Answer in brief
As of 15 October 2026, the government bill No. 619-9 proposes a federal minimum wage (MROT) of 28,935 roubles a month from 1 January 2027, 6.8% above 2026. It suspends the link to the median wage for 2027–2029. The budget bill puts the subsistence minimum at 20,227 roubles per capita. Neither is law yet; the Duma plans to consider them on 29 October.
What is confirmed about the 2027 minimum wage on 15 October
The minimum wage in Russia in 2027 is, for now, a proposal rather than a law. On 30 September 2026 the Russian government registered bill No. 619-9 in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, according to the Duma's own legislative database. The bill sets the MROT, the federal minimum monthly wage, at 28,935 roubles from 1 January 2027. Interfax reported on 1 October that this is 6.8% above the 27,093 roubles in force during 2026.
The bill travels together with the federal budget for 2027–2029, which the Duma database lists as bill No. 615-9, registered the same evening. Both have gone to the Committee on Budget and Taxes, and the database shows 29 October 2026 as the planned date for the Duma to take them up. Rossiyskaya Gazeta wrote on 14 October that the budget has to be adopted by the end of November at the latest. Until the law passes both chambers, is signed and published, the figure and the rule changes below can still change.
How Russian law normally ties the MROT to the median wage
The rules sit in Federal Law No. 82-FZ of 19 June 2000 on the minimum wage. ConsultantPlus, the Russian legal database, shows Article 1 in its current wording: the minimum wage for the next year is set by federal law in the current year, taking into account the median wage of the previous year. The median is calculated by the federal statistics service, Rosstat, and it is the wage that splits employees into two equal halves, one earning more and one earning less.
The same article fixes a ratio. Since 2025 the minimum wage must be no lower than 48% of the median wage, and that ratio is to be reviewed at least once every five years. Two further floors apply: the MROT for the next year may not fall below the subsistence minimum of the working-age population for Russia as a whole, and it may not fall below the current year's MROT.
Why the 2027 figure follows wage growth instead of the median
Bill No. 619-9 suspends the median-based provisions of the minimum wage law from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029 inclusive, Interfax reported. For 2027 the amount is derived instead from the forecast growth of average monthly accrued wages in organisations. The two floors stay in force: the MROT may not be lower than the working-age subsistence minimum, nor lower than the minimum wage of the current year.
This has happened before. The ConsultantPlus text of the law notes that the median rules were already suspended for 2023 by Federal Law No. 522-FZ of 19 December 2022. The accounting news site ppt.ru, summarising the explanatory note, points out that the bill does not say how the minimum wage will be set for 2028 and 2029. The longer goal is stated elsewhere: in October 2025 the Ministry of Finance named 35,000 roubles by 2030 as the target, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported this month that the government still describes it as on track.
Subsistence minimum for 2027 by population group
The subsistence minimum, prozhitochny minimum in Russian, is the official monthly cost-of-living threshold that wages, pensions and benefits are measured against. For 2027 it is written into the budget bill rather than a separate law. ConsultantPlus quoted the draft on 1 October: 20,227 roubles per capita for Russia as a whole, 22,047 roubles for the working-age population, 17,395 roubles for pensioners and 19,620 roubles for children. Interfax put the increase at 6.8%.
The four numbers are linked by a formula. Federal Law No. 473-FZ of 29 December 2020 rewrote the subsistence minimum law so that, starting from 2021, the per-capita figure equals 44.2% of the median per-capita income of the previous year. The working-age figure is set at 109% of the per-capita one, the pensioner figure at 86% and the child figure at 97%. Multiply 20,227 by those shares and you arrive at the three other numbers in the bill.
The new figure is higher than the plan of a year ago. When the Ministry of Finance presented the previous three-year budget on 22 October 2025, it expected a subsistence minimum of 19,697 roubles for 2027. The proposed MROT of 28,935 roubles sits well above the proposed working-age threshold of 22,047, so the floor in the minimum wage law is met with room to spare.
Regional minimum wages in Moscow, the Moscow region and elsewhere
The federal MROT is a floor, not the only number that applies. Article 133.1 of the Labour Code, in the ConsultantPlus text, lets a region set its own minimum wage through a regional agreement between the authorities, trade unions and employers. The regional figure takes into account local conditions and the regional working-age subsistence minimum, and it cannot be lower than the federal MROT. It does not cover staff of organisations financed from the federal budget.
An employer working in the region is bound by such an agreement unless it files a reasoned written refusal within 30 calendar days of the official publication of the offer to join. For 2026, Moscow's minimum wage is 39,730 roubles under an agreement of 11 December 2025, as the finance section of Mail reported in January. Lenta.ru reported that the Moscow region set 27,800 roubles under an agreement signed on 13 November 2025.
The regional figures for 2027 will come with new agreements; the current ones for Moscow and its region were signed in December and November of the previous year. Regional subsistence minimums are set by each region's own decree. AiF Pskov reported on 14 October 2026 that the governor of the Pskov region had signed a decree putting the 2027 subsistence minimum there at 20,025 roubles per capita and 21,827 roubles for the working-age population.
What the 2027 minimum wage means for a full-time employee
Article 133 of the Labour Code sets the basic rule: the monthly pay of an employee who has worked the full standard hours for the period and met the work norms cannot be lower than the minimum wage. If the bill passes unchanged, that threshold for a full month becomes 28,935 roubles from January 2027, or the higher regional figure where a regional agreement applies. The minimum wage law adds, in Article 3, that the MROT is used to regulate pay and to calculate sick and maternity benefits.
The MROT is a gross figure. Personal income tax, known in Russia as NDFL, is withheld from it at 13%, so the amount paid out is lower. The site ppt.ru calculated that at the 2026 minimum of 27,093 roubles an employee takes home about 23,570 roubles, and that this does not break the current law. A bill that would have required take-home pay after tax to reach the MROT, No. 1239171-8, was returned to its authors on 10 June 2026 without reaching a first reading.
Sick pay, maternity pay and other payments tied to the MROT
Several benefits are calculated from the minimum wage, so they move with it. The Social Fund of Russia, the state body that pays sick and maternity benefits, explains that when a person has less than six months of insurance record or no earnings in the calculation period, sick pay is calculated from the MROT. In any case, the benefit for a full calendar month cannot be lower than the MROT, whatever the length of service.
Maternity pay has a similar lower end. On its page for expectant mothers, the Social Fund says that a working woman with less than six months of insurance record receives no more than one full month's MROT per month, raised by regional coefficients where they apply. Its minimum for a standard 140-day leave in 2026 is 124,702.20 roubles. For women without a job who qualify for the benefit, the fund sets it at the full working-age subsistence minimum of their region.
The 2027 minimums depend on the final MROT. Rossiyskaya Gazeta quoted deputy Svetlana Bessarab on 15 October as saying that the minimum sick pay will be calculated from the new minimum wage. Pensions are a separate matter: the same newspaper reported on 14 October that the budget plans to index insurance pensions by 6.8% from 1 February 2027 and by a further 3.3% from 1 April.
Dates to watch and what to check before January 2027
The next milestone is 29 October 2026, when the Duma plans to consider the budget and the accompanying bill No. 619-9. Rossiyskaya Gazeta expects the budget to pass before December, after which it goes to the Federation Council and to the president for signature. The bill's page in the Duma's legislative database, sozd.duma.gov.ru, shows every reading and amendment with a date. Treat 28,935 roubles as the working figure until the signed law is published.
Employees paid at the minimum should check two numbers: the federal MROT and the regional minimum wage, if their region has an agreement. Employers should do the same before the January 2027 payroll and look up their region's subsistence minimum decree, which also feeds into regional benefits. Individual cases, such as a disputed salary or a benefit calculation, are best checked with the Social Fund, the labour inspectorate or a qualified specialist. The rules quoted here are as of 15 October 2026.
Practical checklist
- Follow bill No. 619-9 on sozd.duma.gov.ru and note the outcome of the 29 October 2026 session.
- Compare your full-time monthly pay with 28,935 roubles, the proposed federal MROT from January 2027.
- Find out whether your region has a minimum wage agreement and what figure it sets for 2027.
- Look up your region's 2027 subsistence minimum decree once it is published on the regional legal portal.
- Check sick or maternity pay calculations against the Social Fund's figures once the 2027 MROT is signed.
Questions and answers
Is the 28,935-rouble minimum wage for 2027 already law?
No. As of 15 October 2026 it is part of government bill No. 619-9, registered in the State Duma on 30 September. The Duma plans to consider it on 29 October together with the budget, and the amount becomes binding only after the law is signed and published.
Why is the 2027 MROT not 48% of the median wage?
Bill No. 619-9 suspends the median-based rules of the minimum wage law for 2027 to 2029. For 2027 the government used the forecast growth of average wages, 6.8%. The floors that keep the MROT above the working-age subsistence minimum and the previous year's level remain.
Is the Russian MROT paid before or after income tax?
The minimum wage is compared with accrued pay, before personal income tax is withheld. At the 2026 level of 27,093 roubles, ppt.ru calculated take-home pay of about 23,570 roubles. A bill to make the MROT a take-home floor was returned to its authors in June 2026.
Does the federal MROT apply in Moscow in 2027?
It is the floor everywhere, but Moscow has its own, higher minimum wage set by a city agreement: 39,730 roubles in 2026. Employees of organisations financed from the federal budget are covered by the federal MROT instead. The Moscow figure for 2027 needs a new agreement.
How does the 2027 subsistence minimum differ for pensioners and children?
Under the budget bill, the national figure for 2027 is 17,395 roubles for pensioners and 19,620 roubles for children, against 20,227 per capita. The law fixes these as 86% and 97% of the per-capita amount; regions set their own figures by decree.