Speaking at a meeting with State Duma MPs ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections in September, Putin said that besides “strengthening the country’s defense,” the 2027–2029 budget should prioritize “solving urgent social tasks,” The Moscow Times said. He also accused the West of launching a “Russophobic machine,” imposing record numbers of sanctions, and said “no one will ever be able to break the Russian people,” the report said.
On June 1, officials at the finance ministry and the central bank warned the Kremlin that the current projected level of war spending on Ukraine threatens to sharply widen the federal budget deficit, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg said the warning to Putin that war costs are becoming “unaffordable” was the most serious sign of internal disagreement in Moscow since the full-scale invasion began.
The Russian government initially budgeted RUB12.9 trillion
($165 billion) for defense in 2026, but Bloomberg cited sources saying actual
military costs are likely to exceed the plan by RUB4–5 trillion.