russia’s Regions Spend Hundreds of Millions on Governors’ Safeguards

2/9/2026

Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, russian governors have significantly increased spending on their own security. While 7 million rubles were spent on security in 2021, the amount rose to a record 119.7 million in 2023. In 2024–2025, spending remained consistently high at over 100 million rubles per year.

The number of regions ordering safeguards for leaders of regions and teritories has also increased. Formally, this is explained by “general risks” in the context of war. However, the key factor is internal destabilization in russia itself, caused by the mass return of military servicemen from the front. Former participants in the war against Ukraine are increasingly becoming a source of violence that the rf cannot cope with. According to open data, war “veterans” have already killed or maimed more than a thousand people within the country, and this figure keeps growing.

At the same time, the authorities’ fear contrasts with the kremlin’s budget policy. In 2026, federal spending cuts in russia will affect at least 18 of 51 state programs. Healthcare, aviation, energy, and funding for temporarily occupied territories will be cut. The record reduction was in the “Comprehensive Development of Rural Areas program” – minus 34.3 billion rubles (about 30%), while the “Health Care Development” program lost another 31.7 billion. Against the background of these cuts, the increase in spending on personal security for officials is telling – the russian authorities are saving on the population, but not on their own security.

Against this background, the increased security for governors looks less like protection from external threats and more like a manifestation of fear of their own population – and of those who have returned from the war with weapons, traumas, and readiness for violence. The real actions of regional authorities demonstrate that the russian system is increasingly afraid of the consequences of the war it started.