A Political Push to End ‘Separate Tables’ in Russian Schools
On 31 July, Sergey Mironov, head of the ‘A Just Russia’ party, restated his faction’s long-standing demand that free hot meals be provided to all Russian schoolchildren from Grade 1 to Grade 11. Currently, federal law guarantees a free hot meal only for pupils in the first four years—a provision introduced in 2020. Mironov argued that the government should extend the obligation to the entire 11-year school cycle.
The politician told the TASS news agency that schools regularly face scandals over so-called social segregation in canteens. He alleged that children whose parents pay for meals are served normal portions, while those entitled to subsidised food are seated at separate tables with meagre portions. “We will fight for all children to receive equal, high-quality, good, free food from Grades 1 to 11,” Mironov said.
The proposal is not isolated. Earlier in July, Leonid Slutsky, leader of the LDPR party, wrote to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova with a plan for a federal programme that would give free specialised nutrition to children under three. Slutsky’s idea would replace the existing patchwork of regional aid with uniform minimum federal guarantees, allowing regions to deliver help either as products or in cash equivalent to the actual cost of infant food.
Why Universal Free Meals Is Gaining Cross-Party Attention
The renewed campaign taps into both a genuine social grievance and the political logic of a pre-election cycle. The narrative of “separate tables” resonates with public sensitivity around inequality, and by linking the issue to children’s health, lawmakers can frame a spending proposal as an investment rather than a cost. The 2020 law that covered primary grades was passed with broad support, suggesting there is a legislative track record to build on.
Still, extending free meals to all 17 million-odd schoolchildren would carry a significant price tag. The original expansion for primary-school pupils was costed at over 40 billion roubles annually. Adding middle and senior classes would likely more than double that figure, intensifying demands on a federal budget already strained by defence and infrastructure commitments. Neither Mironov nor Slutsky has published a detailed financing plan, leaving the proposals largely as political signals until concrete budget allocations are identified.
The cross-party interest—from the centre-left ‘A Just Russia’ to the nationalist LDPR—also suggests that universal welfare measures around children are becoming a low-risk, high-approval item that multiple factions want to claim credit for, even if implementation remains distant.
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