The briefing’s agenda includes the upcoming May holidays and a coronavirus update for Russia and other countries.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Briefing by Tatyana Golikova
Question: Ms
Golikova, this year, the days between the two May holidays have been declared non-working
days. To whom does this decision apply?
Tatyana Golikova: In accordance with the President’s Executive Order of 23 April, non-working
days include 4 May through 7 May 2021, with salary retention for employees.
These non-working days were announced in order to prevent the spread of the
novel coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation. This is the main goal of
the executive order.
As for organising work on 4 through 7 May, under
the executive order, government agencies, other agencies and organisations, as
well as employers determine the number and composition of staff required to ensure
the operation of government agencies, organisations and enterprises, including
remote work. These decisions must be formalised in a directive or in
instructions by the relevant agency or a local regulatory act by an
organisation, in order to establish a working procedure. As I said, employees
can work remotely in accordance with labour legislation if their duties can be
fulfilled remotely.
I would also like to note that the non-working
days in May 2021 cannot become grounds for lowering salaries.
To this end, workers who are paid a fixed piece rate will receive a
relevant payment for the non-working days in accordance with a local regulatory
act of an employer. The amount is fully considered to be a labour cost. Workers
who are subject to this executive order should receive the salary implied by
their contract to the same extent as if they had worked during these
non-working days and met the quota related to time-based payment or the quota
related to piece rate.
This sum usually includes a monthly salary, plus compensating payments and
incentives. I want to draw your attention to the fact that the terms and
conditions of making incentive payments are outlined by the collective contract
of the employer. The salaries should be paid within the time limit prescribed
by the relevant enterprise. If the payment day falls on a non-working day, the
salary must be paid prior to that. Today, the Ministry of Labour and Social
Protection will send recommendations to employers and workers in accordance
with the executive order. At the same time, I want to reiterate that the
presidential executive order is aimed at preventing the spread of the novel
coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation. Given that during working
days, many people use public transit, especially in large cities, these
decisions were made to cut passenger volume presuming that people will either
stay home or leave for their dachas. Please, be guided by this executive order for
complying with epidemiological requirements and preventing the spread of the novel
coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation.
Question: Ms Golikova, will the
authorities introduce additional restrictions during the May holidays?
Tatyana Golikova: First of all, I
would like to say that all the Russian regions are continuing to enforce
restrictive measures. The Russian regions are lifting restrictive measures only
after assessing the spread of the new coronavirus infection in their region. In
an effort to organise work prior to the May holidays and to update the relevant
recommendations for the authorities and citizens, as regards compliance with
restrictive measures, we have sent relevant recommendations to the regions’ authorities
reminding them of the need to fulfill earlier Rospotrebnadzor recommendations.
Actually, there is nothing new here. It is necessary to fulfil our traditional recommendations.
At first, I mentioned religious holidays, due be
celebrated on 1-10 May. People will be attending church services, and they will
also be visiting cemeteries. We have asked the heads of the religious
denominations to observe traditional restrictive measures during this period of
time.
Today, we have to retain the mask regime, monitor
compliance with it, keep to social distancing and facilitate the disinfection
regime. We would also like to specially note that it is necessary to regularly
disinfect public transport which the people are actively using.
In addition to this, we have to retain the current
safety measures at shopping centres, such as taking customers’ temperatures at
entrances, monitoring compliance with the mask regime and disinfecting
everything.
The federal emergency
response centre for preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus infection has instructed
regional emergency response
centres to organise the work of medical institutions during the holidays and also
during the weekends. They should stipulate the required number of on-duty
medical teams for assisting the population. It is also necessary to facilitate
the work of laboratories responsible for conducting COVID-19 tests and to
stockpile the required amount of medication and PPE.
The vaccination will also continue during the
holidays. And we are once again asking the people to get vaccinated as soon as
possible because this will make it possible to attain herd immunity after 69
million people are vaccinated under our plans.
As of today, 11.9 million people have had jabs with
the first component, and 7.5 million have received both components. The
country’s regions continue to step up this procedure; however, this activity
subsides during the holidays. Nevertheless, it is possible to continue the jab
campaign in all the Russian regions, despite the movement of people across the
country during the holidays.
Question: Due to the unfavourable coronavirus situation,
the emergency response centre has limited flights to and from Turkey and
Tanzania. What is the situation like in these countries?
Tatyana Golikova: The situation is challenging, especially in the
Republic of Turkey. They have made domestic decisions to restrict movement and
introduce a curfew.
Together with
the Federal Air
Transport Agency and Rostourism, we continue working hard to return Russian
citizens from Turkey and Tanzania. As you know, flights have been suspended
until 1 June 2021. I would like to ask our tour operators not to sell tours for
dates after 1 June until the Government makes a final decision on the
epidemiological situation in Turkey and Tanzania in order to reopen these
countries for Russian citizens to go on holiday there. This is very important
because it concerns Russians’ finances, and we should be very careful here.
