Russia plans to allocate 13.2 trillion rubles (approximately $142 billion) for defense expenditures and the war against Ukraine in its 2025 state budget. This amounts to more than one-third of all expenditures and is a record high, Meduza reports. However, as the media outlet writes, Russian authorities fear that news about this will “trigger negative perceptions among citizens” and could lead to a decline in Putin’s ratings. Specifically, sources from Meduza stated that after Bloomberg reported a significant increase in military expenditures, Russian state, and pro-government media were instr…