Some 200,000 people risk losing their jobs in the Russian capital because Western companies have suspended operations over the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on April 18.
Authorities had last week approved a $41 million program to support employment in Moscow by providing training and temporary "socially important work," Sobyanin wrote on his blog.
Hundreds of mainly Western companies have said they were suspending their operations in Russia after the West announced a series of crippling sanctions on Moscow over its unprovoked war in Ukraine.
Sobyanin said the newly approved program plans to support more than 58,000 people who have lost their jobs in foreign firms. Around 12,500 of them will undergo retraining, the mayor added.
He said people in between jobs will be offered involvement in public works projects in a number of city organizations, parks, and elsewhere.
Experts predict that the worst economic impact of Western sanctions is still to come and expect Russia to plunge into a deep recession.