Putin Gets Paid More than Medvedev

File this one under foregone conclusions, but a new transparency, anti-corruption push from the Russian president has revealed that he is actually paid less than his subordinate, the prime minister.  Is this scandalous?  Not really … the idea that anybody in the Kremlin is taking home such modest sums is laughable – even if we discount the Belkovsky exaggerations of extraordinary wealth, it is still unbelievable that either of these guys’ income would be publicly revealed or so modest (as Putin himself has said, in Russia, money “is a snap“).

From Reuters:

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earns 11 percent more than his boss, President Dmitry Medvedev, according to asset declarations released on Monday under a Kremlin anti-graft drive.

Medvedev, who ordered the disclosures, is technically the most powerful man in Russia, but observers have long claimed that former president Putin is really in charge.

In 2008 Putin earned 4.6 million rouble ($137,700), 11 percent more than the 4.14 million roubles ($124,000) declared by Medvedev, statement’s posted on their respective web sites showed.

Both men earn over 18 times Russia’s average wage of 230,000 roubles per year.

At least Medvedev gets to claim the larger apartment, a 368-square-meter Moscow residence that dwarves Putin’s 77-square-meter apartment.