The Political And Economic Results Of October 2015

The RF Government finalized the main parameters of Russia’s budget for 2016 – in the coming year, Russia’s defense spending will remain at a very high level, while social expenditures will be notably cut (pensions will be raised at less than the rate of inflation, while the wages of budget sphere employees will not be indexed to inflation. It is planned that the deficit of the Russian state budget will be covered from the Reserve Fund, causing its shrinkage by two thirds. Thus the issue of balancing Russia’s federal budget in the medium term perspective has become extraordinarily acute. In October, the situation in Syria remained almost unchanged: the areas controlled by the main contenders (the Syrian government, the Kurds, the terrorist organizations, and the moderate opposition) remained practically the same as they had been prior to the start of Russian airstrikes on targets in Syria. As regards the diplomatic front, no breakthrough was achieved by any of the parties involved in the Syrian conflict.