Russia plans to reduce the number of government civil servants

Russia plans to carry out an optimal reform of government agencies and cut a certain number of government employees from January 1, 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishushushkin said on January 16.

According to a communiqué published on the Russian government’s website on January 16, Mishushtin said in a meeting with the deputy prime minister of the federal government on the same day that, according to the president’s mandate, it is planned to carry out optimization and reform of government agencies from January 1 to April 1, 2021. According to the plan, the number of federal government civil servants will be reduced by 5 percent and the number of local government civil servants by 10 percent.

Mishustin said that Russia does not need a bloated and large government agency, but a government made up of professional and responsible experts. Reforms to optimize government agencies are aimed at improving the efficiency of government work, allowing the government to focus on addressing the concerns of the people, speeding up economic development and improving the people’s standard of living.

The Russian government has analyzed the structure and work of each government component and prepared a reform plan, Mishutin said. The Government will set up a special working group to carry out this optimization reform.