Russia to increase propaganda spending to historic high of $27 million per week

The draft budget for 2025 allocates RUB 137.2 billion (US$1.42 billion) for state propaganda.

Source: The Moscow Times

Compared to 2024, spending on media will increase by RUB 15.9 billion, or 13%, bringing the total to more than the annual budgets of average Russian regions (for example, RUB 135 billion in Kaliningrad Oblast and RUB 110 billion in the Perm Krai).

On average, state propaganda will cost the budget RUB 11.4 billion per month, or RUB 2.6 billion per week, with state TV channels remaining the main recipients of the funds.

Reportedly, maintaining TV-Novosti, the managing structure of Russia Today, will cost Russians RUB 31.1 billion in 2025, which is 9% more than in 2024. 

The Channel One Russia, which has lost nearly a quarter of its audience since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, will receive a subsidy of RUB 6 billion to fill its broadcasting schedule. 

An additional RUB 18.6 billion is allocated in the budget for the Channel One Russia, NTV, All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Public Television of Russia, and the Carousel channel to cover broadcasts in rural areas (in settlements with populations under 100,000). Compared to the current year, these expenses will increase by RUB 1 billion.

Organising the state propaganda system in the occupied regions of Ukraine will cost the budget RUB 7 billion. 

As a separate item, RUB 8.4 billion have been earmarked for media projects under the presidential administration, focusing on the "informational and explanatory support" of Vladimir Putin's initiatives on the Internet.

Since the start of the full-scale war, the government has spent over RUB 350 billion on state media. However, despite generous funding, state TV channels are rapidly losing their audiences.

The Channel One Russia suffered the most significant losses, with its viewership having dropped by 22% over the year and nearly a third compared to the summer of 2022. 

Russia-1 TV channel lost one in seven viewers (-15%) over the year, yet it remains the most popular channel in the country: in the summer, it was watched by 14.6% of the TV audience, down from 17% a year ago.

NTV, owned by the Gazprom Media holding company, managed to increase its audience, with its share of the average daily audience rising from 7.9% to 8.7%.

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