The Russian Budget and Other Stories

Russia is growing a veteran population. It’s not surprising. The War on Terror was far less intense or personnel intensive, and we still got vets.

Russia has never been good about taking care of its vets. They are more of an afterthought, and seriously disabled former military personnel are seen as lesser humans. Russia prefers the image of glorious war rather than the consequences.

It’s even worse for vets without apparent injuries. But at this point, they are having another problem. They are starting to affect the budget:

The Ministry of Finance does not keep up with the growth in the number of participants in the war. 350 thousand people received veteran status two years earlier than budgeted.

Today, the State Duma approved amendments to the 2024 budget, increasing its expenditures on several items. Among them, as noted by the Ministry of Defense, is an additional 18 billion rubles for monthly payments to combat veterans — “due to the increase in the number of recipients.” Calculations by the Ministry of Defense showed that we are talking about a sharp increase in the number of veterans of the war with Ukraine — this status is given to those who are at the front.

▪️In the 2021 and 2022 budgets, the article on payments to combat veterans remained virtually unchanged (76 and 77…