Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the recruitment of 133.000 new soldiers in the autumn recruitment, which begins on October 1 and lasts until the end of the year, and according to the head of the recruitment office, the recruits will not go to the battlefields in Ukraine. Russia also plans to increase defense spending by 25 percent, to the highest level in history, while Putin promises to continue his war efforts in Ukraine and further escalate the conflict with the West.
The latest planned spending increase will bring Russia's defense budget to a record 13,5 trillion rubles (about 228 billion euros) by 2025, according to a draft budget published Monday on the parliament's website. That is about 3 trillion rubles more than was allocated for defense this year, which was the previous record.
Taking this into account, defense and security spending will account for around 40% of Russia's total government spending – or 41,5 trillion rubles in 2025.
The 2025 budget suggests that Putin has embraced what economists call "military Keynesianism," marked by a significant increase in military spending that has fueled the war in Ukraine, boosted consumer spending, and led to rising inflation.
"This increase confirms that the economy has switched to war mode, and even if the war in Ukraine ends soon, channeling money to the military and an over-inflated defense sector will remain a top priority," Bel, a leading Russian media outlet specializing in the economy, wrote in its newsletter. .
"It is clear that spending on the military and security will exceed the combined spending on education, health, social policy and the national economy," it added.
According to the draft budget, social spending is expected to fall by 16%, from 7,7 trillion rubles this year to 6,5 trillion rubles next year. Russia's massive military investment has worried European war planners, who say NATO has underestimated Russia's ability to wage a protracted war.
Meanwhile, Ukraine faces uncertainty about the level of future support from its closest allies.
This boosted confidence in Moscow, where Putin said on Monday that "all set goals" in what Russia calls its special military operation "will be achieved."
Putin's speeches over the past year have been marked by growing confidence as Russian troops make slow progress in eastern Ukraine. He recently took a hard line, demanding Ukraine's unconditional capitulation and calling for the "denazification of Ukraine, its demilitarization and neutral status."
Analysts believe that the long-term economic outlook for Russia is much bleaker than before the invasion.
The Kremlin's pivot to China and other markets, sanctions avoidance and other detours cannot compensate for direct access to Western markets or technology.
Russia's boom in military spending has sent the country's inflation soaring, forcing the central bank to raise borrowing costs as the country grapples with acute labor shortages as Moscow diverts fiscal and physical resources to the military.
The Kremlin decree, which was published on Monday in the Russian state newspaper Rosyskaya Gazeta, calls for the mobilization of citizens "between the ages of 18 and 30 who are not in the reserve and are subject to military service in accordance with federal law (...) in the amount of 133.000 people," reports Radio Free Europe.
The head of the Russian recruitment office, Vice-Admiral Vladimir Cimlyansky, stated that the conditions for recruitment remain the same - 12 months of service in military units in Russia.
"I would like to note that conscripts will not be invited to participate in a special military operation in the new regions," the newspaper quoted the Russian vice admiral as saying.
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