The meeting participants discussed increasing the pensions and salaries of employees of publicly funded enterprises, implementing measures to ensure the steady functioning of the banking, taxation and payment systems, ensuring a reliable electric power supply and the future development of the power-engineering industry and steady landline and mobile telephone communications.
Dmitry Medvedev’s opening remarks
Report by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak
Report by Minister of Labour and Social Protection Maxim Topilin
Transcript:
Meeting on vital issues of socioeconomic development of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol
Dmitry Medvedev: Ladies and gentlemen, you and I are now actively addressing socioeconomic development issues related to Crimea. Today, I would like to hear your reports and discuss the implementation of specific decisions that were adopted by you and me in Crimea on 31 March. In effect, we have gathered for a working meeting to monitor the implementation of decisions that were made during a Government meeting in the Republic of Crimea.
Everyone knows what he or she should do, and all of the relevant decisions have been made. I would like to hear your reports regarding current pension and benefit payment trends and the situation concerning the salaries of public sector employees in line with well-known presidential executive orders and Government resolutions. Also, I would like to learn about the healthcare sector, the provision of medicines, of high-tech medical assistance (you and I have also agreed on this), how the registration of commercial companies and business persons is proceeding, what has been done in the area of payments and settlements and banking services, including the affiliates of Russian banks that are currently being opened in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
The energy and water supply and the provision of housing and utility and communications services are a separate, although permanent, issue.
All instructions were issued during the Government meeting in Crimea. I would like to hear your brief and coherent reports on this subject. Minister of Labour and Social Security Maxim Topilin will be the first to report on the payment of salaries and pensions because this is the most sensitive issue to date.
Dmitry Medvedev: "A group of governors from Russian regions has worked in Crimea this week. They arrived there in order to establish close, and I would even say, special relations with the republic and the city of Sevastopol. They assumed responsibility for certain districts of the new Russian regions, and they were instructed to provide all-round and permanent assistance to them, including methodological and material assistance whenever necessary."
Moreover, a group of governors from Russian regions has worked in Crimea this week. They arrived there in order to establish close, and I would even say, special relations with the republic and the city of Sevastopol. They assumed responsibility for certain districts of the new Russian regions, and they were instructed to provide all-round and permanent assistance to them, including methodological and material assistance whenever necessary.
Mr Kozak (Dmitry Kozak), you have worked with them in Crimea. Please say a few words.
Deputy Prime Ministers Dmitry Kozak and Olga Golodets
Dmitry Kozak: Yes, cities and districts of the Republic of Crimea were distributed among Russian regions, I would say, the most advanced regions in terms of the organisation of work and their financial standing. This was done to provide methodological and material assistance regarding the operation of economic sectors, the social sector and the utilities infrastructure, especially in the context of the 2014 transitional period. We agreed on specific actions to provide assistance in seasonal fieldwork. The harvesting campaign will launch soon, and we have to deliver farming machinery. We have agreed on the need to prepare the housing and utilities infrastructure for the autumn-winter season in line with Russian standards. And the leaders of regions, as well as those of district cities, will already have to submit their plans on the preparations for the autumn-winter season by 15 May, as all other Russian regions.
Specific plans to prepare educational institutions for the new academic year should also be drafted by 15 May. Work to improve the buildings of medical institutions and to quickly provide them with medical equipment, whenever necessary, should also be completed.
These are our priorities in the context of providing material assistance. Methodological assistance should also be provided in the implementation of the required improvement plans as regards provision of urban amenities and recreational development, including urgent work pending the upcoming resort season.
All municipal entities should approve improvement regulations by 1 June and duly monitor the adequate state of various territories, and the governors should provide methodological assistance in organising this work.
Dmitry Kozak: "All municipal entities should approve improvement regulations by 1 June and duly monitor the adequate state of various territories, and the governors should provide methodological assistance in organising this work."
All municipal entities should approve general plans regarding all cities and communities until 1 October, taking due consideration for the scheme for locating federal and regional facilities which should be approved by us by the end of May. And they will also have to approve land use and construction regulations, so as to rule out any spontaneous construction projects or, as I would put it, the continued chaotic urban development.
The Ministry for Crimean Affairs will have to coordinate all of these efforts to provide material and methodological assistance. At first, until mid-May, they will meet in Simferopol every two weeks, and they will compare their efforts. This will make it possible to coordinate such work and rule out additional expenses. You see, the Government of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol will receive financial assistance from the federal budget for the medical sector and the housing and utilities sector, and the governors will provide assistance. We have agreed that all of these plans should be coordinated to rule out duplication of spending and efforts to accomplish any specific objectives.
Dmitry Kozak: "The Government of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol will receive financial assistance from the federal budget for the medical sector and the housing and utilities sector, and the governors will provide assistance. We have agreed that all of these plans should be coordinated to rule out duplication of spending and efforts to accomplish any specific objectives."
The governors, incidentally, reacted in a highly positive way and started working enthusiastically. Some left for the regions on the same day, and some the next day. The first results of the survey effort will be unveiled in Simferopol next Tuesday.
Dmitry Medvedev: Let them help. Our governors have tremendous experience in terms of streamlining the housing and utilities sphere and the construction industry on the ground. As I see it, these are the first priorities, along with social services that should be provided in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in accordance with Russian standards. This is what the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation and the heads of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol should focus on. Today, this is more important than discussing global plans or drawing up ambitious projects, be it a special economic zone or a gambling zone. We should work on the ground because this is what people expect us to do.
Now, let us hear about payments. What has been done? How much money has been remitted and who the recipients are?
Go ahead, please.
Maxim Topilin: Thank you. Mr Medvedev, colleagues, pursuant to Presidential Executive Order No 192 dated 31 March on increasing pensions to be paid to the pensioners of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, you have signed Government Resolution No 276 of 8 April. In keeping with this resolution, we have started paying pension supplements in April. This work will continue for the next three months. This is being done through the instrumentality of the Pension Fund of the Republic of Crimea. In parallel, we are deploying a territorial branch of the Pension Fund of Russia. According to the schedule, pensions are paid starting from 4 April. As of today, about 35% of pensioners in the two regions of the Russian Federation have received pension increases of 25%, I mean those people who receive their pensions in the first days of a month.
Dmitry Medvedev: This amounts to one-third, doesn’t it?
Maxim Topilin: Even more than one-third… Increased pensions have been paid to both civilian and military pensioners. In the Republic of Crimea, for example, March pensions amounted to 5,300 roubles; today they amount to 6,600 roubles, or 25% more. In Sevastopol, the average pension is 7,370 roubles because there are many military pensioners entitled to larger amounts.
Maxim Topilin: "According to the schedule, pensions are paid starting from 4 April. As of today, about 35% of pensioners in the two regions of the Russian Federation have received pension increases of 25%."
We have all of the money that we need for this purpose, and together with the Ministry of Finance, will see to it that the budgets of these two new regions are balanced. We are monitoring the situation.
In April, increased pensions will be paid until 25 April; May pensions will be 50% higher. We don’t see any problems here either. The work has been organised properly and the procedures have been adjusted.
We are about to begin recalculating the pensions in order to bring them up to par with Russian pensions. As I reported to you previously, this work will be carried out throughout this year.
With regard to salaries, in accordance with Presidential Executive Order No 193 dated 31 March, a working group of experts from the Ministry of Labour and the corresponding ministries that are engaged in social work are presently working on site in Crimea and Sevastopol. In a collaborative effort with the executive authorities of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, we have put together the necessary draft decisions of the executive authorities of these new constituent entities. Today, they were reviewed at a Government meeting, and everyone seems to be in agreement in this regard. It has been proposed, first, to increase salaries and pensions by 25% in April…
Dmitry Medvedev: Please ensure that you are using the correct wording to describe this... This is not a 25% increase, but an increase in the amount equal to 25% of the difference between the average salary or pension in Russia and the salaries and pensions that were paid in these new regions previously – so that no one gets any wrong ideas regarding what you just said.
Maxim Topilin: A similar raise will apply to the salaries of public sector employees in all categories due to the fact that the difference between the salaries of workers in different categories varies as compared to the Russian salaries. Corresponding adjustments are also included in this draft resolution, and everyone will be paid salaries adjusted by 25% of the difference in April already. Additionally, we are doing our best to pay the advance portion of the salary on time – that is around 15 April. Some people have already received such payments. I have contacted my deputy, who is now in Crimea, and he told me that individuals are already getting such increased salaries at enterprises that have made appropriate adjustments.
Maxim Topilin: "Corresponding adjustments are also included in this draft resolution, and everyone will be paid salaries adjusted by 25% of the difference in April already. Additionally, we are doing our best to pay the advance portion of the salary on time – that is around 15 April."
We want the executive authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol to adopt the relevant regulations over Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so that we can finish this work. We have almost agreed these draft resolutions with the Ministry of Finance here in Moscow. That concludes my report.
Dmitry Medvedev: All right. Make sure that everything is paid on time and according to presidential executive orders and Government resolutions that require adjusting the difference between the national average salary or the pension and the amounts paid in Crimea. People need to know how this adjustment is made, so that they are clear about this… These adjustments are more or less straightforward with regard to pensions, but salaries are more complicated because there are different forms of paying salaries to civil servants, military servicemen, or law enforcement officers. Everyone should understand how these adjustments work under existing regulations, and how 25% of the difference between the average Russian payments and payments that were previously paid in Crimea are calculated.
Good. Keep an eye on it and report back to me on progress.
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