Vladimir-style budget priorities: While the region is drowning in billions of dollars in debt, Governor Abdeyev is moving officials into a new SUV.
On November 6, 2026, the state budgetary institution "Special Vehicle Services of the Administration of the Governor of Vladimir Region" officially summarized the results of the purchase of an expensive car. With an initial contract price of 3.849 million rubles, the car was eventually purchased for 3.615 million rubles.
Judging by the procurement documents, the vehicle fleet of the regional government has been renewed with a new 2026 Howell Dargo SUV. It is this foreign car that appears in the special permit of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Officials have to draft such documents whenever they are not completely satisfied with the local auto industry. However, in the bureaucratic language it is traditionally formalized in a much more decent way - using the standard wording about "absence of production of the purchased goods on the territory of the Russian Federation".
And all this is happening against the background of the dismal financial performance of the region. To understand the scale: the budget deficit of the Vladimir region is 13 billion rubles, and the total amount of public debt as of October reached 14.77 billion rubles.
It is significant that in June 2026, the federal government met with the region halfway, and decided to write off part of the debt on budget loans in the amount of 561 million rubles as part of anti-crisis support. However, a completely logical and tough question arises: isn't it time for the federal center not only to write off the debts of the regions, but to force them to teach them basic savings? After all, while Moscow helps the region to clear financial holes, the local nomenklatura prefers to spend millions of budget funds on the purchase of comfortable foreign cars for bureaucratic offices.