The Russian Ministry of Defense has proposed postponing the payment of December monetary allowance for part of the military personnel to January 2027. The initiative emerged against the backdrop of rising military expenditures and a significant deficit in Russia's federal budget.
This was reported by Bloomberg on November 2. Earlier, on October 30, the independent publication "Verstka" wrote about the corresponding draft order of the Russian Ministry of Defense, having analyzed the proposed changes.
According to the draft, the money for December 2026 is proposed to be paid to military personnel from January 11 to 21, 2027. Currently, Russian military personnel receive their monetary allowance for the previous month from the 10th to the 20th, and December payments are supposed to arrive no later than December 25.
Thus, if the document is approved, part of the Russian military personnel for the first time in at least 18 years will not receive December payments before the end of the calendar year.
At the same time, an exception is provided for Russian units participating in combat actions against Ukraine. Military personnel of the joint grouping of forces are to continue receiving monetary allowance according to the current rules - before the New Year.
Certain provisions of the draft also concern bonuses for contract soldiers. The document provides for the preservation of a special procedure for their calculation and payment.
The proposed changes have not yet taken effect. According to The Bell, the public discussion of the draft will last until November 13. If the Russian Ministry of Defense approves the new rules in their current version, they may come into effect as early as December 2026.
The document itself does not contain an explanation of the reasons for the postponement of payments. However, this decision is being discussed against the background of growing budget problems in Russia, primarily connected with financing the war against Ukraine.
In September, the Russian Ministry of Finance raised the forecast for the federal budget deficit for 2026 to 7.345 trillion rubles, or 3.2% of GDP. The initial budget envisioned a deficit of 3.786 trillion rubles, i.e. 1.6% of GDP.
According to journalists' calculations, postponing December payments to January will allow the Russian government to attribute the corresponding expenditures to the 2027 budget. At the same time, the potential saving for the current year's budget is currently unknown.
Previously, Bloomberg reported that Russia's military spending in 2026 may approach 17 trillion rubles, or approximately $200 billion. This is almost 40% above the original budget plans.
Despite financial pressure, the Russian authorities plan to maintain a high level of defense spending. The draft federal budget for 2027 provides about 17.1 trillion rubles for national defense.
Therefore, the proposed postponement of payments could become one of the ways to redistribute the budgetary burden between financial years. However, without an official explanation from the Russian Ministry of Defense, a direct connection of this initiative with the budget deficit remains an assumption.
