Press Release, 23.04.2020

Photo by TASS: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin

Lev Shlosberg, MP of the Pskov Regional Assembly from the Yabloko faction and leader of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, sent an appeal to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin asking him to provide aid to all small and medium-sized businesses, regardless of the industry sector, during a pandemic.

On April 3, 2020, the Russian government adopted Resolution No. 434 “On approving the list of sectors of the Russian economy that were most affected by the deteriorating situation as a result of the spread of a new coronavirus infection”. On April 10 and 18, the government supplemented the resolution.

Lev Shlosberg believes that the list of sectors of the economy approved by this resolution was compiled arbitrarily, as the document did not provide any legal, financial and economic justification, any criteria for choosing specific sectors of the economy, calculations budget losses and compensations at the expense of the budget.

According to the Yabloko MP, this creates inequality and injustice in relation to market participants from the sectors of the economy that are not specified in the resolution, and creates conditions for unfair competition, which is a violation of Article 34 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Lev Shlosberg also believes that such selectivity in forming a list of sectors of the economy violates other norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. He noted that Russia guarantees the unity of the economic space, free movement of goods, services and financial resources, support for competition and freedom of economic activity; private, state, municipal and other forms of ownership are recognised and protected equally (Article 8 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). According to article 19 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, everyone is equal before the law and the court; the state guarantees equal rights and freedoms of man and citizen regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official position, place of residence, religion, beliefs, membership in public associations, or other circumstances.

In addition, Lev Shlosberg also notes that, according to the Federal Law “On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Russian Federation”, the basic principle of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises is their equal access to participation in the state programmes of the Russian Federation, state programmes of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and municipal programmes.