Russia’s budget deficit rose to 2.58 trillion rubles ($34.19 billion) in the first two months of 2023 due to the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

In January-February 2023, revenues from oil and gas decreased by 46.4%, to 947 billion rubles, and total budget revenues decreased by 24.8%.

Expenses increased by 51.5% in the first two months of 2023 to 5.74 trillion rubles. From 2022, the Ministry of Finance will no longer publish full monthly data on budget developments.

Data on Monday showed the monthly budget deficit narrowed to 821 billion rubles in February from a record 1.76 billion rubles in January.

Official data contradict Moscow’s propaganda

Moscow depends on oil and gas revenues to fund its budget spending, and has been forced to sell from international reserves to cover deficits compounded by the cost of the war.

So far, Russia has managed to redirect oil exports from Europe to India, China and Turkey, which buy cheap oil.

The Group of Advanced Industrial Countries (G7), the European Union and Australia agreed on December 5, 2022 to ban Western companies from providing insurance, finance and brokerage services to vessels carrying Russian crude oil at prices above $60 a barrel as part of sanctions imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine.

Later, the European Union imposed an embargo on the purchase of oil products from Russia on February 5. These sanctions significantly complicate Russia’s attempts to sell oil around the world.

Numerous Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly assured that the Russian economy is not suffering from Western sanctions, an idea also spread by Moscow propaganda.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Putin who opposed the war in Ukraine, recently estimated that if things continue at this rate, Russia may run out of money next year.