114 Percent of Russians 14 to 35 Take Part in State-Funded Youth Programs, Accounting Chamber Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 22 – The Russian Audit Chamber found that according to officials at all levels, 114 percent of the total number of Russians 14 to 35 are currently taking part in government-funded youth programs, a statistical impossibility that highlights the extent to which waste, fraud and abuse characterize these programs.

            The auditors were not able to find complete and reliable data on how measures were being carried out, how many people were involved, and how much money was being spent on what, Danil Shilkov of the Chamber says. The absurd figure of 114 percent is just one of many (profile.ru/economy/poteryannoe-pokolenie-rashody-na-molodezh-uchetu-ne-poddalis-983251/).

            This situation has not been helped in any significant way, the auditors say, by the use of computer technology, and the government has made it worse by extending the age of youth to 35, thus including in that category a variety of groups which are very different from one another and need very different kinds of programs.

            Those are the main drivers of the problem, the auditors say; but this situation means that youth policy is one of the areas where the corrupt diversion of public funds into private pockets is easy and also one where the declared aims of state policy have very little chance of being realized at any point in the future.