What’s changing in Russia in 2026? Year-round conscription, higher taxes, rising utility costs, and AI surveillance
Russia’s conscription system becomes year-round
At the very end of 2025, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree mandating that Russian conscription offices operate year-round, rather than only during the country’s traditional spring and fall draft campaigns. From January 1 through December 31, 2026, the military plans to conscript 261,000 men for compulsory service.
Avoiding conscription is also set to become harder once a new digital system for automatically imposing restrictions on conscripts who ignore military summonses becomes fully operational.
Russia’s conscription system will become year-round starting January 1. Here’s what that means for Moscow’s call-up capacity.
Russia’s conscription system will become year-round starting January 1. Here’s what that means for Moscow’s call-up capacity.
Minimum prices for hard liquor rise again
Beginning January 1, 2026, vodka may no longer be sold for less than 409 rubles ($5.11) for a half-liter bottle — an increase of 50 rubles ($0.62). The minimum price for a half-liter of brandy rose to 605 rubles ($7.56, up 133 rubles, or $1.66), while cognac now has a floor price of 755 rubles ($9.43, up 104 rubles, or $1.30).
The Finance Ministry order setting these minimum alcohol prices is formally in effect through December 31, 2031. In practice, however, it is reviewed annually — and the minimum retail price for vodka has risen steadily every year since 2015.
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VAT increases to 22 percent
As of January 1, 2026, Russia’s value-added tax rose from 20 percent to 22 percent. The reduced 10 percent rate for socially essential goods remains unchanged.
The higher rate now applies to all goods, work, services, and property rights shipped, performed, rendered, or transferred on or after January 1.
Other significant — and unwelcome — tax changes include a lower income threshold for paying VAT under the simplified tax system and for using the patent tax system. Both are widely used by small businesses, which will now have to hand over a larger share of their revenues to the state.
more on the changes
- The Kremlin is raising taxes to fund the war against Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know.
- Russians pick up the tab The Kremlin’s new tax hike aims to plug a record deficit and fund the war — but it may not be enough
- Russians are about to get a tax hike to pay for the war. Here’s how state TV spun it.
Annual asset declarations for officials scrapped
This year, Russian officials will stop submitting annual income declarations to oversight bodies. Going forward, they will be required to file declarations only in strictly defined cases: before an appointment or transfer to a new position, before inclusion in the federal personnel reserve, and in the event of major expenditures.
At the end of 2022, Putin allowed officials — including himself — to stop publishing their declarations online or submitting them to the media for the duration of the full-scale war against Ukraine. What was initially framed as a temporary measure has now become permanent: public disclosure of officials’ declarations has been abolished altogether.
Monthly minimum wage goes up to nearly $340
As of January 1, the monthly federal minimum wage increased by 4,653 rubles ($58.13) to 27,093 rubles ($338.45), provided an employee works a full standard month.
This figure sets the nationwide floor. Regions may establish a higher minimum wage; where no regional rate exists, the federal minimum wage applies.
Income tax for ‘foreign agents’ rises well above the norm
The authorities have introduced a flat 30 percent personal income tax rate for individuals designated as “foreign agents,” regardless of whether they are tax residents of Russia. The same rate already applies to non-residents. By contrast, most Russians pay income tax at rates ranging from 13 to 22 percent, depending on their earnings.
In addition, people labeled as “foreign agents” have been stripped of tax deductions and the right to claim tax exemptions.
Moscow starts using AI to automatically detect crimes
A new federal law authorizing the “experiment,” along with amendments to Russia’s Administrative Code, now allows the city of Moscow to use artificial intelligence to automatically identify misdemeanor violations. The system will rely on the city’s video surveillance network, as well as cameras mounted on vehicles and drones.
The AI-based monitoring will cover:
- protection of cultural heritage sites;
- regional construction oversight;
- environmental monitoring;
- oversight of protected natural areas;
- transport and road infrastructure supervision;
- monitoring the protection and use of urban soils;
- enforcement of rules governing the protection of green spaces.
The pilot program is set to run for three years.
‘These wonderful cameras’ Leaked documents reveal the Kremlin’s plan for a secretive government agency to build a nationwide surveillance network
‘These wonderful cameras’ Leaked documents reveal the Kremlin’s plan for a secretive government agency to build a nationwide surveillance network
Russia’s Central Bank doubles the list of red flags for fraudulent transactions
The Central Bank has expanded its list of indicators used to identify potentially fraudulent money transfers made without a customer’s voluntary consent — from six to 12.
New red flags include:
- transfers exceeding 200,000 rubles (about $2,500) between a customer’s own accounts via the fast payments system, followed within 24 hours by an attempt to send money to another person to whom the customer has not transferred funds in the past six months;
- using a new Internet service provider;
- changing a SIM card.
If any of these indicators are detected, banks will be required to freeze the transfer for 48 hours, inform the customer of the reason, and ask them to confirm the transaction. Customers may insist on proceeding with the transfer — but if the funds ultimately go to scammers, the bank won’t reimburse the loss.
Utility tariffs rise — the first of two hikes this year
In 2026, household utility tariffs in Russia will be raised twice: on January 1 and again on October 1. The first increase, effective at the start of the year, averages 1.7 percent nationwide and is tied to the hike in the value-added tax from 20 to 22 percent.
A second, more substantial increase is scheduled for October. The exact rate will vary by region, ranging from 8 percent to as much as 19.7 percent.
The FSB regains its own remand prisons
For several decades, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) lacked its own pre-trial detention centers — a consequence of Russia’s obligations under the Council of Europe to uphold human rights standards. Those constraints are now gone. Russia left the Council of Europe in 2022, and as of January 1, the security service once again has its own prisons.
Human rights advocates warn that the move could worsen conditions for defendants held in FSB custody.
‘A new Gulag’ After 20 years without them, the FSB is getting its own jails. That’s bad news for Russians.
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Cover photo: Alexander Zemlyanichenko / AP / Scanpix / LETA