Page 31 - RusRPTMar21

2.14 Politics - misc
Russia is considering a new social spending package worth at least $6.7b to address falling living standards, Reuters reports, citing two unidentified people from the government on February 8. The plan is expected to be released in the run up to the Duma elections in September, or sooner.
As part of the reform of state funding organs and the development agencies the head of Russia’s National Pension Fund Maxim Topilin resigned on February 10, three government officials have told Kommersant. Topilin will reportedly move to Russian Railways. Sources explained the career shift as a precursor to the government uniting its multiple nonbudgetary social funds into one structure. Officials have discussed doing so for a while now. Back when she was the head of Russia’s Audit Chamber in 2018, deputy PM Tatiana Golikova advocated for merging Russia’s Pension Fund (PFR), Social Insurance Fund (FSS), and Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (FOMS) into one United Compulsory Social Insurance Fund. Given the ongoing reform of Russia’s development institutions (discussed in BMB here), her proposal may become a reality, a source told Kommersant. Expect more on this front to come.
2.11 Polls & Sociology
Two-thirds (65%) of Russians working remotely want to go back to the office, a poll held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center published on Tuesday informs. According to the poll, before the start of the pandemic, only 4% of respondents had experience of working from home. At this point, one in ten Russians polled (11%) are mainly working remotely. A half of Russians working remotely (52%) think that this work format has the same amount of advantages and disadvantages. Over half of those polled (65%) said that their working hours had become more irregular during remote work. The poll was held on January 28 among 1,600 respondents. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% with the probability of 95%.
Some 60% of Russians don't want to take the coronavirus vaccine, irrespective of who makes it, according to a recent poll.
31 RUSSIA Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com