“Don’t annoy people…”

Publication of income declarations of officials, senators and deputies is temporarily canceled.

Almost every year, President Putin, at meetings with members of the government, demands to strengthen measures of a socio-economic orientation. At the very first current, January, meeting, the head of state called the fight against poverty and social inequality a priority.

According to Rosstat, as of December 2022, the number of poor people has decreased by 700,000 people. “The income growth of the poorest segments of the population was influenced by <…> targeted targeted support from the state,” the statistics service said in a statement. The targeted targeted assistance includes monthly payments for children aged 3 to 7 years and monthly payments for children aged 8 to 17, introduced from April 1.

The poverty line in the third quarter of 2022 was 13,688 rubles. There are now 15.3 million Russians outside this border.

In January-September, 17.2 million of our citizens.

Poverty has a diametrically opposite, mirror image – wealth. Earlier, in October, Rosstat for the first time published a comparison of the so-called decile groups. The wealthiest 10% of Russians account for 30% of the total money income in the country. And the poorest 10% have 2% of total income.

Released at the end of December decree “On the peculiarities of the performance of duties, compliance with restrictions and prohibitions in the field of combating corruption by certain categories of citizens during the period of a special military operation.” It says in particular:

“Placing in the information and telecommunications network” Internet “on the official websites of bodies and organizations of information on income, expenses, property and obligations of a property nature, submitted in accordance with Federal Law of December 25, 2008 N 273-FZ “On Combating Corruption” and other federal laws, and such information is not provided to the all-Russian mass media for publication.”

This means that the annual income declarations of state officials, deputies, senators, and other employees, including municipal bodies, will not be published in the public domain. Usually they were submitted from March 1 to April 1 and became public. Including data on real estate in foreign countries. Now it will be submitted to special commissions and committees.

At the end of 2021, the richest member of the Federation Council earned 4.1 billion, and the wealthiest State Duma deputy had an income of 3.5 billion rubles.

Of course, we are not talking about salaries, but about general income. After all, many came to power from business, have assets, income from these assets. In the regions, for example, there are many deputies and even chairmen of Legislative Assemblies who do not receive a salary. They work, so to speak, on a voluntary basis. Are they independent of the government? Or, on the contrary, the state status promotes their business? In principle, a deputy depends only on the voters, on the people.

One way or another, the anti-corruption commissions will check the declarations, systematize them, but without notifying the broad masses.

Probably, to a certain extent (or even to a large extent) what is happening is connected with scandals known to many … Some deputies not only went on holiday abroad in the current conditions, but also posted photos on social networks about their luxurious life, contrasting, to put it mildly, with Russian reality, with a tense social atmosphere. After that, tacit bans on vacation abroad for deputies and officials began to be introduced in the territories and regions. (“Strong recommendations.”) The essence was formulated by the Governor of the Vologda Oblast Oleg Kuvshinnikov:

“At such a difficult time for the country, spending holidays in luxury resorts and deliberately, publicly posting provocative photos on social networks is unacceptable for either deputies or officials of any level.”

Of course, not without discussion. Thus, Pavel Krupnik, head of the United Russia faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, said: “The problem is not that someone is leaving somewhere. It is immoral to put it in public space and boast of your vacation, opportunities. There is no ban on traveling abroad, but you need to behave decently and be accountable for your own actions.”

That is, do not stick out your well-being, do not annoy people, but everything else is fine?

Sergei Baimukhametov.