The rf’s Regions Plunging into a Budget Crisis: from the Urals to Chukotka, There Are Shortages of Money and Heat

Sredneuralsk, a satellite town of Yekaterinburg, has been officially declared insolvent. By order of the governor of Sverdlovsk region, external financial management has been introduced there.

The reason was that expenditures exceeded revenues by 18 million rubles. Against the background of a total regional budget deficit of more than 30 billion rubles, this amount seems insignificant, but it was a sign of a deeper financial crisis.

Most regions are experiencing difficulties in balancing their local budgets. In Tomsk, warnings about the possibility of external management were issued back in the summer: due to problems with the resettlement of emergency housing, the debt reached almost two billion rubles, and the deficit reached five billion. In Samara, local authorities also received warnings about the risk of losing financial independence. In Irkutsk region, spending on salaries for teachers and medical workers was cut in an attempt to keep the deficit under control.

The situation is no better in the Volga region. Saratov’s budget forecasts a deficit of almost two billion rubles, while MPs in Ulyanovsk region have approved a budget with a shortfall of 1.3 billion. Local authorities admit that under the current conditions of sanctions and military spending, this is still an “optimistic scenario”.

Problems are also getting worse in northern regions. In Chukotka, residents of several settlements report cold apartments because boiler rooms are saving coal. The temperature in some areas has already dropped to -6 °C, while fuel reserves are only a third of what is needed. The “Northern Delivery” system, which supplies fuel, food, and essential goods, was only 56 % complete in September. As of November 1, only 32 % of the required amount of coal had been delivered to villages.

Heating interruptions have also been reported in Yakutia, Magadan region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, and Primorsky Krai, where firewood has become too expensive for local residents.

Increasing debts, underfunding of the social sector, and failures in the communal infrastructure indicate that russia’s regional economy has lost its footing. The center continues to accumulate resources, leaving the periphery on the brink of survival.