Russia’s military spending in H1 2025 reached a record 8.484 trillion rubles ($89 billion). That’s +31% versus 2024 and nearly triple the level of the first year of the full-scale invasion. About 62% of the defense budget is classified, complicating oversight and suggesting a likely shadow component of expenditures.
Moscow is fulfilling urgent Indian requests for various types of munitions. Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said the state defense order remains the priority due to the war against Ukraine. At the same time, given the strategic partnership with Delhi, Russia is trying to accommodate India’s needs as much as possible.
In August, Russia opened 22 new industrial facilities. Among them: a Rosatom composites line in Mordovia, a new turn-milling machine shop in Yekaterinburg, and a microelectronics cluster in Tomsk. New foundry and electroplating shops were also launched to support import substitution in machinery and electronics.
More updates from Russia’s information space — in ESCU Monitoring #33
