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 billion rubles). Veterans are entitled to a monthly payment (currently 4,184 rubles) and benefits for housing and communal services, education, and prosthetics.
▪️In the 2023 budget, the veterans’ item begins to grow — up to 89 billion. Taking into account indexation (11.9%), the increase was 3 billion — this is enough for additional payments to 64 thousand people (then the payment was 3896 rubles). The Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation named a similar number of veterans in February 2023 ( 72 thousand ). And already in June, the Ministry of Labor reported that 133 thousand SVO participants received this status.
▪️In the 2024 budget, another 6.5 billion was added to the veterans’ item, that is, additional payments for 127 thousand people (including indexation of 7.4℅). Taking into account previous increases, it was planned that by the end of the year 191 thousand would receive veteran status . Human. But they didn’t calculate: the Ministry of Finance proceeds from conservative forecasts, a former government official explained to MO.
PMC mercenaries complained back in the fall about the impossibility of obtaining a veteran’s ID. In January 24th, volunteers told Putin about problems with the bureaucracy. An order followed to rectify the situation. And already in March, Prosecutor General Krasnov reported that the “intervention” of the prosecutor’s office worked and more than 300 thousand people had already received veteran status.
▪️The June amendments increase the article to 120 billion: at first this much was allocated only for 2026. That is, another 350 thousand veterans appeared two years earlier than planned . At the moment, according to calculations by the Ministry of Defense, payments are provided for 540 thousand veterans of the Northern Military District : over the year their number has increased by an order of magnitude.
Realize that if Russia could entirely ignore mercenaries, they would. I suspect that was the original goal, to be honest. But now even they are becoming a problem. I am sure Russia would prefer that no soldier go home. It’s cheaper to give the families a single payment than to take care of these people for decades.
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