Russian teachers, doctors, researchers and other state workers will receive another pay raise later this year as the Kremlin seeks to bolster its support with unpopular retirement age increases taking effect this year.
State workers had already reported seeing unexpected salary hikes ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s re-election last March. This year, Russians are bracing for the first phase of retirement age increases many had opposed last summer.
State workers will see their wages indexed against inflation by 4.3 percent on Oct. 1, Labor and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin announced Wednesday.
“No one abolished the need to keep up public sector wages … with average regional economies,” Topilin said in an interview with the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
The regions will receive 100 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) from the federal budget “to keep the balance” this year, Topilin added.
Around 2 million federal-level employees will see an increase in their paychecks, the Labor Ministry’s press service told the state-run TASS news agency.
These employees reportedly include social workers, veterinarians, consumer watchdog employees and Emergency Situations Ministry rescuers, among others.
