Russian lawmakers are richer than ministers – poll

Duma Session file photo

MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) – Recent polls indicate that in the opinion of Russian citizens, lawmakers are the wealthiest of civil servants, and they proposed setting an income limit for those seeking civil service.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said deputies of the State Duma and the Federation Council are the richest among civil servants, and 52% said government executives are, Levada Center sociologists told Interfax.

The other groups of the wealthiest citizens, in respondents’ opinion, are members of the Kremlin administration (33%), employees of state corporations (25%) and regional officials (21%).

Thirty-three percent of respondents said a civil servant or a lawmaker being very rich would be wrong, and 44% said this should even suggest a criminal tinge.

Only 13% of the 1,600 respondents, polled in 130 populated areas of 45 regions in mid-March, said they do not see this as a problem and think it would be normal for civil servants to be wealthy. Eleven percent of those polled were undecided.

Asked whether an income limit should be imposed on those seeking civil service, 62% of those surveyed answered in the affirmative, noting, however, that “civil servants and lawmakers must know how ordinary people live.” Twenty percent of respondents said that, “a person who has no business assets makes independent decisions.”

The small group of those who oppose the income limit (about 10%), said “a wealthy person will neither steal, nor accept bribes.”

The State Duma passed two bills proposed by the president in their first reading on February 22 prohibiting civil servants from having bank accounts and assets abroad.

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