Russia’s State Duma and Federation Council reportedly to cut administrative staff by 15%

The State Duma and Federation Council plan to cut their central office staff, the Russian business news outlet RBC reported, citing sources.Sources in the State Duma told RBC that staff cuts will range from roughly 15% to 20%. The sources said vacant positions will be eliminated first and that, possibly, “measures will be taken” regarding employees of retirement age.The Federation Council’s staff is expected to shrink by roughly 10% to 15%, with no mass layoffs planned.“No one is going to cut to the bone. This measure is aimed at reducing costs, and laying people off while paying out all their unused vacation time and severance would mean enormous expenses. So they’ll do it carefully, through vacant positions and employees who are soon due to retire,” a source in the Federation Council said.The cuts to State Duma and Federation Council staff stem from a decree Vladimir Putin signed in October 2024, which calls for cutting the number of civil servants at the territorial bodies of federal government agencies, federal courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts, and the judicial department offices of Russia’s Supreme Court by at least 10%. The decree directs that the funds freed up by the cuts go toward bonuses for employees of the relevant agency.The exact size of the State Duma and Federation Council staffs is unknown. RBC said that in February 2011, the State Duma’s staffing table listed 1,482 positions, according to Boris Gryzlov, who was then chairman of the lower house.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.