"No money": Russian regions have begun to cancel and postpone salary indexation for public sector employees.
At least three Russian regions have abandoned planned salary indexations for public sector workers. Due to growing local budget deficits, regional officials are forced to freeze payments or postpone them.
Savings on state employees in Yakutia
In Yakutia, a 5,4% wage increase for 117 public sector workers was promised starting July 1. As activist Vitaly Obedin noted, the funds—approximately 36 billion rubles—were planned to be allocated for this purpose back in 2025, when the regional budget was adopted.
However, indexation has now been promised again, but only starting in September. As a result, the budget will be able to save approximately 10,5 billion rubles during the two-month deferment. According to Obedin, these funds will almost completely cover Yakutia's budget deficit, which stands at 12,5 billion rubles.
Il Tumen deputy Nyurguyana Zamorshchikova of the New People party drew attention to the emerging problem. Specifically, she sent a request to the regional prosecutor's office demanding an investigation into the observance of public sector workers' rights.
Payments are frozen in the Rostov Region and Sakhalin.
At the end of July, it became known that wages in the Rostov Region would not be raised either. The regional budget had previously included a 4% increase in civil servant salaries effective October 1. However, this provision was simply removed from the budget without explanation or clarification on how the funds would be redistributed. Meanwhile, indexation in 2024 and 2025 was carried out strictly according to plan.
Furthermore, public sector workers on Sakhalin have also missed out on their long-awaited pay raises. The local healthcare workers' union, "Voice of Medicine," discovered that the regional government has completely frozen salary indexation for the entire year 2026. Union representatives have appealed to regulatory authorities, but have yet to receive a response.
In turn, Pavel Ashikhmin, a Communist Party deputy in the Sakhalin Regional Duma, recalled that, according to Article 134 of the Russian Federation Labor Code, employers are required to index wages annually. Communist Party deputies, for their part, also submitted inquiries requesting an audit of labor law compliance. However, in response, the regional government merely confirmed that it does not plan to index wages this year.
Growing regional budget deficits
Thus, despite the sharp increase in military spending since the start of the war, regional budgets continue to shrink. Currently, 65 Russian regions are reporting local budget deficits, with some reaching as high as 50%. Next week, Vladimir Putin is scheduled to discuss the regions' current problems.