Press Release, 11.04.2020

The Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma made a package of proposals to the Moscow government aimed at providing socio-economic support to residents of Moscow in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. The document proposes to redistribute the funds envisaged in the budget for 2020 from long-term infrastructure and entertainment projects to immediate measures to support the living standards of ordinary Muscovites and the city’s economy.

Temporary suspension or reduction of financing for road and residential construction under the “renovation” project (pulling down of over 5,000 apartment blocks built in 1960s and building new housing instead), improvement of streets and courtyards, financing of the activities of the apparat of the executive branch, improvements in the territory of the Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNKh) and public entertainment events will create a pool of funds in the amount of up to 300 billion roubles. Yabloko proposes to direct these funds primarily to providing the entire population of the city with personal protective equipment free of charge: masks, gloves, sanitizers and coronavirus testing systems.

In addition, a job conservation programme should be implemented. The city must pay 80 per cent of the salary to all those who, by agreement with the employer, went on temporary unpaid leave. In this case, the employer must be exempted from paying all taxes related to payments to such an employee.

The third important direction of using the released funds should be measures to support small and medium-sized businesses. According to the Yabloko party experts, up to 2.5 million people are employed in this segment of the city’s economy, and it is they who bear the highest costs from quarantine measures. They need tax holidays, rent waivers for those who rent municipal premises and subsidising those who occupy commercial premises. Yabloko also proposes to completely abolish taxes in 2020 for companies in hotel, tourism and leisure industries. Also, the city should allocate direct subsidies in the amount of 1 million roubles to companies in this segment.

In total, a package of proposals for socio-economic support for Muscovites due to budget restructuring contains 13 points. These proposals also include, for example, partial compensation for 30 per cent of payments to tenants of housing and compensation for 50 per cent of the lost income to art and cultural institutions.

“We are certain that Muscovites are ready to go without the Festival of Light worth 577 million roubles this year,” commented Maxim Kruglov, leader of the Yabloko faction.  “Putting into operation of the Northern Chord and Southern Rokada with a delay of one year does not seem too painful either. But to feel safe – both from the coronavirus and from its economic consequences – this is now extremely important for the residents of the city. The real responsible government is obliged to choose the right priorities.”

The full text of the proposals in Russia can be found here.

It should be noted that the Yabloko party has developed a programme of socio-economic and political measures to overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme consists of four blocks: support for the health care system, support for citizens, support for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as a number of political measures, such as, for example, abolishing of the all-Russia vote on Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments. At the end of March, the document was was sent to the President, the Government and the parliament.