Decree № 1095, published on 28 August, rewrites the rules under which Russia writes off two thirds of its regions’ budget-loan debt. Two of the five amendments matter most: repayments due this year move to 2030, and a region whose fiscal capacity did not exceed 0.9 may now put all the money freed by the write-off into war spending — with no duty to give at least half of it to housing and utilities.
How the write-off works
The base rules — decree № 79 of February 2025 — split each region’s budget-loan debt as of 1 March 2024 into two parts. Two thirds are written off, up to the amount the region actually spends by 2029 on an approved list: utilities infrastructure, resettlement from unsafe housing, public transport, investment projects. The remaining third is repaid on the old schedules, which run to 2036. The scheme had two guardrails. At least half of the freed money had to finance housing-and-utilities projects. And only the poorest regions — those with fiscal capacity no higher than 0.65 in 2024 — were exempt from that floor and allowed to send the money to “expenses connected with the conduct of the special military operation”.
What № 1095 changes
“Debt under budget loans referred to in paragraph two of this clause and due for repayment in 2026 is moved to 2030.”
That is the third that must be repaid: its instalments vanish from this year’s schedule. The second change is the war clause:
“A constituent entity of the Russian Federation whose estimated fiscal capacity <…> in 2026 before equalization did not exceed the value of 0.9 may direct the freed funds to expenses connected with the conduct of the special military operation without complying with the requirements <…> to direct at least half of the freed funds to infrastructure projects in housing and utilities.”
An exemption for the poorest tier now covers every region up to 0.9, and the reference year moves to 2026. Three more changes: the ceiling on what a participating region may pay banks for credit falls from the key rate plus 3.5 percent a year to plus 2.5; write-off applications may be filed twice in 2026 instead of once; and a write-off now cancels the debt assigned to 2030 first, with any remainder applied to 2031–2039 — while the debt is restored if a company returns the freed money to the regional budget.
The scheme was already paying for the war
The decree does not invent this use of the money; it legalizes it. A week earlier, order № 2266-р wrote off 4,950,082,072.5 roubles for the Tomsk (2.53 bn) and Yaroslavl (2.42 bn) regions — the amount written off equals what a region has actually spent on approved purposes. Presenting it at the government meeting on 27 August, Mishustin said that more than 70 regions had used the programme and invested over a quarter of a trillion roubles more in their economies — public transport, resettlement, utilities:
“Including help to our defenders, who in the course of the special military operation are defending the country’s interests.”
Siluanov put it more plainly on 19 August: write-offs had reached 518 bn roubles across 76 regions, and most of the freed resources went to supporting servicemen’s families. What was a practice is now a rule — with the utilities floor lifted for most regions. № 1095 does not postpone the third that must be repaid from 2027–2029 to 2031–2033. Siluanov promised that separate, unsubmitted measure as an autumn bill. The decree moves only this year’s payments.
What this means for our model
The regional budgets indicator — 28 out of 100 — tracks the consolidated regional balance over a rolling year, currently −1.616 trn roubles. Payments cancelled for 2026 improve that balance without a single rouble of new revenue, so if the regional print looks better in the coming months, part of the improvement will be federal forbearance, not regional health. The mirror image lands on the deficit — 65 out of 100 — as receipts the federal budget will not collect this year. The decree names no sums, so nothing moves in the model today. The rest is on the monitor.
What we do not know
How much of the 2026 schedule moves to 2030 — no total appears in the decree or in the government’s materials. Which regions clear the 0.9 bar in 2026 — there is no published list; it would have to be computed from Minfin’s equalization tables. Whether the moved payments will be shown anywhere as a cost to the federal budget, or only as a schedule change. And how much has been written off in 2026 in total — № 2266-р is a single order, not a running sum.