Residents of Russia’s Primorsky Krai warned of delays in social benefits as war strains regional budget

Primorsky Krai’s regional Labor Ministry said social payments in the krai could be temporarily delayed.The ministry said the regional budget is currently “operating under increased strain, including due to the need to address nationwide tasks connected to the special military operation.”“Under these conditions, funding for certain social support measures is being disbursed in stages, so the transfer of some payments may be temporarily delayed,” the ministry said, adding that it “understands” how important timely social support is for residents of the krai, and the “concern of those who are now waiting for the funds to be transferred.”Authorities in the Nizhneilimsky district, in the Irkutsk region, plan to cut about 37% of the staff at the district administration and public-sector institutions, said Pavel Berezovsky, head of the district. The first to be let go, he said, will be night watchmen at schools, kindergartens, and community centers, along with employees of the municipal enterprises “Service Center” and “Clean City.”As the news outlet “7×7” notes, the staff cuts come amid problems with the region’s budget. The Irkutsk region legislature increased the budget deficit to 38.7 billion rubles in October, about 15% of the region’s own revenues. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev attributed the increase to the need to fund socially significant spending.In late July, Rostov region authorities declined to raise public-sector workers’ pay by 4% and gave no explanation. In Sakhalin, authorities froze pay indexation for medical workers, explaining that their salaries had outpaced inflation in previous years. In the Sakha Republic, authorities postponed pay indexation for public-sector employees by two months.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.