Press Release, 7.04.2020 

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to the heads of several Russian regions. He called for redirection of funds allocated to the regional budgets for campaigning on the all-Russian voting on constitutional amendments to the needs of healthcare and aid to citizens in a difficult situation.

“14.8 billion roubles from the federal budget have already been allocated for voting. Such expenses are not appropriate in normal times, and are impermissible during the pandemic.

Taxpayers’ money should be used to finance hospitals, salaries of doctors and medical personnel, and the purchase of personal protective equipment for doctors and hospital staff,” Nikolai Rybakov emphasised in his appeal.

The appeal was sent to the governors of twelve Russian regions. These are the Amur, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vologda, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Kostroma, Saratov, Smolensk and Tula regions and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as well as to the heads of the Republic of Karelia, the Republic of Komi and the Altai Republic.

These regions, according to the Yabloko party, have allocated funds for campaigning for Putin’s constitutional amendments in their budgets for 2020. The expenditures envisaged for these purposes range from 10 to 98 million roubles (the party has information on each of the above regions). They go in addition to the 14.8 billion roubles that have already been allocated for voting from the federal budget.

The Chairman of Yabloko believes that these funds are not mandatory for the regional budget, especially when the date of the all-Russian vote has been postponed for an indefinite period. According to Rybakov, the transfer of this money to support the population is especially important in the face of falling incomes, suspension of several sectors of the economy and threat to the existence of small and medium-sized businesses.