Press Release, 26.11.2019

Formally, Yelena Zyabbarova, head of the Moscow Finance Department, proposed to reject all the amendments of both the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma and its deputies, however, in fact, two amendments to the faction and four amendments of deputy Sergei Mitrokhin were nevertheless taken into account.

Thus, the amount allocated to benefits and payments to families with children, as well as payments to “children of war” (people born from 01.01.1928 to 09.03.1945) will be increased by almost 2.5 billion roubles, which was proposed by the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma and Sergei Mitrokhin in his amendments.

Additional 1.5 billion will be allocated for the development of mass physical education and sports by reducing spending on the sport of setting records. However, Yabloko proposed to increase expenses by 3.9 billion roubles due to excessive expenses for road construction.

An additional 1 billion roubles is allocated for the reconstruction of Moscow theatre buildings, as proposed by Yabloko. The faction, however, believed that money for these purposes should be found by abolishing the plans to equip all city cameras with a face recognition system. Yabloko is convinced that this system can be used for spying on participants in protest actions.

According to Sergei Mitrokhin, the formal reason for rejecting Yabloko’s amendments was apparently somewhat different digital parameters of the amendments that were adopted. “The authors of the approved amendments could indicate the exact amount only if they agreed on it in advance with Ms  Zyabbarova. This did not occur to me, as well as our faction,” Mitrokhin noted.

“It is clear that the Moscow Mayor’s Office finds it unfavourable to admit that the opposition’s amendments have been adopted,” said Maxim Kruglov, head of the Yabloko faction. “For this, they invented special wording “essentially to take the amendment partially into account”, which follows the initial refusal [to consider it]. Let these bureaucratic tricks remain on the conscience of officials. It is important for us that the money be directed to what Muscovites really need.”

Yabloko’s rejected amendments include proposals to create an alimony fund for children and introduce a free extra curriculum activities for children. The author of these amendments, Yevgeny Bunimovich, assured that the faction would continue to seek their implementation. At the same time, the Moscow executive authority expressed its willingness to cooperate in resolving these issues in 2020.

The second reading of the draft budget of Moscow for 2020 and the planning period of 2021 and 2022 will take place in the Moscow City Duma on 27 November. In the first reading, the Yabloko faction voted against the document.