New federal management of the Russian regions
A new bill on relations with the regions will give Russian federal authorities the right to intervene more directly in regional economies and power structures.
According to newspaper Izvestia, the Ministry of Regional Development has developed a new approach to the government’s management of the federal subjects. The new ministry document on regional policies includes enhanced emphasis on the levelling of regional economies, as well as the government’s right to intervene in regional politics.
Minister Dmitrii Kozak in a speech this Tuesday said that the new document would be “the Ministry’s constitution”.
Part of the new policy is “a radical strengthening” of the Russian president’s representatives in the country’s federal districts. According to Mr. Kozak, the offices of the seven presidential representatives will “step up coordination, management and control in order to increase the efficiency of federal policies in the regions”. The presidential representatives will also be instrumental in deciding which regions will get federal subsidies, as well as control the spending of regional money.
According to Izvestia, Mr. Kozak admits that the distribution of federal resources to the regions until now has been based on “subjective perceptions about who deserves it most”.
Currently, the divides between the rich and poor Russian regions have developed into an abyss. According to the minister, divergencies between rich and poor regions in regional per capita GDP now amount to 117 times (2006).
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