Implementation of the Russian Federal Budget during January–July 2022 and Spending on the Military

The Russian government has provided little information on military expenditure during the war with Ukraine that started in late February 2022. The Ministry of Finance stopped publishing detailed data on the implementation of the budget in April. However, for a brief period in August and September, the Federal Treasury did issue its usual reports on budget spending during the first half of the year and then to 1 August. The reports are very revealing—and, at first sight, surprising—on actual spending and permit some analysis of the Russian government’s commitment of resources to what it has termed a ‘special military operation’. Unfortunately, the Federal Treasury removed the reports from its website in mid September and, with the decision on 21 September to adopt a partial mobilization, it is unlikely that the publication of detailed reports on budget spending will be resumed for some time.