Russia’s unpaid wages jumped by one‑third in April. State media have been ordered to keep quiet.
Unpaid wages across Russia reached 2.9 billion rubles in late April — up 750 million rubles (35.2%) from March, according to Rosstat data published on May 27. Compared with April 2025, the debt has grown by nearly 1.4 billion rubles, a 94.3% increase.
The figures cover organizations not classified as small businesses.
More than half of the arrears — 55% — are debts that arose in 2026; another 34% date to 2025, and nearly 11% to 2024.
Meduza learned that a guidance memo circulated to Russian state media recommended that outlets largely ignore Rosstat’s wage arrears data, now at their highest level since December 2019.
As of publication, leading Russian news agencies had not reported Rosstat’s wage arrears figures, though they had covered other statistics from the same report.
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