The Russian cabinet said on Saturday that it had approved the draft of the country's energy policy for the period until 2035 and allocated over 562 million rubles ($7.4 million) from its reserve fund to be paid to agencies on the frontline of tackling the COVID-19 outbrea
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th April, 2020) The Russian cabinet said on Saturday that it had approved the draft of the country's energy policy for the period until 2035 and allocated over 562 million rubles ($7.4 million) from its reserve fund to be paid to agencies on the frontline of tackling the COVID-19 outbreak.
"The government's decision: to approve the Energy strategy of Russia for the period until 2035," the government said in a press release, outlining decisions taken during the cabinet session on Thursday.
According to the press release, the Russian government has also agreed to allocate 321 million rubles to the the Federal Biomedical Agency (FMBA) "for the provision of subsidies to subordinate organizations in order to make incentive payments to health workers providing medical care to citizens who have the novel coronavirus infection to cover for special working conditions and additional burden; to persons high risk of contracting the novel coronavirus infection; and those working on an intensive schedule due to measures taken to prevent the import and transmission of the novel coronavirus infection Russia."
Another 242 million rubes were set aside for funding the Medical Volunteers movement for incentive payments to people helping to fight COVID-19 in Russia and people who are considered high risk amid the outbreak.
"To allocate 242,273,700 rubles to Rosmolodezh [the federal youth organization] from the Russian government's reserve fund in subsidies to the Medical Volunteers all-Russian public movement of volunteers in health care for the purpose of carrying out activities aimed at arranging assistance to Russian citizens amid the spread of the novel coronavirus infection," the government said.
According to the press release, the Medical Volunteers movement is expected to use the money to roll out activities in all 85 of Russia's regions, engaging some 15,000 volunteers. The volunteers will ensure home deliveries of medical supplies, groceries and essential items to 200,000 Russian nationals aged over 60. The cabinet said it had mandated Rosmolodezh with overseeing the use of allotted money.
The FMBA will be responsible for overseeing the use of funds on its own.
Additionally, the cabinet has approved funding from the government's reserve fund for the Russian Foreign Ministry to be paid to Russian nationals stranded abroad due to the suspension of international air traffic amid COVID-19. A total of 500 million rubles will be used to help them pay for accommodation and renewal of visas and other foreign residence permits.
