Page 16 - RusRPTJuly18

2.9 Politics - Putin’s reform watch
Following Putin’s re-election in March 2018 he has chosen to avoid radical or deep structural reform and instead is attempting to improve the existing system. This column will track those efforts
The government announced on June 3 that the transition schedule for the new state procurement system remains undecided. The Ministry of Finance may begin implementation during the second half of 2018. The reform stipulates several large-scale changes. First, state and SOE procurement will transition from paper-based competitive tendering to an electronic form carried out on electronic trading platforms (ETPs) selected by the government. Second, the financial model of procurement will change: special bank accounts will now provision the tenders, and the successful bidder will pay for the tendering process. The deadline for the decree's enactment is unclear per its language. While new requirements go into force on July 1, 2018, they will only apply to procurement notices posted on the Unified Procurement Information System (UPIS) after the government selects the new pool of ETPs to comply with the latest regulations.
2.10 Politics - misc
Russia's Labour Confederation Union applied for permissions to hold rallies against hiking the retirement age in over 50 regions, and has already been granted permission in four: Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg, and Sosnogorks, Vedomosti d aily said on June 21 citing the head of the union Boris Kravchenko. Anti-corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny is also planning to hold a rally against the pension reform on July 1, but has not been granted permission yet.
EU leaders agree to extend economic sanctions against Russia for six months, the European Council announced June 28. Adopted after the July 2014 shoot down of the Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine, the sanctions are aimed at Russia's financial, energy and defence industries. They are intended to block Russian banks' access to EU markets and limit Russian access to some EU imports.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia announced June 27 that they want an increase in the pension age to be part of a “package” of labour market reforms. They also want to Duma to consider raising wages and reinforcing the social safety net, for example. The unions don’t want to cause problems, but they have to answer to their members as well as their political bosses. If workers feel they are not being compensated for the higher pension age, they may cause trouble.
Starting July 1, government employees will only be able to receive their salaries on the national “Mir” card or in a bank account with no card linked. If a card other than Mir is connected to a salary account, banks will not be able to transfer wages to it. In this case, employees will have 10 days to claim their wages, or the money will be returned to the federal budget.Before US sanctions, Visa and MasterCard processed 90% of all payments in Russia. They then had to cut ties, so Russia’s Central Bank (CBR) introduced the Mir card payment system in 2015. The card has essentially sanctions-proofed state-sector wages by providing an alternative to American bank cards. But like most Russian import substitution initiatives, it's proven costly, inefficient, and creates legal inconsistencies.
RUSSIA Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com