The city’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said in a blog post Monday that 200,000 people were at risk of losing their jobs. Authorities were setting aside 3.36 billion rubles ($41 million) to support them, he added.
Sweden’s Ingka Group, owner of retailer IKEA, has 15,000 employees in Russia. A company spokesperson told CNN Business last month that it has guaranteed three months’ salary to its workers.
Yet it is unclear how long companies can keep up the support. Sobyanin said the Russian government is stepping in to help those workers left behind.
“The [support] program is addressed to employees of foreign companies that have temporarily suspended their activities or decided to leave Russia,” he said.
According to the mayor, the assistance plan includes training, employment in temporary and public works, and incentives for organizations and firms to hire workers whose companies have left.
“Let me now say a few words to those countries who are currently sitting on the fence, perhaps seeing an opportunity to gain by preserving their relationship with Russia and backfilling the void left by others. Such motivations are short-sighted,” she said in a speech at the Atlantic Council.
Source : CNN