Maxim Reshetnikov

As of 1 July 2026, liquid assets in Russia's National Wealth Fund stood at RUB 3.61tn, about $46.4bn, having risen RUB 200bn month on month, and June delivered Russia's first monthly budget surplus of 2026, RUB 0.28tn. Reshetnikov's own late-April projection, that the Fund's liquid share could fall to roughly $12.5bn by year-end, now looks unlikely to be met with five months still to run. The other side of the ledger remains stretched: the half-year deficit stands at RUB 5.73tn, RUB 2.35tn worse than the same period in 2025, with spending running 16.1% above 2025 levels; the Finance Ministry attributes June's surplus to front-loaded contract advances tapering off rather than to a genuine revenue recovery.

Reshetnikov has served as Russia's Minister of Economic Development since 2020, making him one of the longest-serving members of Putin's current cabinet. On 17 April 2026, he told Meduza that Russia's economic buffers are "largely exhausted", adding: "The macroeconomic situation is genuinely significantly more difficult." He noted that businesses had previously absorbed the shock of war-related disruption "by drawing on internal reserves" but that capacity had run down.

His admission came two days after Putin publicly demanded that his government and the Central Bank explain why macroeconomic indicators had fallen short of expectations, attributing the shortfall to "seasonal factors" -- the sharpest internal contradiction in Russian economic messaging since the invasion. Reshetnikov's candour is rare for a serving Russian minister; his continued tenure through both the April admission and the more recent NWF recovery suggests the Kremlin tolerates his direct reporting rather than endorsing the framing.