85 Percent of Poor Russian Cities Located in Europe, Research Says

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 22, 2017)

More than four out of five large Russian cities dependent on Moscow’s financial assistance are located in European Russia, according to new research by the Strelka Consulting Bureau.

Russia’s so-called “Robin Hood” tax system subsidizes the nation’s poorer regions by reallocating tax revenues from wealthier regions. A mere 14 of 85 Russian regions are donors to the federal budget, while the rest are recipients of federal aid.

Strelka found that 85 percent of poor regional centers are concentrated west of the Ural Mountains, the RBC business portal reported Friday.

“A number of regions are in fairly difficult situations,” Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was cited as saying by RBC Monday.

“This is largely the result of poor management of government funds.”

Major cities in the Far East turned out to be not only some of the richest, but also the least dependent on federal assistance.

Strelka divided the cities into four categories: “poor and dependent,” “poor and independent,” “rich and dependent,” and “rich and independent.”

The bureau found that no major cities in the Far East ranked as “poor and dependent.”