Moscow Cuts ‘Investment’ Funding for Tskhinvali

Erik Pukhaev, head of Tskhinvali government, said on June 20 that Moscow’s financial support “for budgetary investments” in the region would amount to the total of three billion Russian rubles (USD 51 million as of June 22) in 2018 and 2019.

The announcement came at a meeting of “the South Ossetian part of the intergovernmental commission for the socio-economic cooperation” in Tskhinvali, which was also attended by the region’s leader Anatoly Bibilov.

According to Pukhaev, Tskhinvali initially requested 5 billion rubles from Russia, but priority areas had to be “selected” in cooperation with Russia’s Ministry for North Caucasus “considering the limited funding availability.”

As a result, 1.5 billion Russian rubles will be allocated to Tskhinvali in each of the upcoming two years, that is twice as less as Moscow’s funding in 2017.

The region’s budget for 2017 amounts to 8.1 billion (USD 135 million) rubles, of which 7.3 billion (USD 121 million) was transferred from Russia.

4.2 billion (USD 70 million) of Russian subsidies is to be spent for the region’s “socio economic development,” while the remaining 3 billion (USD 51 million) will be used for implementing “budgetary investments.”

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