Only 18 out of 83 Russian regions have annual budgets exceeding Russia's weekly spending on the war in Ukraine, calculated The Moscow Times*. Last year, there were 23 such regions. Federal budget spending on the war increased by 18.9%, while budgets of most regions grew insignificantly or decreased.
Five regions dropped out of the list of those with budgets exceeding war spending in 2025: Sakhalin, Leningrad, and Kemerovo regions, Primorsky and Perm territories. Almost all of them, except for the Sakhalin region, have budgets exceeding 200 billion rubles a year. Budgets of some of them are growing, but not keeping pace with the growth of military spending. For example, budgets of the Perm and Primorsky territories grew by an average of 7% in 2025, but during this time, Russia's military spending increased by almost 20%.
In 2025, Russian authorities plan to spend a record 13.5 trillion rubles on the war, according to budget parameters. This is almost 260 billion rubles a week, which exceeds the annual budgets of 80% of Russian regions.
Weekly military expenses are exceeded by the annual treasury in Moscow (5.1 trillion rubles) and St. Petersburg (1.3 trillion rubles), as well as in major industrial regions — Sverdlovsk (483 billion), Nizhny Novgorod (361 billion), Chelyabinsk (307 billion), and others.
Four regions spend less in a year than Russia spends on the war in Ukraine in one day (37 billion rubles): the Jewish Autonomous Region, Ingushetia, Kalmykia, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The region with the smallest budget — the Jewish Autonomous Region spends 15.3 billion rubles a year — more than twice less than Russia's daily military expenses.
* Recognized in Russia as a “foreign agent” and “undesirable” organization.