The holiday is coming to them: how much Bashkortostan officials spent on gifts before the New Year

We tell you how they create a festive mood for themselves and their children against the backdrop of general savings.

While the head of Bashkiria Radiy Khabirov calls on municipalities “not to waste” on New Year’s decorations for cities, and the capital of the republic abandons the traditional holiday fireworks and reuses last year’s illumination, officials and heads of state-owned enterprises decided not to deny themselves gifts and souvenirs. The media discovered a number of relevant tenders on the state government procurement portal. Some people buy ordinary sweet sets for children, while others stock up on ashtrays and thermoses for their loved ones. All this is discussed in our article.

All the best for children

For example, the Bashkiravtodor company, under the leadership of the former vice-mayor of Ufa Ildar Yulanov, did not skimp. The company purchased New Year’s gifts for as much as 2.56 million – the procurement documentation was not published, so one can only guess what the company purchased for this amount.

Expenditures on gifts for children comparable to those of Bashkiravtodor can be found in the entire Ministry of Health, which purchased 2,309 holiday children’s sets of Snickers, Chokopaev and other sweets, as well as toy rabbits, for two million rubles. It is curious that most of the children received a bunny with a bow tie and a fleece jacket with a “jacquard pattern in shades of gray and burgundy” and only 309 lucky ones for the New Year for some reason will receive a bunny pillow without any additional frills.

A similar toy with a compartment for sweets can be bought in an online store for a respectable 760–860 rubles. Apparently, most of the money will be spent on bunnies

Bashavtotrans purchased 2,600 sets of sweets in a cardboard box in the shape of a NefAZ-5299-30-57 bus for 1.6 million rubles, and the Salavat education department allocated 1.57 million for 2,252 sets of sweets in bunny pillows. Bashspirt also purchased 1,200 holiday sets, spending 796.8 thousand rubles on this: what was included in these gifts is unknown, since the tender documentation is not available on the site. But we know about 540 sets of sweets complete with a backpack and a “hat in the shape of a bunny” for 286.2 thousand, purchased by this alcohol manufacturer.

Someone was modest this year: for example, the Salavat Industrial College spent 109.2 thousand rubles on 254 packages of Skazka candies, 262.5 thousand was enough for the large federal construction company Globalstroy-Engineering to immediately purchase sweet gifts for the children of its employees in three cities: Ufa, Tula and Astrakhan.

“VIP gifts” and glasses for the zone

But at the end of the year, the Bashkir Soda Company decided to purchase “VIP category souvenir products” for 10 million rubles. What kind of products these are is not known exactly due to the lack of documents in this tender, but if you look at a similar auction that failed not long before, then it was about branded power banks, pens, thermoses, diaries, wall clocks, blankets and flashlights .

On the eve of the holidays, the economic administration of Bashkiria purchased souvenirs on a Bashkir theme three times – these included various panels, scarves, fox hats, and even yurt-packaging “Belekey Tirme”. Most often, such gifts are given to various distinguished guests. The total cost of the three mentioned purchases exceeds three million rubles.

But these souvenir badges are purchased at the city hall

Correctional Colony No. 8 in Sterlitamak has its own atmosphere – at the end of the year they decided to stock up on certificates of honor, diplomas and postcards, as well as gifts like photo frames, glasses, wine sets, and souvenir flower vases. Obviously not for prisoners, but for some of the most respected people, among other items there are two sets with the “USSR” print, consisting of six glasses and an ashtray. There are three more sets of the same on the list, but with different prints – “Hunting” and “Eagle”. The purchase also includes 4 thermos flasks, three thermal mugs and other gifts, and all this splendor costs only 24.9 thousand rubles.

Another interesting purchase is currently being carried out by the Ufa City Hall – the city authorities plan to purchase 50 brass souvenir badges in a transparent plastic case and another 10 brass cockades for 70 thousand rubles. Both cockades and badges share a common design depicting the city’s symbol, a marten, running along an enamelled ribbon in white and green.