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The German Russia economist @jakluge has just published the new record figures. To be clear: not to gain territory, but to hold its position in Ukraine, Russia is spending 59 billion rubles per day. Russia's war machine in the first half of 2026 spent 10,687 trillion rubles (around 106 billion euros) on the military and arms production – 43.8 percent of the entire state budget. That's around 1.78 trillion rubles per month, 59 billion per day, 2.5 billion rubles every hour. Russia had announced stable or even declining expenditures for 2026. Instead: plus 30 percent compared to the previous year, more than five times as much as in 2021. Two-thirds of the budget now flow through secret budget lines, which alone increased by 42 percent within a single year. If this pace continues, arms expenditures could reach over 9 percent of GDP by December, according to Kluge – a new record in the entire post-Soviet history of Russia. Since 2022, Russia has spent a total of 57 trillion rubles on the war – almost as much as the entire gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian central bank. Sources: Spiegel, Moscow Times, Russian Budget Monitor (SWP/Janis Kluge)