Wealthiest Russians fund 1% of Russia's state spending through 'voluntary' donations in 2026

MOSCOW, Oct 2 - Russia's wealthiest people have covered over 1% of government spending this year through 'voluntary' wartime donations discussed with President Vladimir Putin in March, state budget documents showed.

The closed-door meeting with Putin was attended by Russia's top businesspeople, most of whom are under Western sanctions. The full list of participants was not made public. Putin said in September that "hundreds of billions" of roubles had been donated following the meeting. 

Russia will run a budget deficit equal to 3.2% of gross domestic product this year, or 7.3 trillion roubles ($87 billion), double the initial target of 1.6% of GDP. Without the donations, which have amounted to 471 billion roubles - or more than $5.6 billion - so far this year, the deficit could have risen to 3.4% of GDP.

The Kremlin said the unnamed businessman who proposed the initiative had argued that since many wealthy Russians made their fortunes during the 1990s thanks to their links to the state, it was now their duty to contribute to the state budget.

Following the meeting, the Kremlin said that one of the participants had offered to contribute a "very large sum of money" and that Putin had welcomed the initiative.

The government also plans to receive 385 billion roubles in 2026 from sales of assets it has seized from private businesses in recent years as part of the biggest redistribution of property since the privatizations of the 1990s. It has cited illegalities, corruption and foreign ownership of strategic assets among the reasons for the move.

The government hiked taxes and increased borrowing in 2025 to finance the deficit and maintain spending on the military and security, which is planned to reach 38% of total budget expenditure this year.

The proceeds from the contributions - marked "voluntary receipts" in the budget documents - exceeded those from the corporate windfall tax, paid mostly by metals and fertilizer companies on profits from high global prices for their products.

As the war in Ukraine nears the end of its fifth year, the government is increasingly looking for new sources of revenue, planning more tax hikes for next year and clamping down on tax evasion schemes.

One of the tax hikes, expected to bring an additional 1 trillion roubles in revenue in 2027, will target proceeds from bank deposits, which have become a significant source of income for many people due to high interest rates.

($1 = 83.6750 roubles)

(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova, Darya Korsunsksya and Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)