The president Vladimir Putin said Russia is planning to reduce the defensive costsrecognizing the growing pressure on the budget, even when he insisted that the reductions would depend on his victory in the war in Ukraine.
Russia spends 6.3% of Gross Domestic Products this year on defensive costs and “this is very much,” Putin (27.06.2025) told reporters in Minsk, Belarus. “It is one of the problems, including the budget, which we must solve,” and Russia paid the price of inflation from increased spending, he said.
The government aims to reduce defense spending in 2026 and in the next three -year budget plan, although “there is still no final agreement” and it all depends on the successful completion of the war, Putin said. He did not give any indication of the magnitude of any reduction.
Putin spoke after NATO Member States agreed at their Summit in The Hague this week to sharply increase defense spending to 5% of GDP and warned of “the long -term threat posed by Russia in Euro -Atlantic security”.
Putin denied that Moscow had any plan of attack on North Atlantic states, though he also said the same before ordering the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“We plan to reduce costs and they plan to increase them,” he said. “So who is acting aggressively?”