"Gazeta": "UARANTORS OF ANTI-CORRUPTION"
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin have reported their incomes for 2008
President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday published the declarations of their respective incomes for last year.
As President, Dmitry Medvedev earned 4,139,726 roubles. Working in the Government proved to be a little more lucrative than working at the Kremlin: Mr Putin received 4,662,000 roubles plus 100,600 roubles in military pension. The data, along with the declarations of their wives and children, were posted respectively on the Presidential and the Prime Minister's websites.
In this way Mr Medvedev has kept the promise he made at the March meeting of the Anti-Corruption Council to set an example for other high-ranking officials by publishing income and property statistics. After the meeting, President Medvedev issued a decree whereby the presidents of Russia as well as their spouses and underage children will from now on publish annual income declarations.
Shortly thereafter the Kremlin and Government chiefs of staff, Sergei Naryshkin and Sergei Sobyanin, issued executive orders requiring the same transparency of all top officials both in the President's Executive Office and in the Government.
According to the publication on the Kremlin website Dmitry Medvedev has 2,818,780 roubles in nine bank accounts. Svetlana Medvedeva did not declare any income for 2008, but she has a little over 135,000 roubles in her personal account. The presidential couple owns a 367.8 sq m apartment in Moscow. They have divided the real estate between them: the head of state rents a 4,700 sq m plot of land in the Moscow Region and his wife has two car-parking places in Moscow with a total area of 32.5 square metres. Svetlana Medvedeva owns a 1999 Volkswagen Golf car. The Medvedevs' son Ilya, a minor, earned nothing during 2008. His parents have not burdened him with any bank accounts, securities or property.
His job as President has not made Mr Medvedev richer. Compared with the declaration he filed in January 2008 when he was candidate for President, he has acquired one more bank account, but the total sum in his bank accounts increased by just 78,800 roubles. The account of Russia's first lady slimmed during the year from 380,000 roubles to 135,000 roubles by the end of the year.
Prime Minister's income
For Vladimir Putin 2008 was a little more profitable than for Dmitry Medvedev. According to the declaration posted on his website, he earned almost 600,000 roubles more than the President. However, his real estate holdings are smaller. According to the declaration, it includes a 77 sq m apartment and a 1,500 sq m plot of land.
The Prime Minister's fleet of cars is larger: two GAZ M-21s, a vintage 1960 and a 1965, and a 1987 "Skif" car trailer. In his 2009 declaration Vladimir Putin will probably have to include the Chevrolet Niva off-roader he recently bought when visiting the Volzhsky Auto Plant. He has enough room for all these vehicles as he owns a garage at a collective parking lot and one place in a cooperative garage. Unlike the President, he derives some income from securities because he owns 230 shares of OAO Bank of St Petersburg. The Prime Minister's wife, like that of the President, reported no income in 2008.
Vladimir Putin's previous income
The declaration presidential candidate Vladimir Putin handed in to the CEC in January 2000 included two plots of land in the Leningrad Region, a dacha in the village of Solovyovka, Priozersky District in the same region, a plot of land outside Moscow and two garages in St Petersburg. His sources of income in 1998-1999 were his work at the Russian President's Administrative Directorate, the FSB, his pension as a retired FSB officer and shares of OAO Industrial Construction Bank, amounting to a total of 265,699 roubles. In addition, the then acting president had 387,006 roubles in accounts with various banks. Mr Putin also owned a 0.00025% stake in OAO Bank of St Petersburg.
Things changed by his second term: the total income of second-term candidate Vladimir Putin, according to the CEC, over the previous four years was 7.8 million roubles.
Candidate Putin's stake in the equity of OAO Bank of St Petersburg had dropped to 0.00015%.
THE PEOPLE WATCH THEIR LEADERS' SPENDING BUT NOT THEIR INCOME
Among state leaders, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov was the first to disclose his income. He announced on his personal site in early April that his salary as the Speaker of the upper house of parliament was 2.27 million roubles, and he also earned 56,000 roubles on his bank deposits. Mr Mironov declared a car trailer and an off-road buggy. A similar buggy is owned by his wife Irina, who also has an Audi A8L registered in her name. During 2008 the Speaker's wife earned 691,000 roubles. In addition, she owns two apartments in St Petersburg, one of which is registered as "an apartment with a plot of land".
Deputy Director-General of the Centre for Political Technologies, Alexei Makarkin, believes that the actions of the President and the Prime Minister will send a signal to the medium-level officials to follow suit unless they want to face a lot of questions from their superiors. "It is another matter that the people look more closely at Government officials' spending and not their incomes," Mr Makarkin said. "A bureaucrat may declare an income of 1 million roubles, but have millions of dollars worth of property registered in the names of relatives." At the same time the analyst believes that the publication of income declarations will not be revolutionary in terms of public opinion.
EARNINGS OF THE PRESIDENTS OF NEIGHBOURING CIS COUNTRIES
According to official data posted on the site of the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko's annual salary is $61,000, which is a third less than that of his Russian counterpart. However, Mr Yushchenko's total income amounted to $129,300 thanks to dividends, royalties and other sources. The Ukrainian President has $374,400 in his bank account. He owns a 371.9 sq m apartment and a 656.7 sq m house. Yushchenko's wife Katerina earned $68,200 and has $300,600 in foreign banks. As for vehicles owned by the President's family he has declared a Zaporozhets ZAZ-965 small car and a Harley Davidson motorbike.
The President of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, earned $19,500 in 2007 according to his income declaration last year. Mr Bakiyev owns a house which he acquired in 1994 and a plot of land (the date of purchase is not indicated). Under the heading "other real estate" is the figure $29,500. The "relatives" item reports more than $5,000 worth of other property.
IT IS ALREADY A TRADITION
The tradition of announcing incomes was introduced by President Boris Yeltsin. In 1997 he issued Decree 484 making it mandatory for civil servants to hand in their income declarations. In his last declaration as head of state in 1999 Boris Yelstin reported 8.436 million roubles in a bank account and an annual income of 183,837 roubles.
In addition, the first Russian President reported owning a 452 sq m dacha in Odintsovo District, Moscow Region, a BMW and an apartment on Osenny Bulvar in Moscow.
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SALARIES OF FOREIGN HEADS OF STATE
According to an independent Dutch group Wage Indicator Foundation, a labour market and fair remuneration watchdog body, the average income of G8 leaders is substantially different from the incomes of the G20 heads of state.
Thus the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a salary of $355,000 a year, or $30,000 a month. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has an annual salary of $283,000, or $24,000 a month. The French President Nicholas Sarkozy earns $348,000, or $29,000 a month.
The leaders of non-G8 member countries of the G20 earn less by an order, according to Wage Indicator Foundation. The Mexican President Felipe Calderon has a salary of $190,000 a year or $16,000 a month. His Argentine colleague Christina Fernandez de Kirchner earns $54,000 or $4,000 a month. The Indian President Pratibha Patil earns half of that sum: $37,000 a year, or $3,083 a month. One of the lowest paid presidents in the G20 is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the leader of Indonesia, who earns $5,368 a year, or $447 a month.
The British Financial Times last week published the names of the highest paid current leaders. Topping the list is US President Barack Obama with a salary of $390,000 a year. For comparison, the Polish President Lech Kachinsky posted an annual income of just $87,000 on his website.
Anastasia Biryukova
