Russian state entities have reportedly spent over $11 million on drone defenses in 2023

In the first 10 months of 2023, Russian government institutions and state-owned companies spent at least 1.06 billion rubles (over $11 million) on defense against drone attacks, the investigative outlet Agentstvo reported Thursday, citing public procurement data.

The facility that has cost the state the most to protect so far is the Smolensk Nuclear Power Plant, which is located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the Ukrainian border. A subsidiary of the state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom spent 348.7 million rubles ($3.7 million) on protecting the station from drones.

Altogether, according to Agentstvo, Russian companies have already spent six times more money on defense from drone attacks in the first ten months of 2023 than they spent in all of 2022.