PENZA, September 12 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian government employees and officials should keep their private finances at Russian banks, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday as he met with activists of the ruling United Russia party in the city of Penza some 700 km to the east of Moscow.
“A public employee should keep private money in his or her home country if he or she has trust in it, even though the terms of keeping accounts here are worse than in other economies,” he said.
“In this sense, I think officials should keep their private accounts here, and I do think this would be right,” Medvedev said.
A bill prohibiting all the government employees from opening bank accounts and having property outside the Russian Federation was submitted to the State Duma earlier. It was drafted by members of all the political parties represented in the Duma.
MP Vyacheslav Lysakov, first deputy chairman for the Duma’s committee for constitutional legislation and state construction, said the motion embraces the officials and public employees of all levels starting from the municipal agencies and the forces of law and order to members of the State Duma and the Federation Council.
“They shouldn’t have the right to open bank accounts or possess real estate of securities outside Russia,” Lysakov said.