by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Nearly three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just approved a military budget that surpasses the country’s allocated spending on health care, education, and social policy combined, Euro News reports.
Putin signed off on the 2025-2027 budget after lawmakers in both houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and Federation Council approved it toward the end of November, Euro News reports.
Over 137 billion euros, around 32.5% of Russia’s overall budget, has been approved for military spending.
“The state budget for next year includes a 25% hike in military spending but will be the most secretive in post-Soviet history, with almost a third of all spending closed to public scrutiny,” Reuters noted in a report on Russia’s new budget. “The government has presented the draft budget as ‘balanced’, with the deficit falling to 0.5% against this year’s projected deficit of 1.7% and state debt remaining below the 20% mark for the next three years.”
Russia’s record military spending arises as Putin continues his quest for control of Ukraine and as Ukrainian forces fight back with the billions of dollars in weaponry and military assistance provided by the US and European allies.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israeli air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels early Wednesday, marking the second consecutive night and fourth attack in a week targeting central Israel in an escalating near-nightly pattern. The same day, the Houthis also launched a drone that crashed in an open area near Ashkelon in southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Congress and federal agencies wasted more than $1 trillion of taxpayer money in 2024, according to an analysis published by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, who has long called for fiscal responsibility and the end of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.
People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) operatives and spies continue to be arrested in the U.S. The latest include two Chinese spies in California and several arrested in Guam near a U.S. military installation on the same day as an historic live ballistic missile interception test.
Christian churches in Germany are mourning with the loved ones of those who lost their lives or suffered injuries during the terrorist attack on a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, Christian Daily International (CDI) reports.
Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, ignoring appeals from Pope Francis for a Christmas truce in the war-torn nation and around the world.
A beacon of light and hope in a country devastated by war, dozens of newly Christian believers were to be baptized at a special Christmas Day service in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Christian Today (CT) reports.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander urged the Dutch Jewish community on Christmas Day to remain in the Netherlands despite concerns about mounting antisemitism.