Press Release, 6.11.2021

Photo: Lev Shlosberg in the office of the Ekho Moskvi in Pskov radio station / Photo by the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko

According to the Russian Federal Statistical Service (Rosstat), in 2020 the poverty level in Russia symbolically decreased from 12.3% to 12.1%. At the same time, the Pskov region remains the poorest region of the North-West of the country and one of the poorest in Russia. Lev Shlosberg spoke in the  Echo of Moscow in Pskov radio station whether the well-being of people was really growing, and why the region had been remaining a long-term outsider in terms of living standards.

Lev Shlosberg, the leader of the Pskov branch of Yabloko believes that the situation can fundamentally reshape only through a change of power and changes in the attitude of the government towards citizens. According to Shlosberg, it is not profitable for the current government to fight poverty, because poor people are dependent on them and it is easier to manipulate such people.

“It is necessary to create such conditions when people would feel independent and in demand. This requires a free economy, the ability to realise one’s entrepreneurial abilities, and a mandatory [provision] is protection of property rights, including private property, an independent court capable of protecting this right, independent media that will write about injustice and thus push the authorities to correct mistakes. But the corporate state suppresses these institutions, and eliminates many of them.

Until a comprehensive political reform is conducted in our country (that is, a change in the form of government and a change in all domestic relations, including, and even first and foremost, relations between the state and society), nothing will change, and Russia will have tens of millions the poor, because it is a part and a consequence of all the government policies.

There is one more important thing: poor people are mostly dependent [on the state]. A person receiving a minimum wage, living on the brink and even beyond the subsistence minimum, is completely dependent on handouts from the state. Literally, this person buys bread, water and milk with government’s handouts of the minimum level. Such a person is easier to manipulate, it is much easier for the authorities to give political instructions for such a person, including those at elections.

In addition, people who do not have sufficient property, no margin of safety, are not capable of an active civil position and political resistance. And the Russian authorities are absolutely satisfied with this,” Lev Shlosberg said.

The team of the Pskov Yabloko has developed a programme for the rescue and development of the region “Let’s Save the Pskov Region”. It describes in detail specific steps in all areas so that to overcome the crisis.

LEV SHLOSBERG

is a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko and Chair of the Pskov regional branch of the party. Headed the Yabloko faction in the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies