Recently, Irina Kiviko, the long-serving “minister of finance” of the occupied peninsula, announced the “approval of the republic’s draft budget for 2027–2029.” The total projected revenue is stated at 134.4 billion, comprising nearly 104 billion in “tax and non-tax revenue” and 30.5 billion in “non-repayable receipts”. Meanwhile, the “total expenditure” is set at 138.6 billion, resulting in a three-percent deficit.
Our focus on the figures presented by Kiviko is not accidental; they effectively serve as an indictment of the occupiers’ “fiscal, financial, and economic policy.”
It is worth noting that, despite the persistent confusion surrounding the “budget figures” periodically announced by the occupiers, in the autumn of the year before last, they had “officially” projected 209 billion in “republican revenue” for 2025, consisting of 77.7 billion in “tax and non-tax revenue” and 131 billion in “non-repayable receipts.” For 2026, they had projected 199 billion in “republican revenue”, comprising 79.6 billion in “tax and non-tax revenue” and 119 billion in “federal grants” mentioned.
For comparison, the total projected revenue for 2024 was 272 billion, consisting of nearly 99 billion in “tax and non-tax revenue” and 173 billion in “grants.” As we have previously noted, the Crimean “government” and tax authorities attempted to counter the overall decline in “tax revenues” last year through heavy-handed, arbitrary campaigns to “squeeze” local businesses, while also seeking additional “federal funds” by citing various catastrophes and “force majeure” events.
Consequently, for 2025, the Crimea “authorities” reported a total “republican budget” of over 262 billion, comprising 136 billion in “federal subsidies” and a claimed 126.4 billion in “republican-generated revenue.”
However, the level of “own-source revenue” has dropped significantly for 2026, as there is effectively nothing left to extract; meanwhile, “federal inflows”, even when accounting for “unplanned subsidies”, are also substantially lower this year.
A year ago, the Crimea “authorities” projected a total revenue of 230 billion for 2027, consisting of 118 billion in “tax and non-tax” revenue and 112 billion in “non-repayable transfers”. This leaves a “slight discrepancy” of nearly 100 billion when compared to the figures recently announced by Kiviko.
The reasons for this are twofold: the Crimean “government” can no longer conceal the ongoing decline in its own-source revenue, and the “federal subsidies” earmarked for next year have been slashed to one-third of the original projection, the lowest level seen throughout the entire period of occupation. The “minister” herself offered a “brilliant explanation” for the situation, stating that the federal budget, which passed its first reading yesterday, does not yet contain detailed figures for support to the constituent entities. Whether an “extra” hundred billion rubles might appear there, however, is a purely rhetorical question.
In this regard, the pseudo-“speaker” Vladimir Konstantinov promised a tragicomic scenario: “cuts to spending on promotional events, exhibitions, and festivals”, along with the “deferral of certain projects”. He also announced the introduction of “zero-based budgeting” in Crimea for any expenditures deemed not strictly necessary.
In plain language, this is a classic case of “there’s no money, but hang in there.” At the same time, Konstantinov “optimistically” promised to “scale back the privatization of republic-owned property”, including “nationalized” assets, claiming that “current market conditions would make it impossible to fetch their true value”.
