Major businessmen in Russia transferred non-repayable contributions to the budget that are 130 times greater than the annual forecast. The reason was a closed meeting with Putin, where he demanded that businesses help finance the war against Ukraine.
Major Russian businessmen transferred non-repayable payments to the federal budget amounting to 220 billion rubles - this is almost 130 times the annual forecast for such revenue, which is 1.7 billion rubles, reported the publication "Expert" on Monday, June 1, citing data from the government portal "Electronic Budget".
As noted by the publication, the reason for the "voluntary contributions" was a closed meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs on March 26, where he announced his intention to continue the war against Ukraine and demanded assistance from businesses.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that one of the participants - according to the publication "Expert", this is Suleiman Kerimov - proposed to allocate a "very large sum". According to the Telegram channel Mash, Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin also joined the initiative.
The Budget is Cracking at the Seams
From January to April 2026, the federal budget deficit reached 5.877 trillion rubles - 1.6 times more than the annual plan of 3.786 trillion. The Gaidar Institute predicts that by the end of the year, the deficit could exceed the planned level by two times, while the German intelligence service BND previously stated that the actual deficit for 2025 was 8.01 trillion rubles instead of the official 5.65 trillion.
For "national defense" in 2026, 12.9 trillion rubles are allocated - 29.3% of all expenditures, which is more than the annual budgets of 62 regions of Russia. Together with expenses for the entire security sector, the amount reaches 17 trillion rubles.
The Economy is at Its Limit
High-ranking officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank warned Putin that spending on the war is approaching an unacceptable level, and the economy has begun to shrink for the first time since 2023, Bloomberg reports. They suggested cutting defense spending; however, Putin supported the Ministry of Defense, instructing to cut any items except military ones.
In May, the government lowered its GDP growth forecast to 0.4%. Economist Dmitry Polevoy estimates the shortfall in non-oil and gas revenues in 2026 at 300-700 billion rubles, and in 2027 - up to 1.8 trillion. "The Russian economy has entered a zone of death," stated Alexander Prokopenko, a researcher at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.
The expected 300 billion rubles in "donations" from oligarchs by the end of the year will only cover 10-15% of the unplanned deficit, estimates leading expert at the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis Emil Ablaev. For businesses, informal levies create a risk of legal uncertainty - the amount of contributions remains a personal matter for each and is not secured by any precise agreements. "One paid one amount, another - more," explained a source from "Expert" in one of the business associations.
