This was stated on Espreso TV by Ivan Us, candidate of economic sciences and associate expert at the United Ukraine analytical center.“Russia is currently submitting its budget for next year. Debt servicing costs will exceed spending on salaries in healthcare and education. In other words, Russia will spend more on debt than on paying teachers and doctors. The Russian State Duma has taken note of this and is discussing it,” Us said.According to the economist, Russia’s growing debts are a consequence of persistent budget deficits since 2022.“The draft Russian budget indicates that there will be a deficit this year, and also in 2026, 2027, and 2028. That means seven consecutive deficit budgets. This completely mirrors the trajectory of the Soviet Union, which also ran seven years of budget deficits — but there was no eighth year, because by the end of 1991 the Soviet Union simply ceased to exist,” Us explained.He noted that the prolonged deficits are already affecting regional financing across Russia.“They are being told that subsidies will be significantly reduced. And the first example we see is Tatarstan — not the poorest region. In August, they proudly announced that the one-time payment for participation in the war against Ukraine would be 3.1 million rubles. Now it’s 800,000. These payments are being cut several times over because the federal budget is reducing allocations to the regions. Many other regions did the same in October after seeing the draft budget for the next period,” Us concluded.Earlier, economist Oleh Ustenko warned that in two years the Russian economy will face collapse-like phenomena.