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FNPR Newsletter. May 29, 2025

29.05.2025

May 29, 2025

Dear colleagues,

We are sending you another newsletter on social, economic and political situation in Russia, its international policy, the FNPR activities and its positions on different issues.

On the whole, the current socio-economic situation in Russia remains stable and demonstrates positive dynamics. It should be noted that, according to both the IMF^[1] and the World Bank^[2], in 2024 Russia remained among the top five countries of the world in terms of its GDP at purchasing power parity. According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Russia’s GDP will grow by 2.5% in 2025. The positive factor was that, due to the introduction of a progressive scale of personal income tax from 2025 (sought by trade unions for many years), Russian budget received 37.8 billion rubles (over 400 million USD) in the first three months of 2025. According to the Federal Tax Service, this is 40% more than in the same period of last year (27 billion rubles, or nearly 300 million USD).

Speaking of positive trends, the FNPR Chairman Sergei Chernogaev in his speech at the FNPR General Council meeting on April 22 focused on the data extremely important in terms of combating poverty and inequality: in recent years, Russian trade unions have succeeded in achieving the minimum wage rates to be increased ahead of the rise in subsistence level and consumer price index.

The stability of the socio-economic and internal political situation is confirmed by sociological data indicating high level of citizens' trust in the state, primarily in the President of Russia. According to the poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on May 23-25, 2025, 81% of respondents said they trust President Putin, and 82% positively assess his performance as the head of state.

However, there are alarming trends as well. On April 22, the FNPR General Council meeting, having discussed the country's socio-economic situation, stressed in its resolution that an excessively high interest rate set by the Bank of Russia at 21% is holding back economic growth and creating significant risks for workers.

The FNPR General Council has also expressed concern at the high incidence of overtime in industry amid labour shortages in some sectors. Statutory overtime pay does not in the least detract from the fact that excessive workload depletes workers physically and emotionally, leads to increased occupational injuries and, in the long run, results in damage to health and well-being of workers and their families. The FNPR therefore calls on the state to put decent work first, and to design economic policies so that real wages do not grow at the expense of overtime. The most important way to achieve this result could be to strengthen social dialogue mechanisms.

With cautious optimism, the FNPR General Council noted the emergence of a prospect for the adoption of a very important law, which has long been promoted by the unions − on compulsory participation of employers in employers' associations. If implemented, it will make participation in collective agreements at different levels − regional, sectoral, and federal − mandatory for all employers.

It should also be mentioned that the FNPR continues to actively participate in the debate on regulating the platform economy, insisting, contrary to the positions of some government agencies, that the Labour Code of the Russian Federation should enshrine fundamental rights and guarantees, applicable to all platform workers.

During the May Day celebrations in forty-five regions of Russia trade unions held mass demonstrations, marches and rallies. This year, the focus of union activities was on mass public actions. «Achieving the national development goals of Russia is impossible without the participation of workers and attention by the state to the working man», - stressed the FNPR Chairman Chernogaev at the trade union rally in Samara.

On May 9, the most important historical date in Russia − the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany and its allies in Europe − was celebrated. The festive events in Moscow were attended by 27 heads of state from the CIS, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, as well as about a dozen leaders of international organisations. Six other countries were represented at a high level. At a press conference dedicated to these events, President Putin expressed gratitude to the leaders of thirteen states who sent national armed forces units to participate in the Victory Day parade in the Red Square.

In his comments, the President also reverted to the issue of resolving the conflict in Ukraine. Although Russian military operation is progressing successfully (in particular, on April 26, the Russian army completed the liberation of the Kursk region from the Ukrainian invasion that began last August) Vladimir Putin has once again confirmed Russia’s readiness for a peaceful settlement. He stressed that Russia has repeatedly taken initiatives for a ceasefire, but these initiatives have been sabotaged by the Ukrainian side. Thus, the Kiev regime over a hundred times violated the 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy facilities, which was previously announced following an agreement with the U.S. President Trump. Russia proposed yet another ceasefire for the Victory Day celebration, and again, there was no response. Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin said: "No matter what, we offer the Kiev authorities to resume negotiations they broke off at the end of 2022 <...> Moreover, I stress, without any preconditions".

On 16 May, the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations really began in Istanbul. It is to be hoped that the final outcome of the negotiations will be a just and comprehensive peace settlement, fully taking into account both the will of the citizens of the former Ukrainian regions that joined Russia and the rights of the Russian population of other Ukrainian territories. For their part, the FNPR and its affiliates continue to collect and send humanitarian aid to the civilian population of the territories affected by hostilities.

April and May 2025 were also marked by important international trade union events. An FNPR delegation attended the 14th BRICS Trade Union Forum, held in Brazil on 23-24 April, where it supported the draft Declaration prepared by Brazilian colleagues. In his speech, the FNPR Vice-Chairman Evgeny Makarov noted the fundamental importance of the Declaration's thesis that "technological transformation cannot outweigh the rights of workers", and called for trade unions around the world, especially in BRICS countries, to jointly demand that their governments implement policies promoting economic development, including industrialisation and re-industrialisation, as well as the creation of new safe jobs that meet decent work standards.

In May, an FNPR delegation headed by its President Mikhail Shmakov took part in the Trade Union Leaders' Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing. The meeting revealed a significant proximity between the SCO trade unions on a wide range of social, economic and human development issues. Although to date there is no separate area of interaction and institutional conditions for such consultations in the form of regular forums, the meeting has undoubtedly contributed to building a more inclusive and multilateral architecture of the international trade union movement. Consequently, the international trade union itself becomes more capable of representing workers from all over the world in an emerging multipolar world.

[1] World Economic Outlook Database: April 2025 .

[2] World Development Indicators Database: GDP, PPP (current international $).

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FNPR International Relations Department

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