Senior Russian economic officials warned Vladimir Putin about growing budget pressure caused by military spending, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
According to the agency, officials from the Finance Ministry and Central Bank proposed cutting defense expenditure as the budget deficit widened.
Putin, according to Bloomberg’s sources, did not support that approach and instead demanded that additional savings first be found in other areas of government spending.
The information concerns closed discussions within the Russian leadership and has not been officially confirmed. The details of those talks come from Bloomberg.