Russian companies donate billions to Putin’s war

That is one and a half times as much as for the entire year 2025. The sum therefore exceeded all expectations.

The majority of the funds flowed after an appeal was made to entrepreneurs in March, the newspaper reported, citing the Ministry of Finance. Not only large corporations would be eligible for such transfers, but also individuals, corporate or family foundations, the head of the Russian Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, told the newspaper. Each major donor decides for themselves whether to make a voluntary donation based on their own financial situation.

It is not clear exactly what the money will be spent on. However, there is a large deficit in the Russian budget due to ever-increasing spending on Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which has been raging for four and a half years.

Another tax for the war chest in the fall?

According to Vedomosti, the government could introduce an excess profits tax for the financial sector in the fall – i.e. a special tax on corporate profits – in order to raise even more money. To finance the war, Putin had already increased income taxes and VAT.

In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected reports that Putin himself had asked for money at a meeting of the Association of Business and Industrialists. Rather, the initiative came from a businessman. Putin welcomed that.

The independent portal The Bell had reported that Putin said at the closed-door meeting that Russia would continue to fight and would definitely conquer the entire Donbass region. Then Putin’s confidant Igor Sechin, head of the state oil company Rosneft, is said to have called for donations for the war.

In 2022, Putin gave the order to attack Ukraine. The Kremlin has not yet achieved its war goals. More and more money is flowing into the military, security apparatus and armaments. The economy is now increasingly struggling with problems – also due to Western sanctions.