the federal budget faced a widening deficit amid growing public expenditures
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on transferring unclaimed funds and precious metals of deceased citizens to the state five years after their death. The new measure is introduced against the background of a growing federal budget deficit in Russia, which reached 5.2 trillion rubles in January-September 2026. This was reported by The Moscow Times, according to the portal PromPolitInform.
The head of the Russian state signed a document regulating the mechanism for seizing funds in national and foreign currencies, as well as bank deposits and precious metals. Confiscation will apply in situations where no inheritance cases have been opened within five years from the date of the owner’s death.
Creation of a special list and data verification
To confirm the state’s rights to these assets, a special registry of deceased citizens whose property is recognized as escheated will be created. The document will contain full personal data of the owners, individual tax numbers, and bank account details. The Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) will compile this list based on data from the tax service, the notary chamber, bailiffs, and banks.
The Federal Tax Service is required to transfer the necessary information by December 1, 2026, for further verification. The Federal Notary Chamber, in turn, must ensure that legal heirs have not claimed their rights to the inheritance. Handling various assets involves the automatic conversion of foreign currency into rubles.
Metal valuation and legislative amendments
The value of precious metals will be determined in accordance with the terms of the bank agreement or at the accounting price established by the Central Bank of Russia. In addition, the country’s leadership instructed the government to prepare proposals for amending legislation by April 1, 2027. The new norms are to definitively determine the procedure for identifying property subject to transfer to the state by inheritance.
The State Duma supported this initiative back in 2025, noting a potential revenue volume of several hundred billion rubles. The introduction of such measures occurs against the backdrop of a significant deterioration in state finances and an increase in treasury funding gaps.
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation reported a significant excess over planned budget deficit targets. For January-September 2026, this figure reached 5.2 trillion rubles, accounting for 2.2% of GDP. The deficit is expected to reach 7.3 trillion rubles by the end of the year, doubling the initial plan.
Illustrative photo: Правительство Российской Федерации / Public domain
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