The governor of the Saratov region urged officials to forget about vacation

The governor of the Saratov region, Roman Busargin, said that now, “in difficult times for the country,” officials need to forget about vacation. He equated going on vacation to desertion.

“I consider this unacceptable in difficult times for the country. You should forget about vacation for now. Everyone in the government has already understood this. I remind all chapters: before you write a vacation application, think carefully about whether you are going down the right path. In today’s situation, vacation is tantamount to desertion,” the governor said at a meeting of the government of the Saratov region (quote from “RIA News”).

Roman Busargin recalled the words of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who called on district heads to work around the clock. According to the governor, last year someone in the municipalities did not understand this and allowed themselves to rest.

As I wrote “Kommersant” at the beginning of 2023, after several high-profile scandals related to vacations at foreign resorts, the regions began to restrict the right of officials and deputies to travel outside of Russia. Local authorities cannot officially prohibit them from leaving the country, but in many regions there is a “strong recommendation” in this regard.

At the end of November 2023, the governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov banned deputies, ministers and heads of municipalities should leave the region and go on vacation if they have not concluded budget contracts for the next year. In February 2022, after the start of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, he limited the possibility of going on vacation for heads of government agencies, but by the summer the restrictions were lifted.

Erdni Kagaltynov