State social obligations not to be reduced - Matviyenko
MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - A reduction of the state's social obligations is out of the question and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov's words were misunderstood, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said.
"Siluanov has never said anything of the sort. Sometimes there is a discussion at some conference, some phrase is taken out of context, and they begin commenting on it. Colleagues, it's absolutely out of the question because the budget fully ensures the fulfilment by the state of all social obligations," Matviyenko said at a plenary session of the Federation Council on Wednesday, commenting on the words of Senator Vyacheslav Markhayev, who said that the finance minister in his speech at the Financial University several days ago "suggested reducing the number of people who are in receipt of social support, allegedly [meaning that] reformatting the level of social support will lead to fairer distribution of resources and economic growth."
"He probably meant that social payments could be made to be more targeted, that most people in receipt of assistance should be needy people. I think it's the wrong interpretation of what Siluanov meant," Matviyenko said.
Matviyenko said she has known the finance minister for many years and "he always respects social issues and he always finds solutions."