How does the Kremlin want the loyalist media to report on Russia’s 2027 federal budget? Start with social benefits. Don’t mention that 44% goes to the military and security agencies.

Russian state-run and government-aligned online news outlets have received guidelines on how to cover Russia’s proposed 2027 budget. The government submitted it to the State Duma on September 30.

The guidelines, which Meduza has reviewed, recommend telling readers that the authorities continued to put “people” first when drafting the budget and that “the state will fulfill and expand all its social obligations” to them. The document says the budget proposal’s “main feature” is that those obligations will be met “without fail.”

The authors advise citing specific figures to support this claim. For example, they suggest telling readers that pensions will be adjusted for inflation twice next year: by 6.7% in February and another 3.3% in April.

Planned spending on new schools and kindergartens is also meant to show that the authorities care about their citizens. But the document cites plans for 2030 rather than targets for next year. Those plans call for another 150 schools and more than 100 kindergartens nationwide.

The guidelines recommend comparing the planned budget deficit of 2% of GDP with deficits in “Western countries”: 5.5% in France, 3.6% in the U.K., and more than 3% in Germany.

After distributing the guidelines, presidential administration staff also verbally warned employees of government-aligned outlets against “going off script” in their budget coverage. Their reporting and forecasts must be based on government press releases and announcements.

The journalists may seek comment on the approved budget proposal only from pro-government experts, who have themselves received instructions from the cabinet. These experts include staff at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, such as lead researcher Dmitry Morkovkin; the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, including senior researcher Vladimir Yeremkin; and the Higher School of Economics.

On the eve of the budget’s approval, the government-aligned outlet Vesti had already sought comment from Yeremkin. He gave the proposal a “generally positive” assessment and singled out the very points the guidelines emphasized:

In reality, the proposal cuts social spending while increasing military spending yet again. The guidelines say nothing about this. Government-aligned journalists are forbidden to raise the subject.

The proposal calls for 17.1 trillion rubles in defense spending in 2027. That is more than a third of the country’s total spending and 27% more than last year’s budget plans allocated for 2027.

Defense and security together account for 44% of total spending in the approved proposal, according to senior fellow Alexandra Prokopenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. The total includes spending on other law enforcement and security agencies: the Interior Ministry, Russia’s National Guard, and the security and intelligence services.

The “social obligations” that the guidelines urge journalists to highlight account for 21%. Spending on them has been cut from the levels the government planned last year, even though propagandists have been instructed to tell readers it has increased.

Spending under “Social Policy,” which includes pensions, payments to combat veterans, and maternity benefits, will fall by 7%. Education spending will fall by 6%, and health care spending by 6.8%.

Spending under “National Economy” will also fall by 7.4%. This category includes road construction, infrastructure projects, and subsidies for agriculture and other industries.

From Meduza’s archives

‘It could become a trigger’: Fearing public discontent, the Kremlin tells Russian state media not to report on its defense spending hike

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