Russia surges defense spending as the West dithers

Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion rubles, about $205 billion, on defense in 2027, according to government documents reviewed by Reuters. That is 27% more than the country had originally budgeted for the year. Moscow intends to spend 50 trillion rubles ($600 billion) on defense over the next three years, while cutting planned funding for welfare, education, and healthcare. It will raise taxes and borrow more to cover the costs.Russia does not publish its full military spending. Still, it’s clear that Vladimir Putin is reorganizing the state’s finances around a war he expects to continue. He is prepared to impose higher costs on the Russian people to wage that war. Recommended Stories Yet, while Moscow is reorganizing its budget and society around the war, Europe and the United States, with their vastly greater resources, are dithering. Europe has raised defense spending and helped keep Ukraine in the fight, yet in the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion, neither Brussels nor Washington has organized weapons production around the demands of a prolonged war. Europe’s 27 EU members are projected to spend about $515 billion on defense this year, more than twice Russia’s planned $203 billion for 2027. But the dollar comparison is not accurate. Russia buys much of its military labor and equipment at lower domestic prices, so its budget goes further. It also puts a far greater share of its economy into the military. Russia spent an estimated 7.5% of GDP on defense in 2025. The EU is projected to spend 2.4% in 2026.Europe’s average also ignores the geographic divide. Poland is spending close to 5% of GDP on defense, and Estonia has committed more than 5% to defense-related spending this year. Both countries live close to the Russian threat. Larger economies farther west are raising their budgets, but Europe as a whole has yet to turn its money into forces and production suited to a long war. Last week, the European Defence Agency told EU leaders that current plans were unlikely to close gaps in air and missile defense, drones, and ammunition by 2030. The agency found that increased investment had yet to produce enough forces that could be deployed and sustained.President Donald Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal 2027, a 44% rise from the previous year. The administration projects that the budget will fall at around 3.6% of the country’s GDP. Some of this money will go toward replenishing munitions used in the Iran war. The Pentagon wants to raise production of Patriot air defense munitions to 2,000 a year, for example. The problem is that this will require funding, spare parts, and factory expansion. Missiles requested in the 2027 budget are not expected to begin arriving until 2029. If a few months of fighting Iran depleted an estimated two-thirds of America’s Patriot inventory, what would happen in a long war with Russia or China?WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR WARNS OF EMERGING DRUG 100 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN FENTANYLRussian missiles and drones struck Kyiv again on Wednesday, damaging energy facilities and killing civilians. Moscow has been striking the capital relentlessly for most of the month. Ukraine also faces a $27 billion gap in this year’s war costs. Its government says it can cover $7 billion through spending cuts and needs allies to provide the remaining $20 billion.Thus, while Russia has budgeted for another year of war, Ukraine is still looking for the money and missiles to get through this one.