Some of Russia’s wealthiest businessmen are believed to have donated around 220 billion rubles ($3 billion) to the state treasury, the business magazine Expert reported Monday, just months after a billionaire proposed the idea of “voluntary” corporate contributions to help bankroll the government’s widening budget deficit.
The cash injection is nearly 130 times the 1.7 billion rubles ($23.3 million) in non-governmental donations the government originally projected for all of 2026, according to state budget-tracking data.
An anonymous federal official told Expert that corporate handouts are expected to reach 300 billion rubles ($4.1 billion) by the end of the fiscal year.
In March, the Kremlin said that a businessman, whom it declined to identify, had proposed during a private gathering attended by President Vladimir Putin that business leaders make large financial contributions to the state.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president supported what was described as a personal initiative, but added that Putin himself did not request donations be made to the state, as some news outlets had previously reported.
