In Russia, for the first time in 18 years, December payments to the military have been postponed due to a "hole" in the budget. The RF Armed Forces want to postpone the payment of salaries for December 2026 to January 2027. If the Ministry of Defense approves this project, it will be the first such case since at least 2008, Vestka notes. Payments to the military for December until the end of the calendar year are standard practice in the Russian military. This procedure was officially established in May 2008 according to the order of the Ministry of Defense No. 250 "On financial support and features of budget accounting in the armed forces of the Russian Federation". But de facto this tradition is even older, and it goes back to the Soviet period. Amendments to the current order of the Russian Ministry of Defense regulating the payment procedure for military personnel introduce new rules. "The financial allowances are paid from the 10th to the 20th of each month for the last month, and for December of the calendar year - from January 11 to the 21st of the following calendar year," the new version of the document reads. If the ministry accepts the changes, the norm will enter into force by the end of 2026. At the same time it is noted that it will not apply to those parts of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine. The historic transfer of payments from December to January for the RF Armed Forces took place against the background of a sharp deterioration in the state of the federal budget. The treasury deficit in the first nine months of 2026 amounted to 5.2 trillion rubles, or 2.2% of GDP. Based on the January-September results, the figure was 50% higher than the level of the corresponding period last year. At the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit will amount to 7.3 trillion rubles, twice as high as the original plans. More details.

In Russia, for the first time in 18 years, December payments to the military have been postponed due to a "hole" in the budget. The RF Armed Forces want to postpone the payment of salaries for December 2026 to January 2027. If the Ministry of Defense approves this project, it will be the first such case since at least 2008, Vestka notes. Payments to the military for December until the end of the calendar year are standard practice in the Russian military. This procedure was officially established in May 2008 according to the order of the Ministry of Defense No. 250 "On financial support and features of budget accounting in the armed forces of the Russian Federation". But de facto this tradition is even older, and it goes back to the Soviet period. Amendments to the current order of the Russian Ministry of Defense regulating the payment procedure for military personnel introduce new rules. "The financial allowances are paid from the 10th to the 20th of each month for the last month, and for December of the calendar year - from January 11 to the 21st of the following calendar year," the new version of the document reads. If the ministry accepts the changes, the norm will enter into force by the end of 2026. At the same time it is noted that it will not apply to those parts of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine. The historic transfer of payments from December to January for the RF Armed Forces took place against the background of a sharp deterioration in the state of the federal budget. The treasury deficit in the first nine months of 2026 amounted to 5.2 trillion rubles, or 2.2% of GDP. Based on the January-September results, the figure was 50% higher than the level of the corresponding period last year. At the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit will amount to 7.3 trillion rubles, twice as high as the original plans. More details.