(Reuters) -Russia has funds to support four Ukrainian regions which President Vladimir Putin began annexing last week and these funds are part of the country’s budget, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told parliament.
Russia declared the annexations of the regions after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.
“Priority for the next three years will be the full integration of the new regions,” Siluanov said, without saying how much would be spent.
“The federal budget has necessary resources for this, both for the current provision of social standards… as well as funds for the economic restoration of the new regions of the Russian Federation.”
Russia plans to earn 27.7 trillion roubles this year and to spend 29 trillion roubles, leading to a deficit of 1.3 trillion roubles or 0.9% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to the finance ministry.
The budget deficit is expected to widen to 2% of GDP next year before narrowing to 0.7% of GDP in 2025.
Russia has classified the purpose of 6.6 trillion roubles in spending, or nearly a quarter of its total expenditures, next year, a draft of the state budget showed last week.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Ed Osmond)
