According to draft documents on the Kremlin’s 2027 defence spending plans seen by Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to raise defence spending to levels not seen since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
Spending on the Russian military, including arms production, is set to reach 17.1trn roubles (£154bn), equivalent to at least 35% of Russia’s entire state budget. The proposed increase means Russia will spend more than double what Britain spends annually on defence, though far less than the US. The rise will mean that, when added to what the Kremlin spends on domestic security and its intelligence services, around 43% of the state budget will focus on defence-related activities.
Russia's increased defence spending has heightened fears in Europe that Putin could be planning to expand his military operation far beyond Ukraine's borders, testing the durability of NATO's defence alliance. For his part, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned last year that the military alliance could find itself in a direct confrontation with Moscow in the next five years.
Since then, various Western leaders have warned about the possibility of Russian hybrid attacks against individual NATO member states. They accuse Moscow of being involved in a failed drone attack at Germany’s Leipzig airport in August. For his part, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed Russia was planning drone and missile strikes against Poland and other countries on NATO's eastern flank. Putin himself has suggested that Russia could start going after UK defence companies involved in supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron said France had been targeted by Russian hybrid attacks in the past few weeks, which would not be left "without a response". To this end, he announced he had drawn up a plan to protect critical French infrastructure and defence industry sites and to bolster France's military capabilities.
