MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has supported the proposal made by the United Russia political party for postponig the population census till October, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Wednesday.

"President Putin has supported Turchak’s proposal, made on behalf of the United Russia party, for postponing the population census till October," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Putin said during a conference on progress in the implementation of some ideas of his message to the Federal Assembly that he would look into the proposal for holding a national population census at a later date, in October, so as to prevent it from coinciding with the election campaign. The proposal was voiced by the Federation Council’s first deputy speaker, United Russia General Council’s Secretary Andrei Turchak.

Turchak recalled that a parliamentary election campaign would get underway officially in June and last till the State Duma elections in September. Technically it would proceed alongside the national population census, scheduled for August-September. Turchak warned that "if census takers and electioneering agents start going from door to door simultaneously, this would create unnecessary tensions or even annoyance." In this connection he asked Putin to issue instructions to postpone the census till October." He explained that "the elections by that time will be over and the people will be able to answer all important questions of the population census calmly and balanced way."

Population census

Russia’s national population census has already been postponed twice. On April 1 the census began in remote regions of Yakutia, the Kamchatka Region, Khabarovsk Region, Sverdlovsk Region, Chukchi Autonomous Region, and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region. According to a draft resolution by the Ministry of Economic Development, the main phase of the population census was scheduled for August 23 - September 30, 2021.

The forthcoming population census will be held for the first time in the digital format. People will be able to either answer census takers’ questions or fill in electronic questionnaires on the portal of government services, or at census desks at the offices of multifunctional centers providing government and municipal services My Documents.

All permanent residents of Russia will be invited to answer 33 questions: 23 concerning socio-demographic aspects: gender, age, citizenship, place of birth, nationality, command of languages, education, number of children, and means of subsistence and ten questions concerning living conditions. Those staying in Russia temporarily will be asked seven simple questions, such as gender, age, country of permanent residence, and purpose and duration of stay in Russia.