Russia’s War Chest Is Empty

How the National Wealth Fund’s end changes everything

The Sinews of War: Money, Not Myth

“Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam” (trans. ‘endless money forms the sinews of war’). A Roman proverb that delivers with a kind of bluntness that makes this modern analyst jealous. Russia’s National Wealth Fund (NWF), once the Kremlin’s pride, now resembles a blown safe after a burglar’s visit — technically little left to steal. The NWF’s liquid assets, the ready cash, have plummeted from $113.5 billion in early 2022 to a paltry $36.4 billion this June, their lowest since 2019 (The Moscow Times, 2025). The war in Ukraine, a project sold as a test of national destiny, has become a relentless test of fiscal stamina.

The NWF, a financial fortress built on oil profits, now reveals the cracks in Russia’s economic armour. The people’s piggy bank robbed.

The Mirage of Resilience

The NWF, a barometer of Russia’s economic health, now signals serious distress. Fiscal sustainability, once the Kremlin’s mantra, has given way to triage. The fund’s depletion mirrors a patient haemorrhaging blood: each new withdrawal, a desperate attempt to keep the heart…