putin Signs “Wartime” 2026 Budget
vladimir putin has signed the federal budget for 2026, allocating nearly 40% of all expenditures to the army and security sector. This is a record since the ussr and a direct signal that peace is not part of the kremlin’s plans for the coming year.
▫️ With sanctions collapsing russia’s oil and gas revenues, the budget includes a massive deficit — 1.6% of GDP. To “plug the gaps,” the kremlin is cutting social programs, whose share in the budget falls to 25%, the lowest in 20 years.
▫️ The kremlin is also introducing new taxes: raising VAT to 22%, complicating operations for small businesses, and imposing various fees for businesses and ordinary russians. In effect, the population will bear the cost of the war through tax pressure and reduced social services.
The kremlin is shifting the country onto a “wartime footing,” strengthening the security apparatus and cutting everything unrelated to the military. This budget once again confirms that a protracted war remains the kremlin’s priority, even at the cost of economic decline and the impoverishment of its own people.
