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Salary boost to police and armed forces

Rise in Russian salaries.

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gives a clear message in next year’s state budget: Doubling of salaries for police and armed forces, while the country’s pensioners will get a 9,4 percent increase.

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Rise in Russian salaries.
Photos: Thomas Nilsen, Illustration: Jonas Karlsbakk

Talking to his cabinet on Wednesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin outlined the key points in Russia’s 2012 budget.

– I would like to stress that the government’s position remains unchanged: a budgetary policy and what is called living within our means, Putin said in the beginning of his speech.

Putin’s highlights are well known priorities; modernization of the national economy, large-scale infrastructure programmes and active social policy to improve quality of life and living standards of Russia citizens.

The groups of employees that will get a real boost in income next year are men and women in the police and armed forces.

- In 2012, we will reform the pay received by servicemen of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior. It will grow by over 100 percent, Putin said. The speech is posted on the portal of the Prime Minister.

It is the Ministry of Interior that are in command of the OMON-police forces. Also, from 2012 the federal government will take over from the regions the task of funding the police.

While the law-enforcement officials and military personnel will get a more than 100 percent boost in salaries, Russia’s pensioners will get an increase in monthly payment just over the expected growth in consumer prices of 6 percent stipulated in the budget.

- Retirement pensions will grow by 7 percent on February 1, 2012, and by another 2,4 percent on April 1, Vladimir Putin said. With the total increase, the average monthly retirement pension will be about 9,300 roubles (€216). Social pensions will be increase by 14 percent, to be about 5,700 roubles (€132) monthly.

Pensioners’ small increase in monthly payment has one exception in the budget, also that in favour of security and armed forces: 

- We will increase the pensions for all retired military already on January 1, 2012: they will get a growth by an average of 50 percent regardless of the agency, Vladimir Putin announced.

The state budget also highlights the housing problems in the police and military. Putin told his cabinet members that all servicemen in the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior that are on the housing list will receive permanent housing within the next two years.