Russia says war spending reached about 5.1 percent of GDP in 2025

Russia’s defence minister said in mid December that direct spending on the war in Ukraine equalled 5.1 percent of the country’s 2025 gross domestic product, a ministry slide shown during a presentation revealed. The disclosure offers the first ministry level estimate of the conflict’s share of national output for the year and situates battlefield costs within a broader state fiscal picture.

Defence Minister Andrei Belousov told military officials that the Defence Ministry’s overall 2025 spending, including non war items, totaled 7.3 percent of GDP. The state budget separately allocated 6.2 percent of GDP to national defence and 1.8 percent to national security, producing a combined defence and security line of 17 trillion roubles. Using the Economy Ministry’s 2025 GDP estimate of 217 trillion roubles, the 5.1 percent war figure translates into roughly 11.0 to 11.1 trillion roubles, or approximately €118 billion when converted.

Belousov, an economist appointed by President Vladimir Putin in 2024 to replace long time minister Sergei Shoigu amid reports of battlefield setbacks and corruption scandals, framed the numbers as part of a constrained financial environment. He said the Defence Ministry faced severe budget restrictions in 2025 and had to cut costs, and he identified a key operational objective for the coming year to "increase the pace" of the offensive in 2026.

The numbers expose the scale of prioritization within the federal budget. Government planning documents for 2026 through 2028 have earmarked an unprecedented share of federal outlays for defence and domestic security, with draft allocations indicating roughly 38 percent of federal spending directed to those purposes. For 2025 overall, defence and security spending accounted for around 40 percent of total government expenditure, eclipsing combined outlays for education, healthcare, social policy and economic development.

Such a concentrated spending profile carries immediate political and economic consequences. Domestically, it raises pressure on social programs and public investment as the state shifts resources toward military objectives. Externally, the figures will feed international debate about the sustainability of Moscow’s campaign and the extent to which sanctions, export controls and frozen asset disputes are reshaping Russia’s fiscal options.

Analysts caution that differences in the rouble totals stem from the GDP baseline used for conversion and rounding. The 17 trillion rouble line on the budget reflects the broader defence and security envelope, not the war only figure, and the Defence Ministry’s 7.3 percent share includes non war items that push its total above the war only 5.1 percent.

Looking ahead, the numbers put a spotlight on several dynamics to watch in 2026. How the Kremlin balances an emphasis on accelerating operations with the stated need to economize will affect military planning, procurement and industrial output. Internationally, the disclosure will sharpen discussions on asset policy and allied support for Ukraine, while domestically it will crystallize the trade offs that large defence allocations impose on Russian society and the economy.