Endless combat actions on Ukrainian soil are draining the last financial resources of the Kremlin, and the federal and regional management systems are slowly spiraling into a deep budgetary nosedive. In some places, local budget deficits already exceed hundreds of billions of rubles.
The enormous human losses in the combat zone turn into not only a demographic disaster for the state but also an inadequate burden of social obligations that Moscow can no longer fulfill.
The central government gives absolute priority to supplying the army, directing up to 30% of all state expenditures to military topics, while regional budgets are bursting at the seams. As a result, local officials are forced to severely cut payments to those who were lured to the front yesterday with false promises of millions.
Leaks in the media have exposed a cynical picture hidden behind the slogans and chants of government officialdom. In the Ulyanovsk region, regional compensations to the families of deceased servicemen have been reduced 20 times, decreasing the amount from one million rubles to a meager fifty thousand. In the Saratov region, the payment was reduced 10 times, amounting to only one hundred thousand rubles instead of the previous million, and in the Kemerovo region, relatives of the deceased now receive only one million rubles instead of three million. Authorities in the Orenburg region, the Republic of Khakassia, and the Trans-Baikal Territory took an even more radical path: local leadership there has completely canceled compensations for the deaths of soldiers, nullifying previously existing regional guarantees ranging from one to three million rubles.
This state of affairs starkly contradicts statements by officials about comprehensive support for war participants, creating a colossal gap between official rhetoric and the real situation.
Instead of guaranteed help, relatives of the deceased occupiers face bureaucratic humiliations, endless excuses, and an actual refusal by the state to fulfill its financial obligations. The risk of being left disabled or perishing on foreign soil for the enrichment of the elite is no longer compensated even by paper millions, as there is no trace of the promised payments in the regions.
While trillions of rubles are being spent on the production of shells and the continuation of bloody aggression, the civilian infrastructure of Russia itself is rapidly deteriorating.
The healthcare, education, and housing and communal services sectors are experiencing acute shortages, receiving up to 40% less than the minimally necessary investments. All available resources, by Putin’s ill will, are being burned in the fire of a senseless military conflict. More than 70% of housing and communal services facilities in some federal entities require immediate major repairs, yet ordinary citizens, paying out of their own pockets for the leadership’s expansionist ambitions, are forced to survive in freezing homes and emergency hospitals.
The ongoing reduction in military and social payments becomes undeniable proof that the military adventure has finally reached an impasse, threatening the complete collapse of Russia’s financial system.
The only reasonable way out of the unfolding catastrophe remains the immediate cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of troops, and redirection of billions in resources to save the crumbling economy. Probably, new negotiations in Abu Dhabi are being undertaken for this purpose, as the fatigue from this carnage has reached insane levels, and it is time for some change.
Photo: Occupying Media
