls a "special military operation," Vladimir Putin said earlier at a meeting with naval servicemen, TASS reported. He recalled the West's promise not to expand NATO's infrastructure to the east — a promise that was never fulfilled.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had received “clear information“ from intelligence services that Russia, struggling at the front, was preparing a new, large-scale wave of military mobilization in the fall, Agence France-Presse reported.
Zelensky called on Ukraine to defend itself “at all levels“ against this threat – both at the front and by continuing strikes deep into Russian territory, and also diplomatically through talks with “all who“ want to “come closer to peace”, BTA reported.