Record costs: how much will it cost Russians to keep Putin in 2026?
8 October 16:17
The cost of maintaining Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his administration will rise again for Russian taxpayers in 2026, according to a draft budget law published in the State Duma’s unified database, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports, citing Russian media.
According to the document, the costs under the item “functioning of the president and his administration” will amount to 32.917 billion rubles, which is an average of 2.74 billion rubles per month, 633 million rubles per week, or 90 million rubles per day.
Compared to the current year (30.926 billion rubles), Putin’s maintenance will be almost 2 billion rubles more expensive and will cost more than the annual budgets of poor Russian regions.
In 2027, funding for the president and the presidential administration will increase by an additional 809 million rubles, to 33.726 billion; and in 2028, by another 906 million rubles, to 34.632 billion.
Three-quarters of the additional funding – 1.511 billion rubles in 2026 – will be used to increase salaries for the Presidential Administration. The rest – about 500 million rubles – is earmarked for additional “purchases of goods, works and services” for the Kremlin’s needs.
Following the president, the budget will increase the cost of maintaining the Duma and the Federation Council. Expenditures for the lower house of parliament are planned to increase by 2.3 billion rubles in 2026, to 17.648 billion. At the same time, more than half of the new money – 1.265 billion rubles – will be spent on salaries in the Duma, which will cost the budget 11.257 billion rubles a year.
The Federation Council will receive 373 million rubles of additional funding next year and will cost the treasury 8.622 billion rubles, according to the budget materials.
Expenditures on the government apparatus, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and his deputies will increase by almost 1 billion rubles next year, to 13 billion rubles, and then by the same amount in the next two years, to 13.48 billion in 2027 and 13.95 billion in 2028.
Total budget expenditures, according to the draft, will increase by 1.2 trillion rubles next year, to 44 trillion. At the same time, revenues will amount to 40.3 trillion. As a result, a “hole” of 3700000000000 rubles will be formed in the treasury.
To cover the deficit, which will break the pandemic record this year in nominal terms, the government plans to increase VAT from 20% to 22% and is also expected to implement a radical tax reform for small businesses, lowering the threshold for the simplified taxation system from 60 million to 10 million rubles in annual income.
