Russia's military-industrial complex cuts production for the first time in three years – media

In Russia, for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, industries related to the military-industrial complex have entered a period of stagnation or production decline. Prior to this, they had shown double-digit growth rates for almost three consecutive years, Russian media reported, citing Rosstat data, UNN reports.

DetailsIt is noted that Russia’s military-industrial sector, which accounted for trillions in budget expenditures, has faced a sharp slowdown in growth.

Thus, the production of finished metal products, which grew by 26.4% in 2023 and by 31.6% in 2024, decreased by 1.6% year-on-year in September 2025. The production of vehicles, including tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, slowed its growth to 6% compared to 61% a month earlier. Compared to August, the decline was 20%.

According to analysts, the decline in defense industries dragged down the entire manufacturing industry index, which grew by only 0.4% in September compared to 2.4% in August. Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa-Bank, attributes this to budget problems.

According to her, the machine-building complex, which is dependent on state defense orders, also showed a decrease of 0.1% after a 15.7% increase a month earlier. The expert believes that tightening fiscal policy could lead to a further slowdown in industrial growth in the coming months.

RecallAccording to the Foreign Intelligence Service, overdue wage arrears in Russia reached 1.95 billion rubles at the end of September 2025, which is 18.6% more than a month earlier. Compared to September 2024, the amount of debt increased fourfold.

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