War instead of development: russian government cuts civilian budget spending
The russian authorities are no longer even trying to hide that they are willing to sacrifice the country’s socio-economic development and civilian budget spending without hesitation in order to continue the war against Ukraine.
▫️ russian finance minister anton siluanov openly admitted during the moscow financial forum that the budget’s main priority is the “needs of the front.” According to him, in order to finance military needs and balance the budget, the ministry had to resort to sequestration — postponing some civilian expenditures to later periods and “digging into” the resource base.
▫️ Such public admissions by senior officials point to an established trend: the kremlin leadership has definitively put russia’s economy on a war footing. Social programs, infrastructure, healthcare and education are being pushed into the background.
Through such statements, officials are signaling to their own society that any civilian needs are now secondary, leaving citizens with no choice but to accept the decline in living standards that such a policy will inevitably lead to.
