The US estimates that Putin has spent more than $200 billion on the war and lost 315,000 people
In Russia, funding for the army and weapons production will increase by 70%, and if compared to 2021, it will triple
Two years of war with Ukraine cost Russia $211 billion. This amount includes the cost of equipping, deploying and maintaining troops for offensive operations, a senior US defence official said.
Source. This was reported by Reuters.
In addition, Russia lost more than $10 billion due to cancelled or postponed arms sales. In total, the invasion of Ukraine cost $1.3 trillion, taking into account the lost economic growth of the country, which was expected until 2026, the Pentagon said.
If President Vladimir Putin had not started the war, the Russian economy could have been 5% larger, the US Treasury Department has previously noted.
It was the invasion and subsequent occupation of Ukrainian territories that "contributed to rapidly rising costs, ruble depreciation, higher inflation, and labour market tensions reflecting the loss of labour," they said.
In general, the combination of the war, Western sanctions and Moscow's retaliatory actions is causing "significant economic tension" in Russia, the ministry stated.
In late December, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the budget had enough money to finance the war. According to him, the allocated funds will allow to fulfil all the main tasks at the front. The government has included record defence spending since Soviet times in the 2024 budget: it will amount to 10.775 trillion rubles, or 29.5% of total spending. Compared to the current year, funding for the army and arms production will increase by 70%, and triple compared to 2021.
The Pentagon official also assessed the damage done to the army. According to him, Russia's losses in killed and wounded reached 315,000 people. This is about 87% of the personnel that the Russian Ministry of Defence had before the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
A similar figure was given by US intelligence in mid-December.
Background. As reported, experts have calculated the "gigantic" economic losses from the war not only to Ukraine but also to third countries.
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