Medvedev ordered the government to draft a proposal on the issue, the Moscow Times reports. A decision will only be made after a final proposal has been submitted and studied, Medvedev underlined, the newspaper informs.
According to figures from the State Statistics Service, about 800,000 people are employed as federal officials, a categorization that does not include the military or other security services. The 20 percent reduction would suggest a reduction of 160,000 positions.
Meanwhile, Yelena Panfilova, head of Transparency International’s Moscow office, said to the newspaper that the number of officials could be cut by up to 25 percent without endangering the quality of services rendered.
