Siberia’s republic of Altai will begin fining companies that do not hire a minimum number of Ukraine war veterans after a quota law passed last year saw little uptake.
In November, lawmakers in Altai passed a law requiring companies with more than 100 employees to ensure that at least 1.2% of their workforce consists of veterans of what the Kremlin insists on calling a “special military operation.”
Since the law was adopted, only 32 veterans have been hired by companies across Altai, which has a population of more than 200,000, officials said, according to the newspaper Kommersant.
Authorities are now moving to enforce the requirement. Amendments adopted by the regional government introduce fines of up to 10,000 rubles ($127) for officials and 25,000 rubles ($318) for companies that fail to meet the quotas.
“Among our priorities is the reintegration of veterans of the special military operation into civilian life,” regional head Andrei Turchak said at a meeting on Tuesday.
Other regions are considering similar measures. In the nearby Krasnoyarsk region, officials are debating a proposal to introduce a 1% hiring quota for veterans at companies with at least 100 employees.
“The experience of other regions is still taking shape. There are no unified approaches yet,” said Ilya Zaytsev, head of the Krasnoyarsk regional assembly’s social policy committee.
