INSIDE RUSSIA - WHAT'S HAPPENING IN RUSSIA RIGHT NOW | October 6, 2026

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THREE BILLION RUBLES A WEEK: FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, RUSSIA’S BUDGET INCLUDES RECORD SPENDING ON STATE PROPAGANDA 

The cuts in Russia’s 2027 federal budget, which affected most civilian spending categories — from healthcare projects to support for the national economy and subsidies for families with children — have spared the country’s state propaganda apparatus.

Next year, funding for state media will remain near historically record levels — 145.7 billion rubles ($1.71 billion), according to the explanatory note to the budget law. This is only 0.4% below the 2026 level (146.3 billion rubles, or $1.72 billion), 6% more than in 2025 (137.2 billion rubles, or $1.61 billion), and 28%, or 27.9 billion rubles ($328.2 million), higher than in pre-war 2021.

On average, maintaining pro-government news agencies and propaganda television channels will cost Russian taxpayers 12.14 billion rubles ($142.8 million) a month, 2.8 billion rubles ($32.9 million) a week, or almost 400 million rubles ($4.71 million) a day.

Propaganda’s combined budget will exceed the annual budgets of medium-sized Russian provinces: for example, Vologda (139.3 billion rubles, or $1.64 billion, population 1.1 million), Tver (140.2 billion rubles, or $1.65 billion, population 1.1 million), or Tomsk (127.4 billion rubles, or $1.50 billion, population 1 million).

The main recipient of state funds will remain Margarita Simonyan’s Russia Today (RT) — a subsidy of 30.7 billion rubles ($361.2 million) is marked for it. Spending on the state television corporation VGTRK, which operates TV channels Rossiya 1 and Rossiya-24, will amount to 25 billion rubles ($294.1 million).

Channel One will receive a targeted subsidy of 6 billion rubles ($70.6 million), another 268.5 million rubles ($3.16 million) for the “broadcast of the naval parade,” as well as, together with NTV, TRK Petersburg, TV Center, and other television channels, an additional 21.6 billion rubles ($254.1 million) for broadcasts in small population centers.

For Russia Today, which operates the RIA Novosti news agency, the budget includes a subsidy of 10.8 billion rubles ($127.1 million), while the TASS news agency will receive 4.7 billion rubles ($55.3 million). Budget funding will also go to newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda (438.8 million rubles, $5.16 million), Parlamentskaya Gazeta (276.1 million rubles, $3.25 million), Regnum (163.6 million rubles, $1.92 million), and Readovka (43.6 million rubles, $512,900).

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AFTER THE DEATH OF AN EMPLOYEE OF A PLAGUE INSTITUTE IN RUSSIAN PROVINCE, THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DEMANDS MORE INFORMATION, WHILE RUSSIANS ARE BUYING PLAGUE DOCTOR COSTUMES

Quarantine measures are continuing in the Irkutsk province of Russia following the death of 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute Darya Shipilova. The woman died in the early hours of October 2 at the Shelekhov District Hospital. Following her death, reports emerged of possible plague infection, but the Russian state health monitoring agency Rospotrebnadzor has officially not confirmed this and calls the illness “pneumonia of undetermined etiology.”

According to local outlet Lyudi Baikala, on the evening of October 2, three vehicles arrived at the building on Voronezhskaya Street in Irkutsk where Shipilova lived. People in protective suits and gas masks disinfected two entrances. Residents were told that the treatment was being carried out on the orders of Rospotrebnadzor.

Earlier, Irkutsk journalist Pavel Stepanov and Mash reported that on September 25 the woman had allegedly broken a test tube containing the pathogen that causes pneumonic plague, after which she became ill. This version has not been officially confirmed.

Against this backdrop, the Shelekhov District Hospital was placed under quarantine, according to Borus. As Lyudi Baikala writes, around 200 people who had contact with the deceased woman were placed under observation.

Today, the World Health Organization said ‌that Russian authorities had identified all people who had contact with the deceased employee of the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute. WHO also requested ⁠additional information from Russia about what happened. “According to the information available, all people who ‌ had contact with the patient have been identified and are under medical observation. At present, none of them ‌has developed symptoms of the disease,” said WHO representative Christian Lindmeier.

Independent outlet Verstka, after examining data from the internal systems of Russian online marketplaces Wildberries and Ozon, reported a sharp increase in sales and searches for protective equipment. On Ozon, respirator sales increased from 474 units during the week of September 21–27 to 901 during the week of September 28 – October 4. On October 4 alone, 286 respirators were sold. “Anti-plague” suits also began to be searched for much more frequently: on Ozon, 675 people made such a search during the week, compared with 381 the previous day. On Wildberries, the suits were searched for 1,284 times over the past week, whereas there had been virtually no such searches the week before.

Interest in “plague doctor” masks and costumes grew even more. On Wildberries, they were searched for 10,295 times over the past week — 9,530 more searches than the previous week. On Ozon, the item was searched for 7,861 times, while the total value of orders over the week increased by 343%. At the same time, Verstka notes that some of the increase may be related to the approaching Halloween. However, interest in other popular characters (such as witches and vampires) increased significantly less.

Sales of Albert Camus’s novel The Plague have also increased. According to data that appeared in Russian media, the book began to be purchased almost twice as often as a year earlier. The greatest interest in it is being shown in the cities of Moscow, Chelyabinsk, and Irkutsk.

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RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PROMISES SYSTEMATIC HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE TALIBAN 

Russia will regularly provide “humanitarian shipments” to the Taliban, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. According to him, another shipment of Russian humanitarian aid is expected to be delivered to the Afghan capital soon. 

“Russia, for its part, will continue to carry out regular humanitarian deliveries. Another batch of these supplies should arrive in Kabul within the next month or two,” the minister said at the opening of a meeting of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan. 

The humanitarian situation in the country remains difficult, Lavrov said, citing UN data. According to him, almost half of the population (more than 17 million Afghans) could face food shortages in winter, while the total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance is around 22 million. 

“Efforts are needed both through specialized international organizations and on a bilateral basis to manage the situation,” Lavrov said. 

Despite this, as Afghanistan International found, the Taliban, with Moscow’s approval and with India acting as an intermediary, are purchasing batches of weapons and drones in Belarus.

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PUTIN CUTS THE AMOUNT OF CASH ALLOWED TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY EIGHTFOLD AND AUTHORIZES THE SEIZURE OF MONEY EXCEEDING THE LIMIT 

On September 29, Vladimir Putin issued a decree banning the removal from Russia of more than 1 million rubles ($11,765) in cash to the EAEU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), as well as Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Previously, the maximum amount of cash that could be taken out was more than eight times higher. 

According to the decree, individuals will be allowed to take more than 1 million rubles in cash out of the country only when departing through airports and if they have bank statements confirming the withdrawal of the full amount from their accounts.

️For organizations and private entrepreneurs, taking cash rubles out of the country is prohibited regardless of the amount, although the same exception applies to departures through designated airports when supporting documents are available. The new decree also provides an exception for cases involving “international transportation in which the point of departure and the destination are located outside the Russian Federation.”

️In case of violating the ban, the document states, individuals will have the portion “exceeding 1 million rubles” seized, while for legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the entire amount will be seized.

Since March 2022, Russia has prohibited, by presidential decree, the export of cash in foreign currencies in amounts exceeding the equivalent of $10,000. The new restriction on currency exports is being introduced amid an escalation of air strikes between Russia and Ukraine and reports of possible mobilization in Russia.

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RUSSIAN COURTS FREEZE 22 BILLION DOLLARS IN CITIZENS' BANK ACCOUNTS AND SEIZE A RECORD NUMBER OF HOMES, CARS, AND MOBILE DEVICES IN 2025

In 2025, Russian courts, as part of criminal cases, froze 1.9 trillion rubles ($22.35 billion) in bank accounts, according to data from the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court, as noted by independent outlet Verstka. This is a record for the entire period for which such statistics have been kept, since 2022.

For comparison, the amount of funds frozen in bank accounts in 2024 was 1.2 trillion rubles ($14.2 billion), while in 2023 and 2022 it was only 640 billion rubles ($7.53 billion) per year. Thus, in 2025 this figure increased by 710 billion rubles ($8.35 billion), or approximately 60%, and compared with 2022 and 2023, it almost tripled.

The number of investigators’ requests to freeze property reached a 20-year high in 2025 (this statistical indicator has been published since 2005). In 2025, courts considered 103.8 thousand such requests, granting 92.6 thousand of them. In 2024, there were 85.9 thousand requests, and in 2023 — 71.9 thousand.

In addition, the number of seizures of other property reached record levels. In 2025, 6.3 thousand residential properties, 6.4 thousand plots of land, 34.7 thousand cars, as well as 7.3 thousand mobile devices were seized from Russian citizens.

Property seizures in criminal cases are imposed before a verdict is announced, at the pretrial stage, the Judicial Department’s press service previously told Novaya Gazeta Europe. They are carried out to ensure enforcement of the verdict in the future — for example, to collect a fine from a convicted person or potentially confiscate their property.

Russian investigators also use property seizures in political cases. For example, in February 2025, Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court froze the accounts of blogger Ilya Varlamov in a case concerning failure to comply with obligations of “foreign agents.” In October of the same year, the bank accounts and other assets of sneaker store founder Nikita Efremov, who was accused of financing the “extremist” Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), were frozen.

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PUTIN MASSIVELY AWARDS EMPLOYEES OF STATE MEDIA FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A MONTH 

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding state honors to officials, employees of state-owned companies, and media workers. More than 50 Channel One employees were among those honored. In total, more than 100 employees of Russia’s main propaganda channel have received state awards since the beginning of September.

The document cites “merits in the field of mass media and many years of conscientious work” as the reason for the awards. Those honored include managers, employees of various departments, directors and editors, as well as on-air presenters.

Among those honored were political scientist Dmitry Simes, who, as Proekt reported, received tens of millions of rubles a year from Channel One, as well as Ekaterina Berezovskaya, the host of Putin’s televised call-in programs.

In November 2025, Putin also massively honored 103 Channel One employees: the president’s commendations were given to presenters and managers, including Roza Syabitova, Valdis Pelsh, and Alexander Gordon.

A mass award was also given to propagandists from various television channels for coverage of the annexation of Crimea in 2014. At the time, about 60 Channel One employees received awards under a secret presidential decree. In total, the same decree awarded state honors to 300 employees of pro-Kremlin media outlets — in addition to Channel One, recipients included employees of VGTRK, NTV, Russia Today, and the Life News holding.

In August 2018, Putin signed an order awarding seven Channel One employees a presidential certificate of merit, while another 18 received presidential commendations.

Additionally, Putin has repeatedly awarded the channel’s CEO Konstantin Ernst — in 2014, and in 2021 and 2026. 

Independent outlet Agentstvo was unable to find any recent Putin decrees awarding employees of other federal television channels en masse.

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RUSSIAN PROVINCES BEGIN SHUTTING OFF STREET LIGHTING TO SAVE MONEY

In at least 19 Russian provinces, authorities have begun reducing or shutting off street lighting since the beginning of 2026, The Moscow Times found after reviewing reports from local media and residents’ online posts.

In 11 provinces, authorities directly link the outages to a lack of funds.

For example, in Bratsk and Irkutsk provinces, residents complained about lights being switched off in a park, on streets, and at intersections. The city administration explained this by citing “energy conservation measures” and the phased shutdown of decorative lighting in public squares and pedestrian and park areas.

In a number of provinces, authorities also cite the need to save budget funds and the exhaustion of the allocated funding limit as reasons.

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KGB DECIDES TO IMPROVE TRAVEL COMFORT FOR GENERALS AND THEIR FAMILIES AT THE STATE’S EXPENSE 

The Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) has prepared a draft order that raises travel categories for the agency’s leadership, senior officers, and their relatives. The document has been published on the portal for draft regulatory legal acts.

Members of the FSB Collegium (the agency’s director, his deputies, and other senior officials) are to be provided with first class not only for official travel, but also when traveling on vacation and for medical treatment.

Senior officers will be entitled to business class, while officials at the level of deputy department head and above, if their position carries the rank of colonel or first-rank captain, will be entitled to “comfort” class. Other military personnel will continue to travel in economy class. The same travel categories are proposed for family members of FSB personnel who are entitled to free travel. 

In addition, the FSB proposes expanding the list of expenses that the state will reimburse: mandatory service and agency fees, forced ticket refunds or rebookings, as well as expenses resulting from missed connections.

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CHICKEN KYIV IS RENAMED IN THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CAFETERIA 

Chicken Kyiv — a classic dish made of pounded or pocketed chicken breast stuffed with cold herbed garlic butter, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried or baked until crispy — disappeared from the Russian Government cafeteria by the start of the autumn session, Kremlin pool correspondent Alexander Yunashev noticed. The dish is now called “cutlet with butter.”

“A new season of work in the Russian Government is beginning, which means your favorite show, ‘Russian Government Cafeteria Updates,’ is back. Among the new items this fall is a cutlet with butter. Which was previously simply Chicken Kyiv,” Yunashev wrote on his Telegram blog.

In the photo he published, cutlets are displayed in the cafeteria, with the price tag showing the new name — “Cutlet with butter,” priced at 270 rubles ($3.18).

Russia has a long history of renaming food for political reasons. Back in 2017, The New York Times journalist Ivan Nechepurenko found a “Crimean cutlet” in the cafeteria of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which, according to him, resembled  Chicken Kyiv. After the start of the war, Chicken Kyiv was also renamed at establishments catering to ordinary citizens. For example, in March 2022, the Seli-Poyeli cafe chain in the city of Kirov called it a Chicken Kirov, while the Bolshaya Stolovaya cafe called it a Chicken Vyatka.

ON THAT NOTE, WE END TODAY’S NEWS BROADCAST.

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