Salaries are rising somewhere

— 12.01.09 21:13 —

TEXT: FEDOR RUMYANTSEV, ELENA SHMARAYEVA, ALIYA SAMIGULLINA

PHOTO: ITAR-TASS

Against the backdrop of the crisis, it was announced that salaries would be increased and bonuses would be introduced for those who distinguished themselves in law enforcement agencies. The police authorities can count on an additional 40 thousand rubles per month. The authorities feed the security forces in times of crisis in case of popular uprisings, oppositionists say.

The salaries of police chiefs are being increased - the leadership of the internal affairs departments and departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will receive monthly additional payments of 40 thousand rubles ( about $1,300 at the current exchange rate). As the press service of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Gazeta.Ru , heads of departments and divisions will receive increased salaries in January 2009 - corresponding changes to the department's budget were made and approved in December 2008. The Ministry of Internal Affairs notes that the leadership of the central apparatus of the ministry is not entitled to bonuses: they will be paid only to the heads of departments and units working “ directly on the ground.” The list of those promoted will include deputy chiefs and heads of district police departments, city and regional departments, and so on - right up to the leadership of the departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in federal districts.

A salary increase of 40 thousand rubles for police authorities will be guaranteed - the Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasizes that this is not a bonus, but an allowance.

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And managers, in turn, will be able to establish similar ( but more modest in monetary terms) payments to their subordinates. Police officers who are worthy, in the opinion of their superiors, will receive monthly from 8 to 32 thousand rubles in addition to their existing salary. These amounts will be a significant increase, given that now ( as of December 2008) the average salary of an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is 16.9 thousand rubles, and that of an ordinary police officer is 11.3 thousand.

To implement the program of financial incentives for police officers, the Ministry of Internal Affairs budget for 2009 was increased by 20% - expenses for the needs of federal and local police departments will total 161.9 billion rubles. Three quarters of this amount – 112 billion rubles – is planned to be spent on salaries, bonuses and compensation.

This amount includes another expense item that was not previously in the budget of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: 8.9 billion rubles are planned to be spent on “ bonuses for the best units.”

The department itself compares the new reward system with socialist competition - money will be given to those units ( this could be a regional department or the department of an entire federal district) that “ achieve the most significant results in operational activities” in a year. It is difficult to name the size of each individual annual bonus in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but it is already known that it will not be the operatives themselves who will receive it, but their leaders - the heads of the “advanced” units.

Criteria for evaluating successful ones are not named. The head of the Financial and Economic Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, police lieutenant general Svetlana Perova, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, which will be published on Tuesday, said that bonuses will be given for “ honest service.”

In some regions, budgets have already provided for an increase in expenditures for the Municipal Internal Affairs Directorate. On December 11, the Moscow Regional Duma increased expenses for the Central Internal Affairs Directorate by 2 billion rubles. The amount of additional payments in the Moscow Region depends on length of service, position and rank. Officers will receive an additional payment of 10 thousand, guards’ salaries will be increased by 9 thousand rubles, and precinct officers’ salaries will be increased by 10 thousand rubles. The increase for employees of special police units will be 13 thousand rubles. For drug control workers, allowances will start from 6,125 rubles.

During times of crisis, allowances are also provided for the military.

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Since January 1, 2009, army commanders have the opportunity to reward subordinates. The average premium will be about 69 thousand rubles. President Dmitry Medvedev made a promise to the officers in September. Then the head of the Duma Defense Committee, Viktor Zavarzin, clarified that for 2009–2011, it is planned to contribute 25 billion, 33 billion and 42 billion rubles, respectively, to the incentive fund of the Ministry of Defense. The decree of the Ministry of Defense dated August 2 of this year stated that officers serving in permanent readiness units and on combat duty in strategic aviation, the submarine fleet, the Strategic Missile Forces and the Space Forces will be encouraged. In addition, the list of applicants for incentives from the new fund also included specialists in high-tech defense sectors.

The opposition criticizes the practice of increasing salaries of security forces, especially the police, during a crisis. This contradicts the president’s anti-corruption plans and is associated with the crisis, says Communist State Duma deputy Viktor Ilyukhin. “ When it comes to monetary incentives, this can result in great corruption,” he told Gazeta.Ru . According to him, salaries need to be increased for everyone, but not made dependent on bonuses, since this is a big temptation.

According to Transparency International, over the past few years Russians have considered municipal authorities, the traffic police and the police to be the most corrupt institutions.

The deputy noted that during a crisis, it is not by chance that the authorities make decisions to encourage the military and police. “ In difficult moments, when people can go out onto the streets, the punitive authorities have always received financial supplements. The power rests on them,” he noted. Ilyukhin said that there were similar situations in the 90s, so the current decision is logical. However, he noted that the decision to increase bonus funds was made before the crisis, but now nothing has been done about it: this is also an image problem for the authorities, since salaries throughout the country are being reduced.

In December, it was announced that the reduction of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which perform tasks including maintaining order during mass events, was suspended. The commander-in-chief of the VV, General Nikolai Rogozhkin, said that this was connected with the plan to hold the Olympics in Sochi; the opposition saw in this the authorities’ preparation for a “ revolutionary scenario.” “ Street activity will intensify. 2009 will be marked by social protest,” says Boris Nemtsov. Deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Mikhail Sukhodolsky and the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov recognized the possibility of popular uprisings in 2009 due to the crisis.