OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2009. Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Ilya Mikhalchuk, has put his major planned government reform on ice, arguing that it would become too expensive in today’s situation of crisis.

According to the plans the current regional administration would be transformed into a structure similar the one on federal level. The new structure would include the establishment of regional government ministries and ministers.

Now, however, the reform has been postponed. According to the governor, the establishment of the new structure would require significant extra spending. The current strained economic situation does not allow for that spending, he admits. The bill on the establishment of the new structure has now been withdrawn from the regional parliament.

Governor Mikhalchuk still does not believe that the economic situation in the region is all negative. According to Rosbalt.ru, he highlights that Arkhangelsk Oblast has heavy and stable presence of the defence industry and that the forestry sector remains powerful.

The new government structure was last year adopted by a number of Russian regions, among them Murmansk Oblast.