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FNPR Newsletter.November 14, 2025

14.11.2025

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November 14, 2025

Dear colleagues,

Here is our next newsletter on the main aspects of the socio-political and socio-economic situation in Russia, on the policy of the Russian Federation in the current international environment, on the FNPR position and its activities for the protection of legal rights and interests of workers.

According to the Russian government, the country’s economy has entered a cooling phase. In practice this means that the GDP growth rate has decreased. Last year, the GDP grew by 4.1%, while its growth this year, according to the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, will be 1%. At the same time, the Russian economy retains a substantial safety margin. One indicator of this is the rise in Russia’s international reserves. According to the Bank of Russia, between the beginning of the year and October 1, they have grown by more than US$104 billion to US$713.3 billion.

The good news for workers and their families is that on 22 October, the lower house of the federal parliament adopted at first reading a draft federal budget for 2026 which provides for the indexation of a number of social benefits. In particular, as of January 1, 2026, the old-age insurance pensions will be increased by 7.6%, and from February 1, 2026 the unemployment benefit will grow by 6.8%. The Government also promises that in 2026 it will follow the practice of regular increases in the minimum wage rate established over the recent years.

The results of sociological studies continue to show a high level of citizens' trust in the Russian President. Thus, in a survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on November 9, 2025, 76% of respondents positively assessed the activities of Vladimir Putin as President of the Russian Federation, and 77% expressed their confidence in him.

Turning to the situation in the world of work, on October 20 trade union experts of the Social and Labour Conflicts Monitoring and Analysis Centre of the St. Petersburg Trade Union University of the Humanities and Social Sciences published its latest review of social and labour conflicts in Russia for the first nine months of 2025. The term "social and labour conflicts" in these trade union reviews refers to any situation where workers resort to some form of collective protest, both public and non-public (non-public forms include, for example, collective appeals to authorities).

According to the survey for January-September, 2025, the situation in the social and labour sphere as a whole remains stable. This is evidenced primarily by the low unemployment rate of 2.1% in the third quarter of 2025. However, cooling of economy in some cases leads to hidden unemployment (that is, to downtime or shorter working hours) and delayed payment of wages. Trade union experts note that employers' wage arrears in 2025 have increased five times compared to 2024. It is the late payment of wages that caused more than half (56%) of social and labour conflicts in Russia between January and September, 2025. Other significant causes of conflicts are the violation of workers' rights in the course of jobs reduction (20%), and the violation of working conditions (18% of cases).

Another notable event of recent months was the publication, on October 31, 2025, of the 2024 analytical review "Occupational safety in figures", prepared by experts of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation. An important change compared to similar publications in previous years was the inclusion of a special section on "Trade union control over compliance with workers' rights and legitimate interests", in which the Ministry published the data collected by trade union safety inspectors.

This has become an important positive step in the harmonisation of state and trade union statistics. In addition, it was also an official recognition by the state of the effectiveness of the work that 655 full-time labour inspectors and about 170,000 trade union labour safety commissioners carry out in the FNPR member organisations. In particular, the analytical review acknowledges that during 2024 it was union inspections that revealed 52,325 occupational safety violations.

It should be mentioned that on October 7, as in previous years, the FNPR member organisations held a number of activities to mark the World Day for Decent Work. This year all these events were held under the general slogan "For the decent work of mentors". In 2024, the FNPR succeeded in establishing the concept of "mentorship in the world of work" in the national legislation. The Labour Code of Russia now also has an article defining mentorship in the workplace as an additional work that must be paid for.

The present international situation remains an important factor affecting the lives of Russian workers and the country as a whole. As is known, the efforts at a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict that began in the previous months of 2025 unfortunately appear to have suffered a setback. From the Russian perspective, the reason for this is the active opposition to a peaceful resolution on the part of Ukrainian authorities incited by the EU countries to keep on fighting. As for the U.S. position, the Russian leadership has repeatedly notified President Trump and his administration that it appreciates their peacemaking efforts, but warned that any attempts to speak with Russia in the language of ultimatums, through pressure and threats, are doomed to failure.

The Russian economy has already proved its resilience under the sanctions pressure methods. New sanctions, although they will create certain difficulties for Russian enterprises and their foreign trade partners, will have no significant impact on either the state of the Russian economy, or the course of the special military operation.

From a military point of view, the situation is developing successfully for Russia: Russian troops continue the offensive in Donbas and in late October have completed the operation to encircle a large group of Ukrainian troops. Reports of mass desertions from the Ukrainian army appearing in the Ukrainian press itself allow not only to assess the real level of support for the Kiev regime and its policy of prolonging the armed conflict, but also directly indicate that that Russian troops will continue to maintain the initiative and build on the gains made so far.

At the same time, the Russian side and personally the President have repeatedly confirmed their desire for an early end to hostilities and negotiated settlement of the conflict. However, the rights and interests of the Russian-speaking population of the regions that separated from Ukraine and then joined the Russian Federation should not become a bargaining chip in these negotiations. It should be noted that this position of the Russian leadership expresses broad consensus on this issue in Russian society, including among workers.

On November 13, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the interview of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which it subsequently refused to publish. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the newspaper sent broad questions for the interview in advance, and on each of them the minister gave a comprehensive answer. However, when the text was ready, the editorial office refused to publish it in full without its own cuts or censorship. We take this opportunity to provide you with a link to the full text of the interview in English, French and Spanish, posted on the Ministry's website.