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| More on the proposed Russian budget cuts for Donetsk and Lugansk |
| 2017-09-25 |
| A much more in depth look at the proposed budget cuts for Lugansk and Donetsk which I revealed a week ago. Placed in Opinion because of the source, but a lot of good information, including confirmation in my story that the Russian government has been paying pensions in Donetsk. In case you are wondering why the accounting matters, consider this to be Russian president Vladimir Putin's Soviet style signal he is ready to toss Donetsk and Lugansk overboard in exchange for Crimea. Fortunately for us, we have a president who plays the Long Game as well. [EuromaidanPress] The Russian government intends to stop the “humanitarian assistance to certain territories” in favor of financing projects in Crimea and Kaliningrad, with “certain territories” meaning the “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” in Ukraine’s Donbas, the Russian outlet RBK reported on 15 September citing its sources close to the Kremlin. RBK wrote that according to a verified protocol of a meeting held with Russia’s Deputy Prime minister Dmitri Kozak on 1 September, Russia’s Finance Ministry was instructed to exclude “to exclude humanitarian assistance to certain territories in 2019–2020 from the draft federal budget for 2018,” “certain territories” being a codename for the “Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics,” (“LNR” and “DNR”) two proxy statelets set up with Russian assistance in eastern Ukraine in 2014. According to the protocol, at the beginning of August on a trip to occupied Crimea, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed to provide funding for the “unconditional implementation” of measures for the social-economic development and ensuring transport and information security of Crimea and Kaliningrad, a Russian city exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland. Particularly, an additional RUB 85 bn ($1.5 mn) is needed for Crimea during 2018-2020 (of which $1 mn should be provided over 2019-2020) to build healthcare and educational facilities, road and waterline repairs etc. In all, the Russian government needs to find RUB 165 bn ($2.87 mn) for financing its projects in Crimea and Kaliningrad over three years. Crimea “is ours” and Donbas is not According to political analyst Aleksei Makarkin, funds are to be distributed in the favor of those regions that Russia does not intend to give away, and Russia is not sure of the future status of the Donbas “republics,” RBK wrote. Director of the Progressive Policy Foundation Oleg Bondarenko told RBK that Crimea needs colossal assistance from Russia and the development of Crimea is a matter of reputation for the Kremlin; like Kaliningrad, the Russian authorities intend to make it a “showcase” for the West. “There are territories of Russia that need active development, and self-proclaimed republics are not the territory of Russia,” argued Bondarenko. However, he was not aware of the reduction in spending on the “LNR” and “DNR.” The supposed exclusion of “humanitarian assistance” for Donbas from the budget is only one possible source of securing funding for Crimea and Kaliningrad; others include a possible increase in excise taxes on gasoline, reducing railway subsidies and other measures. Therefore, it’s not possible to estimate how much the Kremlin spends now on Donbas from this document. Apart from that, RBK’s sources in the Russian Parliament and Government stress that even if the authorities decide to stop the “humanitarian assistance” to Donbas, that doesn’t mean Russia will stop providing funds to the proxy states. Funding for the “LNR” and “DNR” is totally classified and is described by secret orders and budget lines and “humanitarian assistance” is likely to be one of many channels of funding the “republics.” Another source of RBK familiar with the document said that at the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the Russian government approved targeted subsidies to restore the damaged infrastructure of Donbas (energy, roads, and railways) and construct buildings in a secret government decree, calling them “humanitarian assistance to certain territories of Ukraine.” According to the source, these “humanitarian subsidies” passed through a reserve fund of the government formed annually to finance activities on the decision of the government. The source assumes, but cannot be sure, that it is these subsidies that will be canceled. Responding to RBK’s article, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov responded that there will be a “certain redistrubution” of funds, but the Kremlin still intended to “take care” of the inhabitants of Donbas. Read the rest at the link, s'il vous plait, especially the part in which the Russian "Lend-Lease" program of heavy equipment (T-72Bs and not the crap T-72Ms they sell to Arab mobocracies) may come to a halt before too long. |
| Posted by:badanov |