British intelligence: russia's war spending is growing steadily, draining other sectors

The Russian government is spending more and more on the war with Ukraine. The proposed state budget for 2024 envisages an increase in defense spending by about 68% compared to 2023. As a result, military spending will amount to about 6% of GDP.

Source. This was reported by British military intelligence, according to the Ministry of Defense's Twitter account.

In contrast, spending on education and healthcare will be frozen at the level of the 2023 appropriation, which is equivalent to a real reduction due to inflation, according to its daily report.

In addition, it is necessary to increase funding for medical care for wounded soldiers and for payments to the families of the fallen, whose number is growing.

More than half of the soldiers who were seriously injured and recognized as disabled lost their limbs. In 20% of cases, upper limbs had to be amputated, and in 80% of cases, legs had to be amputated, Deputy Labor Minister Oleksiy Vovchenko said on October 17, 2023. These wounded will require lifelong medical care.

The steady increase in military spending is likely to contribute to inflation and force the Russian government to make difficult decisions about financing the war, which is likely to increase financial pressure on Russian businesses.

At the same time, any significant reduction in military spending in the future is likely to deprive the Russian economy of an important driving force in the face of sanctions, the authors of the document believe.

Background. As reported, Russian bakeries are starting to produce FPV drones.