Putin "scrapped" Key Technology Development Projects In Russia
- 24.07.2026, 19:32
The dictator of the Russian Federation is trying to save money for the war.
The “Russian Technological Leadership” projects launched by Vladimir Putin, who promised to achieve “sovereignty” in technology, have faced drastic funding cuts amid federal budget problems and record military spending, reports The Moscow Times.
Of the 324.4 billion rubles allocated in the 2025 budget law, Putin’s eight key projects actually received only 201.9 billion rubles—that is, 37.8% less, according to calculations by experts at the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF).
The space technology project suffered the most drastic cut: out of the planned 10 billion rubles, it received not a single kopeck. Spending on the national project “Means of Production and Automation,” under which the production of domestic machine tools and robots was planned with the goal of entering the top 25 countries in terms of industrial robotization.
Spending on the “New Materials and Chemistry” and “Industrial and Transportation Mobility” projects decreased by nearly 40% compared to the plan. In the first case, 9.4 billion rubles were budgeted, but only 5.7 billion were allocated; in the second, 167.2 billion were budgeted, with actual expenditures totaling 102.2 billion.
Spending on the development of medicines and domestic medical equipment under the “Health Preservation” project fell by 15.1%—from 5.7 to 4.8 billion rubles; for the “Food Security” project—by 6.8%, from 14.6 to 13.6 billion rubles; and for the “New Nuclear and Energy Technologies” project—by 5.1%, from 30.1 to 28.6 billion rubles.
The only national technology project to receive full funding—and even slightly more than planned—was the development of unmanned aerial vehicles: 32.7 billion rubles were budgeted for it, but 35.7 billion were spent.
The reduction is attributed both to the projects’ own lack of readiness (for example, in civil aviation) and to shortfalls in revenue, according to experts at the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Forecasting (CMACP). Although the government raised the corporate income tax and the scrap tax last year and introduced a differentiated personal income tax scale, budget revenues fell 3 trillion rubles short of the target, and the deficit reached 5.6 trillion rubles. At the same time, “spending on defense remained high,” the CMACP emphasizes: 13.5 trillion rubles, according to the budget law.
This year, the budget problems “have intensified,” the center’s report states. Despite the VAT increase, the budget ran a deficit of 5.7 trillion rubles in the first half of the year. Moreover, in the first quarter, every second ruble of spending and two-thirds of the taxes collected went toward the war effort.
“The results of federal budget execution in 2025 show just how vulnerable complex investment areas remain when budget parameters are revised,” writes the CMACP. This year, these sectors may also face budget cuts: according to Bloomberg, the Ministry of Finance may slash civilian spending by 2–3 trillion rubles to cover military expenditures, which could end up being 4–5 trillion rubles higher than planned. The 2026 budget law allocates 12.9 trillion rubles to the national defense line item.