The State Duma, Russia's lower chamber of parliament, will cost the federal budget 25 percent more than planned in 2016 in order to pay deputies' salaries and bonuses, the RBC news agency reported Tuesday.
The increase, according to RBC, is a result of moving the 2016 State Duma elections to September from December: The law outlining this change stipulates that deputies who lose the elections should retain as compensation three months' salary and any bonuses.
In 2014 the federal budget allocated 7.4 billion rubles ($118 million) for the State Duma in 2016, the report said, but the recent version of the budget had increased that sum to 10.13 billion rubles, RBC reported.
Among other things, more funds were assigned for the salaries of deputies and their assistants — 3.95 billion rubles, almost 500 million rubles more than planned in 2014.
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