How much the state spends on security forces and social programs: Azaronak's version vs. reality

Ryhor Azaronak discussed Belarus' strong social orientation with political scientist Andrei Lazutkin on October 14, 2025. The host claimed that the country spends most of its budget on social programs:

"Let me remind you that, for example, we allocate about $50 million in the budget for all security agencies combined (meaning the army, police, KGB and everything else). Of course, any budget also has a classified portion of this funding, but that's roughly the figure. Social programs (and that's everything combined: construction, health care, education and everything related to family, society, daily life, living standards) account for 80% of our budget. 80! That's a huge, huge number."

Budget expenditures for 2025 total nearly 50.3 billion rubles (approximately $16.2 billion). That means the $50 million Azaronak allocated to security forces amounts to just over 0.3% of the budget. In reality, the budget allocates more than 4.7 billion rubles to national defense. Even more — 5.3 billion rubles — goes to the judiciary, law enforcement and security, which includes spending on the police, KGB, prosecutor's office and so on. All together, that's 10 billion rubles or more than $3 billion — 60 times more than Azaronak claimed.

In the consolidated budget, which combines the national budget and all local budgets across the country, defense, security and courts account for 12.4%.

Social spending includes expenditures on education, health care, social policy, sports, physical education, culture and media. This accounts for roughly 42% of the consolidated budget. Another roughly 5% goes to utilities and construction. That means the total is 47%, not the 80% Azaronak claims.

Five years ago, in 2020, the state spent 9.8% of budget funds on defense and security, and half on social programs.