The Russian deputies approved this Thursday in first reading the draft budget 2024-2026, which foresees a 70% increase in defense spending in 2024a turn of the entire Kremlin policy to finance Russia’s operations in Ukraine.
Total, 320 Duma deputies voted in favor and 80 againstin a sign of Moscow’s determination to continue its operations in Ukraine despite the human and economic cost.
The budget for 2024 “is oriented towards our main objective: ensure our victory“, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told deputies on Thursday before the vote.
“Everything for the front, everything for victory!” said Leonid Slutski, president of the ultranationalist LDPR party and the Duma’s International Affairs Commission.
In September, the Kremlin had considered “absolutely necessary” this explosion of spending to counter the “hybrid war” that he believes the West is waging by supporting Kiev.