Russian lawmakers voted for a budget on Thursday that will see defence spending surge by almost 30 percent next year, as the Kremlin diverts huge resources to its Ukraine offensive.
Moscow had already ramped up military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union era, pumping out missiles and drones to fire on Ukraine and paying lucrative salaries to its hundreds of thousands of frontline soldiers.
Lawmakers in the lower house State Duma voted overwhelmingly to approve the first reading of the draft budget, with only one vote against.
The bill will go through a second reading on November 14.
The new budget would take defence spending to 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion) in 2025, more than outlays for welfare and education combined.
That figure does not include some other resources being directed to the military campaign, such as spending that Russia labels as “domestic security” and some outlays classified as top secret.
Total spending on defence and security will account for around 40 percent of Russia’s total government spending, seen at 41.5 trillion rubles in 2025.
The budget vote comes as Moscow’s troops advance in eastern Ukraine, capturing dozens of towns and villages from overstretched and outmanned Ukrainian forces.
Before sending the draft budget to the Russian parliament, Moscow trumpeted an increase in investment and social welfare alongside higher military outlays.
But the plans lawmakers voted for on Thursday suggest that military spending has crowded out spending on other areas of the economy.
Planned spending on “national defence” is more than twice that allocated to areas Moscow labels as “social policy”.
