In 2026, Russia has budgeted $144.4 billion for national defense. If you include other expenses related to the war against Ukraine, the total amount reaches $177.4 billion. The official defense budget alone is comparable to the cost of creating the International Space Station (ISS), which is estimated at approximately $150 billion.
This data was published by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR MOU). In the post, the intelligence agency listed the main items of Russia’s military spending.
What is Russia spending its money on?
The Russian budget for 2026 allocates 12.121 trillion rubles (about $144.4 billion) for the “National Defense” item . If we take into account other expenses related to the war against Ukraine, the total amount increases to 14.886 trillion rubles ($177.4 billion). Of these, 9.187 trillion rubles, or about $109.5 billion, fall on the closed part of the so-called defense budget.
Separately, the budget provides for support for Russian defense enterprises. 2.054 billion rubles ($24.5 million) have been allocated to compensate for their costs , 463 million (5.5 million) to prevent bankruptcies, and 500 million (6 million) to reimburse interest on loans. Another 1.5 billion rubles ($17.9 million) will be allocated to compensation payments to employees.
In addition, Russia plans to spend 1.25 billion rubles ($14.9 million) on high-performance computing, necessary for the development of weapons systems. For this purpose, data centers are used, in particular, supercomputers of Yandex and computing power of Sberbank. According to the GUR, the infrastructure of both companies is involved in the armed aggression against Ukraine.
How much money is allocated for drones?
The Russian budget allocates 26.178 billion rubles (about $312 million) for applied defense research . Another 10.233 billion rubles ($121.9 million) are planned to be allocated for the development and production of various types of drones.
Separately, 687.6 billion rubles (about $8.19 billion) have been earmarked for the purchase of drones for the Russian National Guard. They are planned to be used not only on the front lines of the war against Ukraine, but also inside Russia: to protect critical infrastructure, patrol cities, monitor citizens, and suppress possible protests.
The GUR believes that in this way Moscow is strengthening its security structures in order to keep the population under tight control.
Military spending versus social needs
Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that the deficit of the Russian federal budget for January-August 2026 reached 5.8 trillion rubles ($67.87 billion). This is 1.5 times more than for the same period in 2025. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) linked the deterioration of the budget situation to an unforeseen increase in expenses and a decrease in revenues from oil and gas.
As OBOZ.UA reported, in 2027 Russia plans to cut spending on social policy, education, and healthcare while increasing defense spending. It is planned to allocate 17.1 trillion rubles ($202.58 billion) for military needs – about 27% more than the initial plan.
At the same time, social policy spending is planned to be reduced by 7%, education by 6%, and healthcare by 6.8%. In contrast, public debt servicing costs are expected to exceed the initially planned level by 21.6%.
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