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The Russian government has written off budget debts for six additional regions totaling 37.5 billion rubles (approximately $525 million), according to Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SZRU), UATV English reports.
The debt relief applies to the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Republic of Tatarstan, Khabarovsk Krai, as well as the Vladimir region, Kurgan region, and Omsk region.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the latest debt write-off is another indication that regional finances across Russia are under severe strain.
Russia’s Finance Ministry reportedly forecasts that the combined deficit of regional budgets will reach 1.9 trillion rubles ($26.6 billion) in 2026. More than 20 federal subjects have already been officially classified as financially troubled.
The main causes cited include declining tax revenues, rising social expenditures, and the growing burden of war-related spending that the federal government increasingly shifts onto regional authorities.
Debt forgiveness has become a recurring mechanism. In 2025, 58 Russian regions benefited from debt write-offs, reducing their combined debt burden by approximately $3.2 billion. In 2026, 54 regions have already had an additional $2.4 billion in obligations cancelled.
“Effectively, the Kremlin is forced every year to carry out a mass financial amnesty for its own regions to prevent them from declaring default live on air,” the Foreign Intelligence Service stated.
According to the agency, the situation reflects the deepening structural dependence of Russia’s regions on the federal center, a trend that has accelerated during the war.
“The regions’ own revenue base is not growing, expenditures are not declining, and the wartime economy is consuming resources faster than they can be replenished. Debt write-offs provide only temporary relief and do not eliminate any of the underlying causes of the crisis,” the intelligence service emphasized.
Earlier reports indicated that Russian authorities are also considering measures aimed at bringing pensioners back into the workforce to address labor shortages.
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