Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov disclosed for the first time that direct spending on the war in Ukraine will consume 5.1% of GDP in 2025—over 11 trillion rubles ($110 billion) and more than 80% of Russia's entire defense budget. He made the announcement during an expanded Defense Ministry board meeting on 17 December, according to Kommersant.
The admission marks an unusually candid acknowledgment of the war's financial burden. Moscow has long obscured the true costs buried in classified budget lines.
Independent analysts at SIPRI estimated Russia's total 2025 military expenditure at 15.5 trillion rubles ($160 billion, or 7.2% of GDP)—meaning Belousov's figures align closely with external assessments.
Key figures from Belousov's disclosure:
- Total military spending: 7.3% of GDP in 2025
- Direct war costs: 5.1% of GDP (over 11 trillion rubles / $110 billion)
- War spending as share of defense budget: more than 80%
- Non-combat military spending: falls from 2.7% to 2.2% of GDP
Several of Belousov's announcements are independently verifiable.
The first S-500 Prometheus regiment did enter combat duty on 17 December. The Knyaz Pozharsky nuclear submarine was commissioned on 24 July 2025 as the eighth Borei-class vessel carrying 16 Bulava intercontinental missiles, according to Army Recognition.
The drone branch delay is also accurate—and revealing. When Belousov first announced the Unmanned Systems Troops in December 2024, he promised completion by Q3 2025. That deadline slipped to November 2025, then to 2026.
The repeated delays suggest organizational challenges that official statements glossed over. As one source told the Russian outlet Briefly-News: "Ancillary problems and the divergent demands of interested stakeholders are getting in the way."
The Rubikon center does exist and operates FPV drone units that Russian military bloggers credit with significant equipment kills. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi acknowledged on Telegram receiving intelligence reports on Russian unmanned forces development, The War Zone reported—an indirect confirmation of their growing capability.
Where propaganda overshadows realityBelousov's claim that Russia maintains "strategic initiative" and is "reducing the combat potential" of Ukrainian forces reflects Moscow's preferred narrative rather than battlefield consensus.
Ukrainian drones struck Russian airbases as deep as Siberia during Operation Spiderweb this year, damaging nuclear-capable bombers and destroying an estimated 34% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet. Ukrainian naval drones have effectively contested the Black Sea, forcing Russia's fleet to retreat from Crimea.
The claimed "twofold superiority" in tactical drones is partially supported by data. CSIS analysts note Russia deployed roughly 4 million UAVs in 2024 compared to Ukraine's 1.5 million.
But quantity tells an incomplete story. Royal United Services Institute assessments from early 2025 found drones accounted for 60-70% of damage to Russian equipment, Bloomberg reported. Ukraine's innovation cycle—with brigades maintaining their own drone modification shops—has consistently outpaced Russian adaptation.
Belousov's description of the S-500 as capable of hitting targets "in near space" tracks with the system's design specifications. But the S-500 has endured two decades of development delays since initial plans targeted 2014 production, according to United24 Media.
One S-500 reportedly deployed to Crimea in 2024 allegedly failed to intercept ATACMS missiles—a claim Moscow never acknowledged.
The minister's framing of increased spending as a response to "Western actions"—including Ukraine's use of long-range missiles—follows the Kremlin's standard narrative inversion, blaming others for Russian aggression.
What the numbers actually showThe most significant disclosure isn't any single weapon system but the financial picture.
Russia now openly admits spending more than 80% of its defense budget directly on the war. Combined defense and security spending consumes about 8% of GDP, according to the Carnegie Endowment, and around 40% of total federal spending.
Moscow has shifted to what analysts call a "war economy."
SIPRI noted in April that Russia's spending "should be manageable, but budgetary pressures could mount."
Craig Kennedy's investigation for Euromaidan Press revealed an additional hidden track: forced bank loans totaling $210-250 billion to military contractors since 2022—doubling the actual war costs beyond official figures.
Related:
No comments yet.