Outgoing State Duma Deputies to Receive Annual Bonuses Early in September, ...

Deputies of the outgoing State Duma convocation will receive their annual bonuses early in September, with about 2 billion rubles to be allocated for them, Vedomosti reported. The payments will be made before the lawmakers’ terms expire and before the end of the year.

According to the publication, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin informed them about the bonuses behind closed doors. He said the money had been “saved” from the State Duma budget.

The amount each deputy will receive has not been disclosed and will be determined individually. According to the publication’s sources, last year the bonuses of some high-ranking deputies reached 2.5 million rubles, while others received significantly less or got nothing at all. The decision on how the bonuses are distributed is made by the State Duma chairman.

As the publication notes, the current payments have effectively become a new version of lawmakers’ “golden parachutes”: all parliamentarians will receive the money regardless of whether they are re-elected or not.