The authorities have reached into the pockets of public sector employees to pay off the Arkhangelsk region's national debt.

Deputies of the regional assembly decided to send Almost two billion rubles, which were intended to increase salaries for public sector employees, were allocated to pay off the national debt. As a result, the average salary of public sector employees in the region fell from 76 to 72 rubles per month (while the minimum wage is estimated at 27 rubles).

As of March 1, the volume of public debt Arkhangelsk region rose to a record 116 billion rubles. A significant portion of these liabilities are high-interest commercial bank loans (payments on these alone amount to 11 billion rubles per year).

Since last year in the Arkhangelsk region began to decrease salaries for medical workers, teachers, and cultural workers. By autumn, this turned around mass dismissal of doctors.

Since February, employees of budgetary institutions get notifications about changes in the terms of the employment contract and transfer to a “part-time position”.

Last year's results were in the minus are gone The budgets of 74 regions at once—including those that had always been considered donors. As a result, already at the beginning of the year, the regions began sharply cutting their spending, mainly at the expense of public sector employees. The first to do so were done Primorsky Krai и Chelyabinsk region.

The total public debt of Russia's regions amounts to almost 3,5 trillion rubles. Arkhangelsk Oblast leads the list. Second place which usually takes Murmansk region (93 billion rubles).