cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/44689755
…
According to a report by Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, a significant portion of these expenditures is hidden: 59% of the military budget is undisclosed. During the first three quarters of 2025, spending under “open” budget items amounted to RUB 4.816 trillion, while “closed” items totaled RUB 7.038 trillion. On a year-on-year basis, the classified portion of expenditures increased by 39%.
“The Kremlin is shifting the burden of financing the war onto the population through new taxes and rising prices. Under conditions where any anti-war criticism is punished as ‘treason’, space for public discontent has virtually disappeared. As a result, from 2022 to 2025 prices for Russians rose continuously,” the intelligence service noted.
…
Fuel prices increased by 29–35%, and this trend is expected to continue in 2026. Real estate prices in Russia rose by 50% between 2022 and 2025; in 2026, a further increase of 6–7% is expected, while in Moscow specifically prices may rise by up to 20%.
The most sensitive increase has been in food prices: dairy products rose by 62%, and meat by 41%. Forecasts for 2026 predict further price increases of tens of percent.
…
[Edit typo.]
These numbers mean nothing. At that level it’s monopoly money. They just print more when needed.
To buy tech from China, they need exchangeable currency. To get that, they need to sell products or resources worth something. But their ability to sell that is limited by labour shortage (getting a million men killed or injured + diverting a lot of labour into arms manufacturing) and by resource shortages (Ukrainian “sanctions by drone” and other kinds of sanctions).
War is very expensive because an opponent won’t pay money for the goods one delivers them, but the goods are high tech and need to be delivered in high volume.
well, that does not work for import, I don’t think they are self-sufficient
Even if that were true, the opportunity cost vs healthcare or education would be unchanged.