Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised extra cash to state workers and students on Friday, but stopped short of bigger vote-winning gestures before a campaign run culminating in Russia’s presidential poll next year.
Russia holds regional elections on March 13, followed by parliamentary polls in December and the presidential vote next March, in which many expect Putin to return to the Kremlin.
“One of the biggest problems is rising food prices,” Putin told a meeting of his ruling United Russia party in Bryansk, a provincial capital 330km southwest of Moscow.
“We cannot and will not turn our back on social obligations, leave people alone with their problems and the promise of a flourishing tomorrow,” he said at the meeting, which mixed elements of an economic conference and an election campaign.
Wearing a dark suit and tie, Putin stood before big screens that showed a waving Russian tricolour and shifting images of onion-domed churches, tree-lined lakes and fields full of crops.
He said state workers would get an additional wage increase in the autumn, while student grants would likely be raised by more than the previously promised 9 percent.
However, given that high oil prices could earn an extra 1.5 trillion rubles (US$53 billion) for Russia’s budget this year, the spending promises so far seem relatively modest in a sign that Putin may be -heeding experts’ warnings that spending too much would only fuel inflation — the top concern of voters.
President during an oil-fuelled boom in 2000 to 2008, Putin has hinted he will return to the Kremlin next year or endorse his protege, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for another term.
Analysts say the popular Putin, 58, will remain Russia’s paramount leader either way. He has been laying economic plans through at least 2020 and has given no indication he plans to cede control of the country’s reins any time soon.
However, rising prices threaten to bolster opponents of United Russia, the long dominant party he uses as both a source of support and an instrument of power, in regional elections this month and December voting for the State Duma.
Consumer prices rose 3.2 percent in the first two months of the year alone, data showed on Friday, making it tough for the government to meet this year’s inflation target of 6 percent to 7 percent.
United Russia’s popularity fell to its lowest point in more than a year in January, according to a survey conducted by the independent polling agency Levada-Centre.
The regional party conference in Bryansk was the latest in a series Putin has held across the sprawling nation of 142 million people over the past year.
After a lengthy opening address, Putin held court for several more hours, listening to reports from several provinces and commenting in detail in response.
His speech included sops for interest groups ranging from weapons makers — told of a costly rearmament program he said would “breathe new life” into the industry — to Russians who have spent their savings on apartments that were never built.
Appealing to public anger over Russia’s endemic corruption, Putin said United Russia candidates must be “orderly, professional and effective” and suggested they should declare not only their income, as is required, but also their spending.
Putin said United Russia, which holds more than two-thirds of the 450 seats in the current State Duma, would select its candidates for the parliamentary elections at a national party conference in September.
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