Expenditures under the “national defense” section in functional terms (for all departments) in the draft 2007 budget should increase by 23.3% to 821.2 billion rubles, for national security and law enforcement – by 22.7% to 664.8 billion rubles, and for the prevention and elimination of consequences of emergency situations and natural disasters – by 35.8% to 40.2 billion rubles. In 2005, financing of the “national defense” section amounted to 2.84% of GDP, in 2006 – 2.74%, and in 2007 it is planned at the level of 2.63%.

According to estimates by Vasily Zatsepin from the Institute for the Economy in Transition, the Defense Ministry's expenses for the maintenance of military personnel will increase in nominal terms by an average of 14%, and for military personnel of the central apparatus - by 24%. Expenditures on civilian personnel of the army will increase by 28%, and for the same civilians, but in the central apparatus - by 41%. "Taking into account inflation, the expenses for the monetary maintenance of military personnel will grow by only 4% in the troop level and by 13% in the Arbat Military District," the expert says. Military pensions, taking into account inflation, will grow by only 1.6%.

The FSB's salary costs are secret. The nominal increase in pensions will be only 3.6%. The average increase in salaries in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system will be several percent in real terms. In fact, of all the security agencies, Zatsepin continues, only the prosecutor's office has planned to increase its income - in real terms by 10.5% in the central office and 10.3% in the territorial bodies. According to a source in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the meager increase in salaries in the police will not allow the most valuable personnel to be retained, and therefore, plans to combat crime will remain on paper. Although, he admits, raising police salaries would require much greater expenses than the small prosecutor's office.

According to Ivan Safranchuk, an expert at the Defense Information Center, it can be assumed that in the 2007 election year, the government is counting on winning the favor of the military not with salaries, but with the construction of housing. “This violates the implicit promise that was given to the military when benefits were cancelled, that their income would grow significantly,” the expert notes. With such a level of pay, it is unclear how to recruit people for the army, which is switching to a contract basis, says Safranchuk. According to Mikhail Babich, deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, the planned increase in salaries in the budget will not allow the president’s order to increase military salaries by 1.5 times in 2006–2007 to be fulfilled, so the United Russia deputies intend to raise the issue of increasing spending on military pay before the government.

The military won't get rich