July 02, 2025

Budget Money, Party Power


Budget Money, Party Power
Vladimir Putin in a plenary session of the State Duma in 2020. The Presidential Press and Information Office, Wikimedia Commons

Russia’s political parties have submitted their financial disclosures for 2024 to the Central Election Commission. Independent outlet Verstka found that while all parliamentary parties rely mainly on federal budget allocations, the ruling party stands apart, benefiting from public funding and massive private donations linked to government contractors and off-the-books regional “shadow funds.”

Edinaya Rossiya ("United Russia"), the largest party in the country, is by far the wealthiest. It received R4.3 billion (about $55 million) from the federal budget under a law that rewards parties with more than 3% of the vote in the elections with R152 (about $2) per vote. Private donations added another R4.5 billion (around $57 million) to the party’s coffers. The top contributors were 50 companies, mostly construction firms with state contracts, each giving the legal maximum of R43.3 million (roughly $552,000).

Additional funds were funneled in through unofficial “support and development” foundations operating in every region. These shadow fundraising structures are usually led by prominent local party officials and receive money from pro-government businesspeople. The financials of these foundations are not disclosed by either the Ministry of Justice or the organizations themselves.

Other parliamentary parties are almost entirely dependent on public funds. The KPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) reported R2.6 billion (around $33 million) in total receipts, of which just R170 million ($2.2 million) came from private sources. Its largest donor, a public organization called Deti Voyni (“Children of War”), led by lawmaker Nikolay Arefyev, gave R20 million ($250,000). Other donations were small and mostly from individuals or businesses.

The social conservative party Spravedlivaya Rossiya — Za Pravdu ("A Just Russia — For Truth") reported R839 million (about $10.7 million), more than half of it from the federal budget. The centrist party Novye Lyudi ("New People") and the right-wing populist LDPR ("Liberal Democratic Party of Russia") showed minimal private backing. Novye Lyudi received R 1.04 billion (around $13.2 million), including R967 million ($12.3 million) from the state. LDPR took in R1.2 billion (around $15.3 million), with R1.07 billion ($13.6 million) of that coming from public funds.

Only five parties crossed the 3% threshold in 2021 to qualify for government funding. Others are left to rely solely on donors. The liberal Yabloko ("Apple") party, the only registered party openly opposing the Russia's War on Ukraine, raised R207 million ($2.6 million) in 2024. Notably, over half came from ten obscure Moscow-based foundations, many of which share addresses and leadership. Four of them are run by one woman. None have visible public activity, and their managers are virtually unknown in Russia’s civil society circles.

Rossiyskaya Partiya Pensionerov Za Sotsialnuy Spravedlivost ("Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice") ranked second among smaller parties, raising R91 million ($1.2 million). The party, seen as the personal project of Kremlin political consultant Grigory Kazankov, got most of its funding from donors in the Nizhny Novgorod region — Kazankov’s political base.

In third place was the Partiya Vozrozhdeniya Rossii ("Party of the Revival of Russia"), which last issued a public statement in December 2022, denouncing repressive laws and calling for anti-corruption reforms. The party has since failed to launch regional branches or update its platform and remains absent from all legislatures. In 2024, it collected over R40 million ($510,000), mostly from Moscow real estate firms. Notably, the party’s leader, Igor Ashurbeyli, a former defense industry executive, also claims to lead a “space nation” called Asgardia, which launched a satellite with citizenship data on board.

Some minor parties appear to share donors. The ultra-nationalist Rodina ("Motherland") party, the Rossiyskaya Partiya Svobody I Spravedlivosti ("Russian Party of Freedom and Justice"), and the Kommunisty Rossii ("Communists of Russia," widely seen as a spoiler party to the KPRF) all received R1.2 million (about $15,000) each from the same source: the Interregional Public Foundation for Regional Social Programs. The foundation is based in the same Moscow building as Edinaya Rossiya’s political academy and several pro-Kremlin NGOs.

Official reports only capture part of the financial picture. The Central Election Commission data excludes regional offices and unofficial funding streams. Despite efforts to improve transparency through relaxed rules and expanded campaign financing, political consultants told Verstka that much of Russia’s party financing still operates in the shadows.

You Might Also Like

Russky Letters Only!
  • June 24, 2025

Russky Letters Only!

Russia has passed a law prohibiting inscriptions in foreign languages in signs and billboards.
A Patriarch by Any Other Name
  • May 25, 2025

A Patriarch by Any Other Name

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has another legal name that's useful for filing taxes, avoiding sanctions, and more.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955