Russia will spend around a third of its total budget on defence, security and law enforcement next year as the Ukraine war continues, UK intelligence has revealed.
Vladimir Putin last week signed into law measures which will see an astonishing £117.5 billion - or 9 trillion rubles - spent in those areas in 2023.
According to the ministry of defence (MoD) “this is a significant increase compared to prior years and will represent over 30 per cent of Russia’s entire budget”.
In their latest intelligence update on the war in Ukraine, they added: “The budget approved by Putin is likely over-optimistic in its expectation of revenue and spending in 2023.
“Therefore, other parts of Russia’s budget are likely to come under increasing pressure to support the costs of the war.”
Details of the economic cost to Russia of the ongoing invasion - which began in February - came after it emerged Moscow is becoming increasingly reliant on Iran for military aid.
Russia needs to replenish its stocks of ballistic missiles so it can continue to target Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure, the MoD said.
And in return for Iran’s backing, Russia is providing the country’s regime with “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their defence relationship”.
According to the UK, Russia is running low on short-range ballistic missiles, which can hit targets up to 500km away.
“If Russia succeeds in bringing a large number of Iranian ballistic missiles into service, it will likely use them to continue and expand its campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure,” the MoD said.
The update came as it emerged Ukraine has liberated more than half of the territory seized by Russia since the war started.