The minimum wage in Russia will increase from January 2013, by 12.9 percent to 5,205 roubles, the newspaper Kommersant has reported. Today, the minimum wage in Russia is 4,612 roubles. Commenting on the increase, the head of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia Mikhail Shmakov stated that the unions will insist on further increasing the minimum wage since the increased minimum wage falls drastically short of the cost of the sustenance consumer basket.