Russia faces a "critical" shortage of police officers, with as many as 5,000 law enforcement employees leaving their jobs in July, an official said on Thursday.
"The personnel shortage is very large. I would even call it critical," Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Interfax at an internal ministry meeting. "We've had 5,000 employees resign from internal affairs agencies in the last month. It's a difficult situation."
Under a decree signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2022, the number of police officers in the country is to increase to 938,000 by 2025. According to the legislation, the number of police in Russia is expected to be be 922,000 in 2023 and 934,00 in 2024.
Agencies under Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs include the Police of Russia, Migration Affairs, Drugs Control, Traffic Safety, the Center for Combating Extremism, and the Investigative Department.
According to independent Latvia-based Russian-language news outlet Meduza, the ratio of police officers to citizens in Russia is among the highest in the world.
Kolokoltsev didn't elaborate on why the employees had left the ministry.
However, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of thousands of Russians have been conscripted to fight with the military, while tens of thousands have fled to neighboring countries to avoid being drafted.
A survey released by Russia's Central Bank in April showed that Russia faces its biggest labor shortage since records began in 1998, with the manufacturing, industrial, mining and transportation and storage sectors hit the hardest.
Chris Weafer, chief executive officer of strategic consultants Macro Advisory Ltd, who has been reporting on Russia's economy since 1998, previously told Newsweek that this labor shortage and skill set shortage "is going to be as damaging for Russia's future economic growth prospects as the sanctions ban on technology."
At the ministry meeting, Kolokoltsev instructed employees to "do everything possible to minimize the risks" from staff shortages.
"I understand that in conditions of understaffing, a colossal burden falls on employees. But this is the case when one must work according to the principle 'overpower with skill and not with numbers'," he said.
Kolokoltsev emphasized the necessity of "moral and psychological work with employees."
"[Work] should be aimed at uniting teams, strengthening discipline and be based on principles that remain unchanged at all times—loyalty to duty and oath," he added.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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