Russia masks defense funding via civilian projects like Tu‑214
Russia conceals the sources of funding for its defense industry, notes the think tank RUSI in its report. In reality, projects formally conducted by the civilian sector, such as the Tu-214 passenger aircraft program, serve to fund the defense industry secretly.
The new report from the RUSI think tank is dedicated to comparing the economies of Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in the context of armaments and wartime efforts. RUSI highlights the uniqueness of Russia, which, thanks to strong centralization, can effectively utilize wartime economic mobilization.
At the same time, as highlighted by the Ukrainian service Defence Express, the Russians conceal part of the expenditures allocated for armaments. This is possible through the implementation by the same companies of both tasks related to weapons production and theoretically civilian programs.
An example of this is the Tu-214 passenger aircraft. Its production is a disaster—as of December 2024, only one unit left the production line. The previous one was in 2021, and only 10 percent of the 2024 production plan was fulfilled.
The situation is even worse in the overall civil aviation sector, which, facing problems maintaining the operability of Western machines, may need up to 550 domestically-produced aircraft, yet only produces a few units annually.
Tu-214 helps develop the defense sector
Defence Express points out that the work related to the development and production of the Tu-214 is one way to covertly fund the defense sector. The scale of this activity is estimated at nearly $40 billion annually and involves issues such as space activities, the development of an innovative economy, and the modernization of the aviation industry.
The Tu-214, whose development enables Moscow to direct additional resources to the defense sector, was supposed to be the future of Russian civil aviation. It is a machine developed at the end of the 20th century based on the slightly older Tu-204, with a length of approximately 151 feet and a wingspan of about 134 feet, equipped with two new Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines.
Instead of modernizing civil aviation, which over nearly a decade received only a few units of the Tu-214 (some of which were for various services), Russia plans to use the new aircraft to build, among others, a reconnaissance aircraft Tu-214R and a maritime aircraft designed to detect and combat submarines.
