Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the budget law for 2026 and the next three years.
According to the document, approved by the State Duma on November 18 and by the Federation Council on November 26, the government plans to collect 40.27 trillion rubles in taxes next year and spend 44.06 trillion rubles. This will create a deficit of 3.78 trillion rubles, or 1.6% of GDP, reports The Moscow Times.
Nearly 30% of the budget—a record share since the USSR—will be spent on the army and weapons procurement, totaling 12.93 trillion rubles. Another 3.91 trillion rubles is allocated to “national security,” which includes the budgets of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Guard, intelligence agencies, and the Federal Penitentiary Service. Altogether, security forces will receive 16.84 trillion rubles, or 38% of the budget. Compared to pre-war 2021 (24%), this is a 1.6-fold increase in the share of security spending.
The share of social spending will decrease to 25.1% (before the war it was 38.1%), while spending on supporting the national economy will fall to 10.9% (pre-war: 17.6%). Both figures are the lowest in 20 years of available Ministry of Finance statistics.
Oil and gas revenues, which fell 20% this year, are not expected to grow significantly next year—8.9 trillion rubles versus 8.6 trillion. New taxes totaling 2.9 trillion rubles are planned to be extracted from the non-oil sector.
From 2026, Russia will raise the VAT rate for the second time in seven years (to 22%) and launch a radical tax reform for small businesses, which will remove the simplified taxation system (USN) for hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs. In September 2026, a “technology tax” will be introduced—effectively a tax on electronics and equipment sold in Russian stores. The VAT increase alone is expected to bring 1.2 trillion rubles to the budget, while the total revenue from new tax measures will reach 2.6 trillion rubles, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
To balance the budget, several key social programs will be cut. For example, funding for the national project “Long and Active Life” (formerly the national project “Healthcare”) will decrease by 26%, to 274.2 billion rubles. Spending on the modernization of primary healthcare will be cut 2.3 times, the federal project for ambulance services will lose 28% of its funding, and programs combating diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases will be reduced by 13%, 3.1%, and 2.5%, respectively.
“The government and Ministry of Finance, through difficult and complex work, have made the budget balanced, clear, and ensuring fulfillment of our obligations,” said Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko after the law was adopted.
The budget is aimed at addressing “the country’s key tasks” and protecting “citizens’ interests,” said State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin after the vote. He added that the budget was adopted “under challenging conditions,” as more than 30,000 sanctions have been imposed against Russia.
