Press Release, 11.04.2020

Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a demand to review the list of 646 systemically important organisations that should receive state support. The party believes that this list was compiled in a non-transparent manner and in violation of the basic principles of market competition.

Rybakov draws the attention of the head of government to the presence of OOO F.O.N. company (legal entity of the betting company Fonbet) in the list, which does not fulfill important social functions and does not meet a number of criteria approved by the Ministry of Economic Development for inclusion in the corresponding list. “The bookmaking activity in the conditions of the economic crisis is destructive, it increases the losses of citizens and drives them into debt dependence. Inclusion of OOO F.O.N. and a number of other companies in the list of systemically important organisations testifies to the potential corruption nature of such lists and is, most likely, the result of lobbying,” the Chairman of Yabloko said.

The party also does not approve of creation of priority conditions for a number of companies to the detriment to their competitors, which is expressly prohibited by Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. In particular, Nikolai Rybakov notes that OOO Adidas appears on the list, while its largest competitor, OOO Nike, is absent, and Swedish clothing manufacturer H&M is present, but another major fashion brand Zara is not indicated in the list. The Catering Section of list shows that the Pizza Hut pizzeria chain is there, while Papa Jones, Domino’s Pizza, and Dodo Pizza are not included. The list contains many foreign food service chains, but the Russian chains Teremok, Shokoladnitsa and Kroshka Kartoshka do not appear on the list.

The Yabloko party believes that such policies many results in the long-term in the departure from the market of a number of companies, including well-known domestic and foreign brands, which will entail a decrease in quality and growth of prices for manufactured products.

“We consider it necessary to abandon practices encouraging unfair competition and put market participants in unequal conditions. The victims of this approach will be Russian citizens working in the enterprises that are not on the list, as well as millions of consumers,” Nikolai Rybakov emphasises in the appeal.

Yabloko Chairman proposes proposes to take a number of measures so that to avoid such consequences. In particular, exclude OOO F.O.N. from the list of systemically important companies and significantly expand this list adding there organisations that affect the Russian economy and social stability. In order to make the criteria for getting into the list more objective, Nikolai Rybakov proposes involving to work such business public associations as The Russian Union of Industrialists Entrepreneurs, Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia), Opora Russia, associations and unions of different industries, and conduct an independent audit.

As another measure, Yabloko proposes to provide small and medium-sized enterprises unhindered access to financial resources, including interest-free loans, and to exempt them from paying taxes, including VAT, until the end of the year, and in case of microenterprises also exempt them from insurance contributions. Nikolai Rybakov calls for the abolition of 95 per cent of tax and non-tax payments for the companies working in tourism and hotel business, and allocate subsidies to each small and medium-sized enterprise in the amount of 1 million roubles per enterprise. For self-employed, it is proposed to abolish tax payments until 2022.

Yabloko also calls the government to preserve of jobs so that to minimise the social consequences of the crisis. According to Yabloko, the state should pay state subsidies in the amount of 80 per cent of the average salary in the region for those workers who were sacked or forced to take unpaid leave.

“These and other measures will support not only individual businessmen affiliated with the authorities, but the entire economic life of the country afloat. Today, the country needs a strategic plan for saving the economy that applies to every citizen of Russia, rather than questionably selected companies,” Nikolai Rybakov emphasises. He is also confident that the above proposals, if implemented, will stimulate domestic demand, which, otherwise, threatens to catastrophically decline due to massive losses of jobs and savings.