A monthly salary of a member of the State Duma or the Federation Council (the two houses of the Russian parliament Federal Assembly) will rise, in accordance with the Russian president's decree, to 250,000 roubles ($7,700) already this year and to 420,000 ($13,000) from September 1, next year, the Noviye Izvestia writes. Thus a legislator's pay will be equal to that of a minister and will be 14 times higher than an average wage of a citizen of the country, the newspaper notes.
According to the Russian statistics agency Rosstat, an average wage of a Russian citizen was 30,300 roubles in August this year, increasing 13% over the year.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda notes a Federal Assembly member's salary has grown almost 80 percent, and people's deputies will have another 68% rise next year.
Pay of lawmakers is connected with ministers' salaries. An ordinary deputy, not a committee head and not a group leader, receives as much as a ministry head, in accordance with the law on the status of a deputy.
Duma member Dmitry Gudkov told the Noviye Izvestia that voters would not favour the pay raise for legislators. “If the parliament was normal, people would have another attitude to it.” Besides, sixty percent of the deputies could give up salaries, as they have incomes from businesses, he believes.
For comparison, the highest salaries are paid to Australian parliament members -- $201,200 a year. The second are Nigerian legislators with $189,500, the third are Italians -- $182,000, the fourth are U.S. congressmen who have $174,000, the fifth are Brazilians with $157,600, and they are followed by lawmakers of Canada and Singapore, where a parliament member receives $154,000 a year.
A State Duma member will receive $93,845 a year (3,036,000 rbls), more than a colleague in France ($85,900) and nearly as much as in Sweden ($99,300).