On Wednesday federal officers, who are overcoming an uneasy period of reorganization of their ministries currently, got a present from Vladimir Putin. Federal ministries, services and agencies received the presidential decree on improving wages of state officers, which was signed on April 10. According to the text of the decree, the compensation of a federal minister will be increased by 4.9 times to almost 90,000 rubles (about $3,150) per month, not taking into account bonuses. Allowances of the heads of departments will advance by about 5 to 12 times, while allowances of low-level state officers will become by 3.6 to 4 times higher.

In addition to these sums they will get longevity bonuses, etc. Basic salaries of officers will be increased by 1.5 times maximum; the major advance is due to “monthly bonuses”. A representative of the Russian Economy Ministry specified on terms of anonymity that allowances of military men were bound with allowances of civil officers, so this “tricky” way of increasing incomes of state officers was chosen.

“The decree affects about 10 percent of 350,000 federal state officers, who are members of the federal government. The staff of ministries is to be decreased by 20 to 25 percent; however, most dismissed employees will join state agencies,” Yaroslav Kuzminov, the rector of the State University Higher School of Economics said. According to the decree, salaries of regional officers will be raised later. New rules came into force on March 9 and they are applicable only to those officers who have retained their positions in the new government and agencies.

Officers of all ranks are not hiding their joy. “The decree solves the main task. Personal responsibility of every officer will be really motivated,” Russian Agriculture Minister Alexey Gordeyev emphasized. “Now people who come to work in government agencies will not work for free. As I was told, the deputy head of a department will be able to get about 30,000 rubles (about $1,050) per month. If it is true, I will be able to employ a responsible person for this position,” Education and Science Minister Andrey Fursenko pointed out. He added that the raised salaries were still below the fair level; however, Fursenko admitted that salaries at government agencies were lower than in businesses all over the world.

“For example, the current salary of the head of a department is about 3,000 to 4,000 rubles (about $105 to $140) plus an up to 200-percent bonus from authorities for the results of activities and a longevity pay; on the whole it is from 10,000 rubles (about $350) to 15,000 rubles (about $525) per month,” Tseren Tserenov, the head of a department in the Russian Economy Ministry said. He expects that after allowances are raised the director of a department will get about 4 times more, i.e. about 50,000 rubles (about $1,750).