Press Release, 24.08.2022

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko and MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, sent an appeal to Alexei Korabelnikov, St.Petersburg Vice Governor for Finance, asking him to tell under which articles of the city budget for 2022 funds are being allocated for the formation of battalions bearing toponymic names of the region.

In addition, Vishnevsky asked the Vice Governor to name the amount that the city government plans to spend before the end of the year on the formation of battalions: Kronstadt, Neva, and Pavlovsk.

“Theoretically, social assistance costs are included in the budget (429 million roubles), but if this money is sent to help contract soldiers, there will be nothing left for those St.Petersburg residents who need social aid,” Vishnevsky noted.

Earlier, St.Petersburg government, in response to Boris Vishnevsky’s previous appeal, confirmed the formation of the so-called battalions bearing toponymic names of the region and reported that the city provided non-recurrent material assistance to the servicemen of these battalions in the amount of 300,000 roubles per person. The authorities claim that the money is allocated “in accordance with applicable law”.

BORIS VISHNEVSKY

is Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and Bureau, and an MP of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg