Vladimir Putin is seeking handouts from Russia’s ultra-wealthy in order to help fund the war in Ukraine, according to reports.
Sources told The Financial Times that Putin wants more money so he can keep fighting until Russia captures the remaining areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region that it has not already seized.
Putin’s appeal for cash suggests he intends to press on with the invasion regardless of its crippling effect on the Kremlin’s budget. The war has seen Russia’s defense costs soar to an estimated 15.5 trillion rubles ($191 billion) in 2025, up from an estimated 9.1 trillion rubles (then $86.4 billion) in 2022.
Russian independent news outlet The Bell first reported that Putin issued a call for “voluntary contributions” to the budget during a behind-closed-doors meeting with top businessmen.
As noted by The Financial Times, Putin making a personal request to oligarchs means it is “all but inconceivable” they will refuse to help fund the war effort.
At least two businessmen have reportedly already said they will donate money to the Kremlin’s budget so Putin can continue the war.
Russian senator Suleiman Kerimov, who has an estimated net worth of more than $25 billion, said he was willing to donate around 100 billion rubles ($1.23 billion). Metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, believed to be worth more than $7 billion, also agreed to contribute. Both Kerimov and Deripaska have been sanctioned by the U.S. and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Russian government is preparing a possible 10 percent cut to all “non-sensitive” spending in this year’s budget as the cost of invading Ukraine continues to balloon.
Russia is also keeping an eye on the oil price rises triggered by the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, and any decision on budget cuts will depend on the sustainability of those increases.
“The president said he hopes the crisis will be resolved in the coming weeks, probably three to four weeks,” Alexander Shokhin, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs lobby group, said, via The Bell.
“He didn’t strongly suggest that the Ministry of Finance and companies should expect a long-term windfall.”
