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Russia plans a record 2027 defence budget as its deficit widens

Budget documents show military spending rising 27% next year, funded by higher taxes and more borrowing.

Assembled by Claude from 10 sources at 10 outlets · Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Morning edition, 10:24 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

Russia plans to spend a record 17.1 trillion roubles on defence in 2027, according to budget documents tvpworld.comeuromaidanpress.com. That is about $201 billion by one calculation defence-blog.com, and about $202.6 billion by another ubn.news. Reports agree the defence budget will exceed $200 billion in 2027 en.protothema.grdefence-blog.com.

Military spending is being raised by 27% for 2027, the highest level of the war so far, according to the budget documents ground.newskyivindependent.comrealcleardefense.com. It is the highest figure since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 realcleardefense.com. The government expects to submit the draft budget by 1 October ground.news.

TVP World summarised the package as a record 17.1 trillion-rouble defence budget for 2027, accompanied by higher taxes and more borrowing tvpworld.com. The same budget documents carry the 2026 deficit, reported in one account at a level equivalent to about 280 trillion won ground.news.

Why it matters to investors

Moscow is raising taxes and borrowing as its budget deficit widens tvpworld.comeuromaidanpress.com. Oil revenues are falling at the same time euromaidanpress.com. The deficit this year is now expected to exceed the roughly 3.2 trillion roubles, around $160 billion, that was initially forecast, and is the highest since the war began en.protothema.grdefence-blog.com.

The buffers are thinner than they were. Reserves that stood at a higher level in 2022 have shrunk to about 4 trillion roubles, more than halved, and the Russian government is turning to debt to fill the fiscal gap biz.chosun.com. Russia initially budgeted $143.4 billion for defence under the earlier plan, which shows the scale of the increase now being written into law ubn.news.

The Defence Blog noted that the deficit for this year is now expected to run wider than planned even as the military line rises defence-blog.com. Chosun's account listed the three levers together: a higher defence figure, an expanded force, and higher taxes and debt to pay for both biz.chosun.com.

What to watch

Defence spending over the next three years is projected to total about $592.3 billion ubn.news. Russia is also expanding its armed forces again, with both the budget and the force expansion set at new records euromaidanpress.comevrimagaci.org. One description of the shift called it a dramatic surge in military spending and a fresh expansion of the armed forces evrimagaci.org.

Ukrainian coverage read the record budget as confirmation that Moscow has no interest in ending the war kyivindependent.com. For investors the transmission runs through oil revenues, Russian tax policy and Russian borrowing, all three of which the budget documents move at once euromaidanpress.comtvpworld.combiz.chosun.com.

Sources

  1. tvpworld.com: Russia plans record 17.1 trillion -rouble defense budget for 2027 - TVP World (2026-09-29)
  2. ground.news: Russia raises 2027 military spending by 27%, budget documents show - Ground News (2026-09-29)
  3. en.protothema.gr: Russia: Defence budget to exceed $200 billion in 2027, highest since the start of the war (2026-09-29)
  4. euromaidanpress.com: Russia raises its war budget by 27% and expands the army again – both to new records (2026-09-29)
  5. defence-blog.com: Russia plans record $200 billion military budget for 2027 - The Defence Blog (2026-09-29)
  6. biz.chosun.com: Russia hikes 2027 defense spend, expands forces, raises taxes and debt - CHOSUNBIZ (2026-09-29)
  7. realcleardefense.com: Russia Raises 2027 Military Spending by 27% - RealClearDefense (2026-09-30)
  8. ubn.news: Russia Plans Record $202.6B Defense Budget as Deficit Widens. - Ukraine Business News (2026-09-29)
  9. kyivindependent.com: Ukraine war latest: Record Russian military budget for 2027 confirms no interest in ending war (2026-09-29)
  10. evrimagaci.org: Putin Expands Russian Army And Defense Budget Amid War - Evrim Ağacı (2026-09-30)