In one of the forum sessions, 26-year-old A. Vaino, who works at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to promote new projects as the director of the Young Professionals Department, spoke about the need for state incentives. And he admitted that they are “practically non-existent”, writes the portal “Agentstvo”.
Instead of support, such Russian companies face additional risks that both the business itself and the regional authorities want to avoid. Finally, a situation is reached when the regional authorities recommend entrepreneurs not to take state subsidies, because in case of a mistake, the regions will have to rescue the companies, said A. Vaino.
Andrejus Šubinas, executive director of Opora Rossiji, expressed a similar view. He noted that entrepreneurs do not receive subsidies from the state, because “after any subsidy comes the prosecutor’s office, inspection.” Any innovative support measure “is equally accompanied by full control of any ruble allocated from the state budget.”
Sees repression and crackdowns
At the age of 20, A. Vaino began to head the youth initiatives department of the Government’s Agency for Strategic Initiatives. It is a Kremlin-controlled development institute that promotes social, entrepreneurial and technological projects, including initiatives publicly supported by Vladimir Putin.
According to the “Agentstvo” portal, A. Vain’s words show that even those in power see the repressive nature of the political and economic system created in Russia.
