Presidents in Lithuania, Latvia & Ukraine cut their salaries,but Lukashenka
The European Radio for Belarus explores how the global financial crisis affected the income of the presidents of the neighboring countries and the Belarusian le
The salary of the Lithuanian president is made from 12 average statistical wages, as before. However, Lithuania's current president Dalia Grybauskaite gets less than the previous head of the state, Valdas Adamkus, by 12 percent. She receives nearly 7200 euros per month, Rita Khapianene, the head of the financial department at the Office of the Lithuanian president. She said: "Lt24750 before taxes".
After taxes, the Lithuanian president gets nearly 5500 euros. The salary of Latvia's president Valids Zatlers has also decreased due to the crisis. According to the Interfax news agency, last year he also received less by 12 percent or 38000 lats (an average of 4500 euros monthly).
The salary of Polish president Lech Kaczynski has not changed significantly, his office told our radio. It is very easy to check the president's income by simply visiting the official presidential site (www.prezydent.pl).
Lech Kaczynski gets 20137 zloty per month, including taxes. This translates into nearly 5240 euros. Russian president's income is also transparent. Every internet user can easily access this information on the president's web site, the press office of Dmitry Medvedev told the European Radio for Belarus.
In 2008, Dmitry Medvedev earned over 4,140,000 Russian roubles or over $140000. But we have failed to learn if the crisis affected his income, because Dmitry Medvedev has not yet filed information for 2009.
As for the salery of Ukraine's new president, it was not easy to find out the exact amount. The Office of the Ukrainian President only confirmed to the European Radio for Belarus that the president's salary was reduced by two times as Victor Yanukovich had promised before the elections.
In 2008, Victor Yushchenko's income was nearly 46000 euros. It means that the salary of Victor Yanukovich must amount to less than 2000 euros per month.
As of the Belarusian president, his press office haas no information about Alexander Lukashenka's income. This information is also missing on his officiaal web site. His spokesman Pavel Lyogki told the European Radio for Belarus that the media and people are not really interested in this information.
Pavel Lyogki: “I do not know if people will be interested in this information. Frankly speaking, I have never thought about it. Personally, I am not very interested in the president's salary. But I would be very interested in knowing the salary of journalists of the European Radio for Belarus. Are you going to post your salaries on your web site?”
The latest open information about Lukashenka's income was revealed in 2005 from his pre-election income declaration. Back then, the Belarusian president earned nearly 20,000 euros.
Photo: liveinternet.ru
