Vostochny spaceport workers again complain of wage arrears to Putin

VLADIVOSTOK, Dec 29 (PRIME) -- Employees of the company commissioned to build Russia’s Vostochny spaceport have again sent an official claim to President Vladimir Putin over mounting salary debts, the contractor said in a statement Tuesday.

In April, the workers told Putin during his annual Direct Line Q&A session that the wages had not been paid, and the president said that he will control the situation personally.

“The staff of the company plans to resume the unrest, the same as the unrest which took place in the spring of 2015. The main reason is an issue which was raised during the “hot line” (with the president in April) on payment of the salary to workers, it has not been solved,” the contractor said.

The contractor called Tikhookeanskaya Mostostroitelnaya Kompaniya (TMK) went bankrupt earlier. It said that the local government and Dalspetstroy, Spetsstroy unit’s debt to TMK is 442 million rubles for the work that was accepted and more than 3 billion rubles for the works that have not been accepted so far.

The spaceport was to be finished by November 30. In March, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Federal Space Agency and the Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) to meet the deadline at all costs, as there was evidence that Spetsstroy was lagging behind the schedule by up to two months due to inefficient construction in 2014. Putin later postponed the deadline to 2016.

(70.7865 rubles – U.S. $1)

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