Meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects

Putin’s “Brian Trust” consists of many more than the 13 people in the above photo. The roster provided by the Kremlin lists 68 people as participants in this video conference, of which 38 are members of the Council. The scope and detail of planning done is well beyond the capabilities of one person and trashes the notion put forth by the West that Russia’s authoritarian as many other events this month have also proven. Leading up to this meeting are other important, related meetings whose transcripts I’ve yet to publish as other events pushed them aside. Readers aren’t referred to the English transcripts of these events because they are almost always truncated and omit content, often merely providing Putin’s words, which in these planning and review meetings omits the vast majority of the content that I presume readers want to read, otherwise they wouldn’t subscribe. Only a few readers are old enough to recall the massive industrial expansion that occurred within the USA during WW2 and continued after until the mid-1960s with big connectivity projects funded mostly by the federal government—airports and all the means for their and airline support; and the interstate highway system being the two major efforts (most ports and shipyards were already in place as a result of the war, with the shipyards already declining.) What Russia is doing now is very similar to what the USA did during that same post-war time period but has roughly twice the area to cover—11 time zones instead of 4—and far more challenging geography. Here’s a portion of the M-12 highway going 810Km from Moscow to Kazan that was opened today:

It will reach 1980 Km when it connects with Tyumen in 2025, which as you see is not quite halfway across Russia:

Most know of the Trans-Siberian Railway and its sister the Bikal-Amur Mainline:

What’s not depicted are the plans for additional railways in the much higher Arctic zone to support Arctic ports for the Northen Sea Route, hydrocarbon extraction and processing, and national defense facilities. Some will have read my report on the Amur gas processing facilities and their massive nature built in the middle of exactly nowhere. Much the same type of effort will be required to make all these other major infrastructure plans reality.

One of the meetings that awaits is the Fourth Railway Conference which was very well attended as you see.

Here’s the Kremlin’s synopsis:

About 2000 workers of the industry, as well as representatives of government, business, trade union and veteran organizations took part in the IV Railway Congress. The key topic of the congress is the development of railways in the context of ensuring the socio-economic interests of Russia. [My Emphasis]

The bolded phrase applies to almost everything Russia’s doing as its goals apply to both realms that are individual yet intersect—the social and the economic. Here’s the opening words by Putin at the above event:

Our railway network ranks first in the world in terms of usage, providing 87 percent of the country's cargo turnover and about a third of passenger traffic. Russia's railways are used by over a billion passengers a year. Such impressive numbers.

The industry leader, Russian Railways, is one of the main customers for the domestic engineering industry, industry in general, for the construction complex and the professional education system. It provides many sectors of the economy, science, and technology business with stable, long-term orders. Thus, over the past 20 years, the company has purchased over 9,000 Russian locomotives. More than 700 new mainline diesel locomotives entered the routes.

Today, more than 1 million 300 thousand freight cars run on the railways – more than at any time in our entire history. Moreover, the Russian railcar fleet is one of the youngest in the world: the average age is about 13 years. And in the next three to four years, it is necessary to completely complete the renewal of the passenger car fleet.

I repeat: Russian Railways ' development policy encourages key, innovative sectors of our economy. Of course, we need to continue to do this: to develop new types of equipment and other products, and I will tell you about new innovative areas of development of Russian Railways a little later. Of course, including locomotives for super-heavy trains, which are especially in demand at the Eastern Railway Test Site, how important this is is not necessary to say in this audience. And of course, we need to develop infrastructure for high-speed and high-speed passenger traffic. This is the future of Russian railways, new quality of services, additional opportunities for millions of people, the country's economy, business, tourism, our trade relations, and the development of regions and cities.

A large-scale modernization of the Central Transport Hub is already underway. Complex projects such as Moscow's Central Diameters are also being implemented. In the future, they will become the basis for connecting modern, convenient, high-speed routes to Moscow, Yaroslavl, Tver, Kaluga, Vladimir and other regions of Central Russia.

I would like to note that it is passenger transport that clearly demonstrates the new look of the Russian railway network and of Russian rail transport as a whole. Stations and railway complexes are being upgraded. Many of these railway stations are, as we all know, architectural monuments, this is our heritage. It is important that they are updated carefully. They become truly modern and at the same time retain their unique historical appearance.

All that’s just a partial sketch of the overall plan. Putin and team were very impressed by China’s high-speed rail system and continue to be so. A bigger challenge for Russia is production of its own civilian fleet of airliners as this article from April 2022 explores. The problem isn’t materials; rather, it’s qualified workforce needed to staff the greatly expanding industry. Yes, Russia produces outstanding military jets, but for too long it relied on foreign airliners which became a big problem with the 2022 illegal sanctions regime as the article will inform. Resolving that big problem and also expanding the number of smaller airports in Siberia and Far East are both strategic goals. As with Xi Jinping, Putin sees modernization as a primary vehicle to boost Russia’s economy and also as an aide in solving its remaining social problems.

What you’re about to read is mostly a review of what was accomplished in 2023. As you read, you can develop a sense of what drives Russia’s political-economy and how that’s constructed and see where similarities and differences occur with orthodox capitalism and socialism. Such observations are important as they form the basis from which a developmental model can be constructed as many Global South nations want to mimic what China and Russia have done and are doing. This is where the reports detailing how things were accomplished are important. How has Russia ceased being merely a “gas station with nukes” is shown as well as the reasons why the illegal sanctions regime has failed so spectacularly. Happy reading!

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

Traditionally, at the end of the year, we summarize the results. And today I propose to discuss the results of the implementation of the 2023 targets, which are part of our extensive, systematic work to achieve the national development goals.

See also

Participants of the meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects (via videoconference)

December 21, 2023

I would like to emphasize that the national goals are set on the horizon until 2030, and the" reconciliation of hours " that we regularly hold at the end of the year is important not only for assessing the current situation – what has been implemented, and what tasks are still behind schedule, but above all for making specific management decisions on the implementation of the project. those areas that require special attention, concentration of additional forces, funds, and resources both at the federal level, in the regions, and on the ground.

At the same time, the key criterion for the effectiveness of our work is the assessment of citizens, as we have already said many times, how they perceive the dynamics, pace, and quality of changes in their lives. I would like to draw the attention of all my colleagues to this once again.

And of course, the results that we achieve together should form the basis for long-term plans.

The current national projects formed in 2018 will be completed next year. This means that we will have to clarify national development goals and expand the planning horizon until 2036. It is natural to set goals and define development targets that meet both our increased opportunities and the higher demands of society. And of course, we need to prepare and launch updated national projects in a timely manner.

I repeat, we have now accumulated such a potential that allows us to reach a fundamentally different level and dynamics of development of the entire country.

As for the current year, as you know, the tasks were set in such key areas as ensuring economic sovereignty: technological and human resources, infrastructure, financial, as well as structural changes in our foreign economic activity. And of course, this is the development of cities and towns, the social sphere, solving demographic issues, supporting motherhood and childhood, the health and education system. Overall, improving people's quality of life.

I ask colleagues who will make presentations on their topics to proceed from the following considerations. In addition to a detailed report on the implementation of the tasks set for 2023, please focus on what needs to be done in the coming year, 2024, as well as on the future.

What I would like to emphasize before moving on to the agenda.

All our plans for developing infrastructure, social services, and supporting demographics are extremely realistic. We are constantly "checking the clock" in these areas. They are based on the country's economic capabilities, take into account the dynamics of its industries, and industrial growth.

The Russian economy has gone through a period of adaptation to the changed external conditions. Our companies have maintained their regular work, strengthened logistics, and replaced a number of foreign materials, including components, with domestic analogues and products of Russian enterprises.

In January – October of this year, the manufacturing industry grew by 7.4 percent, while investment in three quarters increased by 10 percent, that is, it gave a development perspective. This applies to the economy as a whole. And in the manufacturing industry, the inflow of capital investment is even higher: in January-September-12.2 percent, in the third quarter-35 percent.

By the way, the days of our regions are successfully held on the site of the exhibition "Russia". The regions of the Russian Federation have shown both their achievements and development potential.

Now the baton is being taken up by domestic companies and departments. I am sure that they will present their achievements and plans as vividly and convincingly as the regions of Russia have done.

I repeat, it is necessary to consolidate the positive dynamics of investment and the economy as a whole. Due to business activity, provide the growing demand of the domestic market with a sufficient supply for a wide group of goods. I mean both consumer goods and investment demand products: machinery, machine tools, and technological equipment.

I would like to emphasize that building just such an economy – the supply economy-will also allow avoiding spikes in prices for certain goods in the future, and as you know, there are such problems. Our citizens have experienced similar price spikes in recent months. We also talked about this during the recent "Direct Line".

Let me remind you that by the end of this year, it is necessary to attract at least two trillion rubles in projects for the production of priority industrial products.

I expect to hear today how these tasks are being implemented, as well as what level of investment is expected to reach next year, and what bar is proposed to be set here.

I would like to note that today Russia has unique market opportunities for opening up modern production facilities and modernizing existing enterprises, and for creating new – and I want to emphasize this-well-paid jobs.

Our economy should become an economy of qualified personnel and good, high wages. This is the key to raising citizens ' incomes and overcoming the problems of poverty. By the way, we have achieved some results here, but you are aware of this. In general, the word is not very good – poverty, but nevertheless there are such indicators, there will be a historical minimum in 2023, but those people who still live below the poverty line, for them this is an empty phrase. It is necessary to reduce this figure to the minimum values – we must strive for zero.

It is necessary to increase labor productivity, improve the efficiency of the economy and the social sphere in general, and do this on the basis of implementing the principles of lean production, automation and digital management solutions, and the widespread use of artificial intelligence technologies.

In this regard, I expect that today our colleagues will focus separately on such an important topic as the development of the domestic industrial robot industry.

And of course, we need to create new requirements for the professional education system, for the training and retraining of workers, engineers, and managers. Launch new and expand existing programs.

I have already asked the Government to develop a five-year forecast of the staffing needs of our economy. This should be done by industry and professional qualifications. Such a forecast should not only be regularly updated to reflect the state of the labor market, but-what is fundamentally important-it should be taken into account when setting admission benchmarks for colleges and technical schools, colleges and universities, when forming and expanding professional retraining programs.

At the same time, I ask the Government to build a system of motivating educational institutions, evaluating the effectiveness of their managers, so that they are interested in training specialists in the areas that are in demand on the labor market.

Further. We are developing a system of comprehensive support for the export of Russian goods and services. We help our companies switch to promising partners in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. We are strengthening our ties with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. By the way, I want to point out that we are not closing ourselves off from the American continent, North America – the United States and Canada, we are not closing ourselves off from European countries, and it's time for them to stop fooling around and wait for us to collapse. It became clear to everyone that if they want to benefit from cooperation with Russia, they must do so. We don't push them away. But this is their business and their decision. Let them think for themselves about what they are guided by, some ephemeral considerations related to the destruction of Russia, or the interests of their own country, their own people, and their people in developing relations in the world as a whole on the modern democratic foundation of a multipolar world. But, I repeat, this is their business.

An important element of such work is the creation of an independent financial and payment infrastructure, and the widespread use of national currencies in trade.

Compared to 2021, the share of the ruble in our international payments has doubled and now stands at 35 percent, and together with the currencies of friendly countries, this share reaches 75 percent.

External sources of lending to Russian companies are being replaced by internal ones. If last year the volume of corporate loans in rubles increased by 9.5 trillion rubles, then since the beginning of this year it has added even more than 13.5 trillion rubles. At the same time, Russia's external debt, which is very important, has decreased by about a third.

Both the government is cutting back, and our leading companies are cutting back: they repay loans on time, and take other actions that make their finances more balanced and healthy.

I will return to what I said at the recent forum "Russia is Calling". In the coming years, both the Government and the Central Bank need to pay more attention to the development of project and equity financing mechanisms. Our banking system and stock market should fully ensure capital inflows to the most important and promising growth points of the Russian economy. Growth points may not be the right word, but you understand what I'm talking about. We need to pay attention to these issues.

Further. In order for domestic businesses to develop new markets, to build more convenient and efficient logistics chains, and, of course, to increase the transport connectivity of the country and our regions, we are building up infrastructure capabilities, expanding the so-called bottlenecks, and increasing the capacity of border checkpoints. Which, by the way, needs to be done in a timely manner.

By the end of this year, it is expected that the total cargo flow of our three key logistics corridors-North-South, railways in the Eastern and Azov-Black Sea directions-will grow by about 10 percent.

Their further development is an absolute priority. Andrey Ramovich [Belousov] and I just talked about this in the morning. It is important how increasing the capacity of the Far Eastern and Arctic seaports and establishing the Northern Sea Route as a global transport artery will affect all our logistics.

Once again, these large-scale projects will provide a powerful positive effect for our economy, for our country as a whole, and for our citizens. They will create a huge space for long-term growth of industries and regions, for many enterprises, labor collectives that are engaged in transport, construction, and related sectors. It will give a good effect for everyone.

We continue our infrastructure development agenda at the regional and municipal levels. As of December 1, 83 percent of the road network in the largest urban agglomerations was brought to standard condition.

I emphasize that the work is going ahead of schedule. I very much hope that we will also reach the target figure earlier than planned, that is, next year, namely, 85 percent of roads in the largest agglomerations should be in a standard state. This is a high bar, not easy, but quite realistic to achieve.

The same high rate should be ensured in the renewal of public transport in the regions. By the end of next year, the average age of this fleet should be reduced due to the arrival of new buses, trolleybuses, trams, and electric buses. This is a good incentive for the industry and a good support for the industry. So far, we have been doing quite well: developing infrastructure and supporting industry.

Modern, safe, eco-friendly transport is an integral part of the life of cities and towns. In their development, we also apply a real-world approach to the project.

Since last year, master plans have been prepared for 22 Far Eastern cities and agglomerations. I know that we still need to calculate, look at, and think about this issue, but in general, we have set benchmarks and we need to strive for these goals, with clear measures and sources of funding, of course. Similar work has been launched in the main settlements of the Arctic zone.

Let me remind you that we have agreed to create a register of best practices for urban development, for creating a comfortable living environment, where every city, village, municipality can find and implement an effective solution that is necessary and useful for citizens.

In addition, he instructed to prepare uniform requirements for the structure and content of the master plan, to fix the term itself in urban planning legislation.

In fact, we are talking about building a holistic system of managing the development of settlements, combining all the mechanisms of support for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in this area, improving the skills of municipal employees, and also using effective control tools, primarily from residents and civil society. We talk about it all the time, too. I ask the Government to carry out this work as soon as possible.

Dear colleagues! We have fully preserved our programs aimed at achieving national development goals. Despite all the difficulties, difficulties, and peculiarities of the current moment, we have preserved everything. Moreover, this year we have provided advanced funding for many areas in order not only to maintain the current pace of transformation, but also to reach the established targets ahead of time, which, by the way, we are doing in the most important areas of development, and to strengthen the country's sovereignty.

At the same time, let me remind you that all our decisions and actions to develop the economy and create new jobs, improve cities and towns, improve the environment, develop health systems, education, culture, and sports are united by the main goal – to save our people, improve the well-being of Russian families, families with children, and of course, first of all, to protect people's health.

In the first 10 months of this year, life expectancy in Russia exceeded the pre-pandemic level.

Mortality is decreasing, including infant mortality. It is now at a historic low.

At the same time, we also know this very well, and we are still unable to reverse the downward trend in the birth rate. Of course, this is primarily affected by objective reasons, the consequences of the demographic pit of the 40s of the last century, during the war, and the pit of the 90s associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But I would like to emphasize once again that saving the people is our priority for generations to come. I repeat, in the course of preparing and implementing the country's long-term development strategy and updated national projects, it is the issues of family support that should be given priority. Such issues should be, as they say, cross-cutting in all our plans and programs.

This year, we have built a unified system of support for citizens in need, families with children, as I have already said. We need to pay close attention to this: we are taking steps in this direction, including helping women-from the pregnancy of the expectant mother to the child reaching the age of 17. Parents of 10.5 million children have already issued such a benefit, and 375 thousand pregnant women also receive it.

The maternity capital program continues to operate.

We will improve and adjust other mechanisms as well. Thus, children's healthcare and housing programs, including family mortgages, are actively developing. Tax deductions are provided for the education and treatment of children.

The coming year 2024 has been declared in Russia, as we know, we did it consciously with you, the Year of the Family. I ask my colleagues from the Government and the regions to carefully consider measures aimed at protecting motherhood and childhood, and strengthening family values.

It is also important to revive the traditions of a large family. As we agreed, we need to establish the status of a large family at the federal level.People are asking for this, this is a fair request and a fair demand, with appropriate benefits and support mechanisms that will be guaranteed, and guaranteed uniformly throughout the country. Such a decision should be made promptly.

Let's move on to the agenda. A word to Andrey Ramovich Belousov. You are welcome.

A. : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear colleagues!

Last December, the President of the Russian Federation set the task of expanding foreign economic cooperation with promising partners from friendly countries and developing the necessary infrastructure for such cooperation, including transport and payment. First, I'll give you a general assessment of the current situation.

Starting in 2022, unfriendly countries are taking consistent steps to create a foreign economic blockade of Russia in order to isolate our country from world markets. This blockade had to be broken, and it was succeeded. This is evidenced primarily by the stabilization of exports. The value of export supplies to the market of friendly countries in 2023 exceeded $ 360 million, an increase of 60 percent in physical terms compared to 2021, including the volume of trade with China reached a historical maximum. By the end of this year, Russian exports to China will reach record levels-more than $ 110 billion, and the total trade turnover between Russia and China – $ 210 billion.

We continue to increase the volume of supplies to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Arab countries. In physical terms, exports to these destinations grew by more than two percent and 36 percent, respectively.

How did you manage to do this? First. The system of support for non-primary non-energy exports, industrial and agricultural goods was quickly rebuilt.

In total, more than 20 thousand entrepreneurs, that is, every fourth exporter, took advantage of such support measures this year. Almost 300 export projects totaling about $ 7 billion have been implemented with the participation of concessional financing.

Other measures include preferential transportation. Almost a thousand exporters took advantage of transport privileges this year, which allowed them to implement export contracts worth almost $ 8 billion. Insurance support for export projects to friendly countries has exceeded $ 10 billion.

An important innovation of the current year was the promotion of Russian brands abroad, including through the project of the Russian Export Center "Made in Russia", in which only this year more than 1.5 thousand Russian manufacturers took part in exhibitions and business missions.

As part of this project, the Russian Export Center is holding the first ever Made in Russia festival and fair in Liaoning Province, China, early next year. More than a thousand Russian products will be presented to visitors in thematic pavilions, and rich cultural and sports programs will be organized. We plan to scale up this experience in the future.

Small entrepreneurs have started actively entering the markets of friendly countries. Almost 2.5 thousand export contracts were signed with the assistance of regional support centers.

In total, more than 60 thousand small entrepreneurs entered foreign markets this year, 1.2 times more than in 2021.

A digital "One Window" system for exporters is being developed. The range of available services has been expanded to 36. The system is already used by about 10 thousand entrepreneurs. As a result, the growth of physical volumes of non-primary non-energy exports in the market of friendly countries amounted to more than 20 percent by 2021, and their share in Russian exports reached 84 percent against 67 percent in 2021.

Second. A reorientation of energy exports was achieved in the market of friendly countries. I would like to point out that restricting the supply of our energy carriers is one of the main goals of the collective West's actions against our country, from including companies and ships in the sanctions lists and introducing a price ceiling to sabotage on Nord Streams.

At the same time, the supply of energy products to some unfriendly countries remains unchanged: liquefied natural gas, pipeline oil and gas, petroleum products, and coal. But in general, the volume of deliveries to unfriendly countries decreased by 3.5 times compared to 2021, including 4.5 times to the European Union.

All the levers and tools were used to restructure the main supply lines for oil and petroleum products, and to a lesser extent for gas – the situation here is more sluggish. Today we can state that the most acute problems of the past year have been solved in general. This applies, first of all, to payments and cargo insurance. Secondly, providing sea transportation of hydrocarbons by tanker fleet.

As a result, crude oil exports are 7 percent higher than in 2021 and amount to about 250 million tons. In monetary terms, Russian energy exports have almost reached the level of 2021 and remain at a comfortable level for the budget and companies.

The third direction is to provide the Russian market with the necessary goods and resources for import. Restricting the flow of imported goods to Russia was also one of the goals of destabilizing the socio-economic situation in our country. Given that in 2021, unfriendly countries accounted for about 50 percent of all imports, this was extremely dangerous. But already in 2022, the share of imports from unfriendly countries fell to 35 percent, and in 2023 - to 29 percent. At the same time, the total volume of imports has already exceeded the figures for 2021: it has grown to about $ 300 billion.

How did you manage to do this? The parallel import mechanism is running. Thanks to this, the country imported necessary goods worth more than $ 70 billion in two years. Import equipment that has no Russian analogues has been exempted from VAT. Due to this, over two years, Russian companies received benefits totaling almost 105 billion rubles.

A batch of import customs duties was set to zero, which allowed businesses to save more than 130 billion rubles. Among other things, import duty benefits have been introduced for investment projects. The amount of benefits provided is already estimated at 1 billion rubles.

There is a program to support priority imports, which have already been granted preferential loans in the amount of 400 billion rubles. As a result, the task of ensuring the supply of goods necessary for Russian enterprises and consumers is generally solved. The share of partners from friendly countries in total imports increased to 70 percent.

Fourth – ensuring a radical restructuring of export cargo flows to enter the markets of friendly countries. Systematic work has been launched on priority international transport corridors based on road maps approved by the Government in December last year. We review the progress of their implementation regularly-twice a month at the headquarters for transport and logistics corridors. In total, more than 550 million tons of cargo will be transported through them this year, which is 17 percent more than in 2021. Including more than 300 million tons along the Eastern Corridor – 11 percent higher than in 2021, about 220 million tons along the Azov-Black Sea Corridor-24 percent more than in 2021, and 19 million tons along the North – South corridor – 38 percent more than in 2021.

The main priority is the Eastern Corridor. The Russian Railways company is doing, I will not be afraid of this word, titanic work to expand the carrying capacity and total volume of traffic. This year we have reached the figure of 173 million tons of transportation capacity, and next year we will reach the 180 million tons indicated in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

New specialized transport and logistics centers and auxiliary rear platforms have been deployed. As a result, by the end of the year, record figures for container transportation by rail will be achieved – 7.5 million TEU. This is 15 percent more than in 2021.

The problem of queues at checkpoints, especially at the borders of friendly countries, was systematically solved – their capacity was increased by 1.5 times. Work has been launched to modernize roads within the framework of international corridors.

Construction of the Krasnodar and Aksai road bypasses has been completed, construction of the Khasavyurt bypass has begun, and the process of upgrading the infrastructure of seaports-Novorossiysk, Taman, Tuapse - and inland waterways – on the Volga and Don-included in international transport corridors has been launched.

In the southern direction, dredging operations have been completed on the Volga-Caspian Shipping Channel and in the seaport of Makhachkala. This makes it possible to operate vessels with a draft of up to four meters in this basin.

Regular railway service has been launched along the eastern route of the North-South corridor through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.

It is worth noting that all the plans outlined today are generally being implemented. We expect that by 2030 we will be able to reach the volume of cargo transportation along these transport corridors of almost 670 million tons per year, which is one and a half times higher than in 2021.

The fifth direction is the formation of a new payment infrastructure. The unfriendly actions of the United States of America and its allies stimulated an accelerated transition to foreign trade settlements in national currencies.

In 2023, the total share of the ruble and the national currencies of friendly countries in payments for the export and import of goods and services will be 65 percent. For comparison, in 2021, it was only 22 percent.

What was done? First, correspondent relations with foreign credit institutions were dramatically expanded. The number of Russian banks that have accounts with friendly countries has almost doubled over the past two years, and the total number of such correspondent accounts has increased almost one and a half times in two years and exceeded two thousand.

Secondly, settlements between countries have been established using financial information exchange channels other than SWIFT, primarily through the Bank of Russia's financial message transmission system. To date, 150 non-residents from 16 countries are users of the system.

Third, to facilitate payments in national currencies, the exchange has launched trading in 10 currencies of friendly countries.

Fourth, digital assets are beginning to be actively used in foreign trade settlements. In the future, bilateral payments will be made using the digital ruble and other central bank banking currencies. The Bank of Russia is actively moving forward in the implementation of this project.

Fifth, an important element of the settlement infrastructure is to ensure that payment cards of the Mir system are accepted abroad. Today, Mir cards are accepted in 10 countries, and negotiations are underway with a number of other countries to organize their acceptance.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Preliminary results of the year suggest that the Russian economy as a whole has adapted to the sanctions pressure. By building effective cooperation with partners from friendly countries and promptly developing the necessary tools to support Russian entrepreneurs, we managed to preserve the country's export potential and provide the population and enterprises with the necessary goods and resources.

In general, it can be noted that the Russian economy has found a balance point between exports and imports. This is evidenced by the stabilization of the exchange rate in the region of 90 rubles per dollar, which is acceptable both from the point of view of exports, and from the point of view of the country's consumer and investment markets. The work done makes it possible to move from the operational solution of current tasks to the strategic agenda.

In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, we are finalizing the Strategy for the Development of Foreign Economic Activity of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030.

The Strategy aims to position Russia as one of the leaders of a multipolar world that implements its own national development agenda and ensures its economic, financial and technological sovereignty. The implementation of the Strategy should ensure a stable foothold in new markets for the full realization of Russia's foreign economic potential, form a network of partnerships with friendly countries, ensure technological cooperation in order to modernize the industrial and technological base, and form an effective multilateral infrastructure to support foreign economic relations.

The draft Strategy was reviewed last week at a strategic session hosted by Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the established deadlines, the Strategy will be approved by March 1, 2024.

Thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. Such a thorough report. Now colleagues in their respective areas will speak out.

I want to say this. We are engaged in a very important task, but there are no less important things. For example, all of you participated in the "Christmas Tree of Wishes" campaign and accompany your wards. Ksenia Mazneva from St. Petersburg wanted to try herself as a news anchor. I need to go away for a few minutes and check in on how things are going.

Since you are all in your workrooms, you will have time to either wash your hands or drink a cup of coffee. I apologize and thank you for your understanding. I'll see you soon." Thank you very much. We'll take a break for about ten minutes.

(The Presidentspokeon the phone with Ksenia Mazneva.)

Dear colleagues, we will continue.

Please, Denis Manturov.

Hello to all of you from Ksenia. She will be a journalist and will cover your work in the future. I promised to do it objectively.

Dmitry : Good.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Mr President, the task you have set for achieving technological sovereignty is a cross-cutting one for the entire industry. For its implementation, we use all the required system-wide measures. I am referring to subsidies for R & D, loans from the Industrial Development Fund, and preferences for special investment contracts. These mechanisms have provided a total of RUB 450 billion in investment this year.

At the same time, the large-scale projects of the technical authority required additional state support, which you, Mr Putin, approved, including the allocation of funds to the National Welfare Fund, a cluster investment platform, and an industrial mortgage, which will provide a total investment of another 1.2 trillion rubles this year.

In combination with the activities of other state programs, including SZPK and Project Finance Factories, this amounts to more than two trillion rubles.

Additional investments in fixed assets were stimulated at the expense of the state leverage. For the manufacturing industry, they grew by 12 percent in the first nine months compared to the same period last year. Moreover, most of them are directed to the most knowledge-intensive industrial sectors. They are crucial for the development of the economy and are identified by the Government in 10 areas of technological sovereignty that have already been approved. Four of them are focused on the development of the transport sector.

Thanks to the comprehensive support of the aviation and shipbuilding industries, including from the National Welfare Fund, we want to achieve unprecedented independence in these industries for the world practice. In particular, in the next two years we will replace imported components and assemblies in the line of medium-haul Tu-214, Superjet and MS-21 aircraft. We are also actively working on regional aircraft such as Ladoga and Baikal, as well as on helicopter technology. This will ensure greater mobility of our citizens in hard-to-reach regions of the country.

The industry that is closely related to the aircraft industry, which we will take to a new level, is unmanned aircraft systems. We already have more than 40 tested models with different payloads and applications. We will scale the civilian drone segment by improving our airspace control systems, while simultaneously reducing flight restrictions, supporting demand, and achieving localization of components and engines.

I would like to note that Russia is one of the five countries in the world that can make gas turbine power plants in a complex. We are increasing the production of such engines for both combat and civil aviation, including transport.

At the same time, the competencies acquired in aircraft engines also allowed us to implement the project of creating high-power ground-based installations. At the beginning of next year, a landmark event will be the launch in the Krasnodar Territory of the first serial gas turbine unit GTD-110M, which is 110 megawatts.

In the same vein, we will have to quickly master a wide range of diesel and gas-piston engines. Loans from the Industrial Development Fund for 30 billion rubles have already been approved for their development and production. The main finishers – Transmashholding and Sinara Group-are expected to start producing about 800 medium-speed and 400 high-speed diesel and gas-piston engines annually by 2027.

They are in demand by nuclear and small-scale power enterprises, and will also be installed on shunting and mainline diesel locomotives, as well as on sea vessels.

Our shipyards have also taken a big step forward in the development of shipbuilding. Major projects of cruise liners and hydrofoils that we have not built for more than 30 years have been recreated. The production of catamarans and electric river buses for tourist and recreational routes has been mastered from scratch. Through the allocation of NWF funds for preferential leasing, we expect to build more than 260 civil vessels for various purposes by 2027. With this in mind, work has been launched on import substitution of ship equipment.

Thanks to your decision to co-finance this direction, Mr Putin, the industry will master the mass production of components and assemblies, which are extremely important to produce in our country. First of all, elements of the propulsion and steering complex, specialized deck and fishing equipment. This will allow us to achieve a higher level of localization in the construction of new vessels.

We perform a similar task for the fuel and energy complex in the liquefied natural gas segment. Our machine builders, with the participation of oil and gas companies, have created samples for the liquefied natural gas segment, and a specially created stand in St. Petersburg allows us to test all this equipment.

The most complex technology of large-capacity liquefaction for this niche has already been developed. Of course, Mr Putin, you know how unique the project for the construction of floating plants in Belokamenka is, which you yourself started to launch the first LNG line. At this production facility, we have already localized more than 75 percent of the construction of gravity bases. Now we are achieving the same level for the most difficult one – the upper superstructure of floating factories.

In addition to the transport and energy sectors, as well as the engine industry, we place special emphasis on projects of technological sovereignty in system-wide industries. According to your decision, Vladimir Vladimirovich, the Government has allocated substantial amounts of state support for electronics. Large-scale projects for the construction of factories on modern topologies are being implemented here, including the creation of a sub-branch of electronic engineering as the main element of the means of production.

In order to develop this broad direction, we have also updated the federal project on machine tool construction. With the support of Mikhail Vladimirovich [Mishustin], we have planned an unprecedented state funding of almost 130 billion rubles for the industry over the next three years.

In general, within the framework of the federal project, we expect to create and modernize more than 70 enterprises by 2030. This will make it possible to produce more than 170 thousand machines and machining centers and significantly increase the level of robotization of domestic production.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, in your opening speech, you focused on robotization. I would like to say that in the federal project that I have just mentioned, we have specifically provided for separate support measures and funds for this area. In particular, one of the significant support measures will be compensation for discounts on the supply of robotic products in the amount of up to 30 percent for each product.

To date, we have about seven manufacturers in Russia, and the volume for this year is planned [in the amount of] about 100 units of production, but the enterprises have more opportunities – they can produce up to 400 units. Therefore, we are counting on this measure of support, taking into account another decision supported by the Government-this is a profit tax benefit that will come into force at the beginning of next year. In addition, you gave instructions to issue directives for companies with state participation, for state-owned companies to actively purchase these products… I am sure that by 2030, the current figures (10 units per 10,000 people) should be increased at least fivefold. I am sure that the indicators will actually be higher.

Finally, we have initiated another project of technological sovereignty in the chemical industry. Its products are used by more than a dozen industries. At the same time, unfortunately, we still have a fairly high level of dependence on imports for many substances. We want to resume production of about 500 products, starting with basic chains for the development of the low - and medium-tonnage segment, in particular raw materials. We involve scientific organizations in developing the production of substances that are needed in minimal quantities. Using the budget funds, we will encourage investment in the creation of about 150 new production facilities, which should increase the contribution of the chemical industry to GDP from 7 to 10 trillion rubles.

In addition to these projects, we are working with our colleagues on a number of other important areas. Together, this should ensure increased domestic demand for various sectors of the economy and strengthen our technological sovereignty.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I have finished my report. Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

You have mentioned several times the use of NWF funds. Anton Germanovich, how do you assess our overall financial sovereignty situation? How do we deal with our finances? Using the NWF: we have discussed this many times. How do you assess the reliability, stability and sustainability of the system?

You are welcome.

A. Siluanov : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Indeed, you have set the task of ensuring financial sovereignty. Financial sovereignty is primarily about macroeconomic stability, stability and sustainability of financial markets.

If we are talking about macroeconomic stability, then first of all it is, of course, the budget, budget balance and the ability of the budget to implement all the planned plans and decisions that are made by the state – regardless of external factors and external influences.

These are the principles that we have set out in the budget for the next three years. I would like to say that the budget is stable, the budget provides for a minimum deficit size, it is less than one percent of gross domestic product, and starting from 2025 it provides for a balance of income and expenses without taking into account interest payments.The so – called primary balance is an important indicator of budget sustainability and budget structure.

It is also important that we take into account the budget rule, which provides for the fulfillment of our obligations at an oil price of $ 60 per barrel. At the same time, we understand that, despite the volatility of prices in one direction or another, all budget obligations-whether due to changes in commodity price indicators or due to restrictions that are being introduced, and we see that this process has not stopped recently - all our obligations will be fulfilled. completed. This is exactly the principle laid down in the budget.

And you just asked a question about the National Welfare Fund. Indeed, the National Welfare Fund is our financial reserve, a resource that we have been building up over the past years. The total amount of funds that are currently in the National Welfare Fund is almost 12 trillion rubles, to be precise – 11.8 trillion rubles. And the available resources that are not invested in projects amount to almost five trillion rubles, to be exact, then 4.7 trillion rubles. This is the resource that allows us to have a margin of safety in addition to the budget structure in case, I repeat again, restrictions and sanctions that are being introduced or may be introduced. Nevertheless, we are financially secured to meet our obligations.

In order to ensure financial sovereignty, a stable financial market is also necessary: so that the financial market forms and generates the necessary resources for economic development, for investment, so that they can be invested in development. Of course, the development of the financial market should ensure uninterrupted payments in the economy.

What is being done and what do we plan to do in this direction?

First of all, we plan to use those savings of citizens that are still either in the hands of the population or do not participate in active investment programs. And such savings of citizens – more than 40 trillion rubles. A good resource, and this resource can both bring income to citizens – and first of all, it should work for citizens ' incomes-and be used as a source for economic development.

So this is what is proposed to be done. Starting next year, we will launch a long-term savings program for citizens. To do this, people will need to apply to non-state pension funds, open an account and agree on the transfer of part of the income for long-term savings.

The state has created the necessary incentives – co-financing. We provide for co-financing in the amount of 36 thousand rubles a year from the budget, as well as the necessary tax incentives.

For those citizens who see themselves more actively as an investor, it is proposed to use the institute of individual investment accounts. Starting next year, we will also use innovations in this mechanism. The following plan has been updated: we offer a new tool for investing for a longer period of time – this is a period of more than five years.

If this institution is of interest to citizens, then, accordingly, they can receive a tax deduction of up to 52 thousand rubles per year when depositing money to an investment account of more than 400 thousand rubles, as well as receive tax preferences when paying personal income tax. The new tool will start working next year.

Insurance – we also pay attention to this. We have prepared the necessary legislative decisions on shared life insurance. An innovation that will start working in 2025. Now the State Duma has adopted the necessary legislation, and the Federation Council will review it before the end of the year, and this tool will work: in addition to accumulating funds, it will also be possible to provide insurance opportunities. I think that this tool will also be popular with our people.

Therefore, these three innovations will be used, and we will be able to attract additional resources, provide good returns, reliable returns, and, accordingly, use this money in the economy.

Now the issue of reliability and trust in the financial market is also an important task for us. To do this, we have prepared and implemented the necessary measures to insure investments in new instruments. They will be applied in the same way as for insurance of citizens ' deposits in a bank, but – as we have already reported – the amount of such insurance will be twice as high as in deposits in banks.

To invest consciously, you need to understand which companies [to invest in], what financial performance these companies achieve, so the Government has required companies to disclose the necessary information – with the exception of sensitive ones. Therefore, now our investors and citizens can view and decide on the parameters of such an investment, having all the necessary financial information about the work of these companies.

We see that Western countries have blocked the investments of our citizens and companies that were invested in foreign securities in Western financial markets. To date, the number of affected Russian citizens has reached 3.6 million people.

A mechanism for returning blocked assets has been developed to protect our people. It will also start working next year. This is our task-to help people who have blocked money in foreign assets. We hope that about 2.5 million people out of 3.6 million will be able to receive and return their investments. You have approved the relevant decisions. This mechanism will be fully launched starting next year.

In order to protect our investors, Eurobonds issued by companies are also replaced. We see that 12 companies have exchanged foreign securities for Russian bonds. The volume of such exchange amounted to 17 billion US dollars. Why is this done? Our investors, who previously invested in foreign securities, received our reliable Russian bonds, which no one will block, and payments on interest and debt are carried out according to the old conditions under which they invested. This is also one of the elements of confidence of our investors in the actions carried out by the Government and the country's leadership.

The independence of the financial system is ensured by uninterrupted payments, which are provided by its own payment system and financial message transmission system. The Central Bank has made the necessary decisions that allow our people and investors not to feel all the restrictions that were imposed on our country in terms of the settlement systems that we had in place.

Another task is to resume the flow of foreign investors to our financial market. Foreigners have left – the share of foreigners was about a third in our financial market-but we are now creating conditions for all those new investments to be absolutely reliable. The necessary decisions have been prepared to remove restrictions on the withdrawal of funds from foreign jurisdictions by foreign investors that are invested in the Russian financial market. How many investments will be attracted from foreign jurisdictions – so much can be withdrawn from our market. Since our financial market is profitable and reliable, we are confident that this measure will also work.

The mechanism for remote identification of foreign investors has also been launched. What does it mean? You don't need to come to Russia – you can register in a foreign jurisdiction, identify yourself remotely, and start working in the Russian financial market.

Work continues on the creation of so-called inter-depository bridges with friendly countries. Why is this done? In order to keep track of investments in securities without using Western infrastructures, such as Euroclear, which has suspended work with our country. Actions on so-called inter-deposit bridges will allow us to work in the financial market outside of unfriendly infrastructures.

During our BRICS presidency next year, we will work on the introduction of digital financial assets for international settlements. We are actively working together with the Bank of Russia on this issue.

What parameters of the financial market do we plan to achieve?

We expect that the capitalization of the financial market in 2024 will be about 37-39 percent of gross domestic product – which is one and a half times higher than the level of 2022. And by 2030, this figure will be from 50 to 60 percent. The share of the stock market in the volume of investment, which is important, will increase somewhere from 5-7 percent of GDP to 11-12 percent by 2030.

This is an important task, because today the main source of investment is the profit of companies. We set a task, and the Government sets a task for us, to increase the share of attraction from the financial market as a source for our own investment resources.

As a result of our work on financial sovereignty, we see the following. These include building sustainable budget structures, fulfilling all commitments made regardless of external impacts on our country, and implementing an independent financial policy based on our own infrastructure and financial resources, so that Russian savings form a stable base for investment, economic development, and job creation. And, most importantly, this is to increase the income of our people.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Tatyana Alekseevna, please call your line.

T. : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear colleagues!

Good afternoon.

The Government is constantly working to improve the welfare of citizens, ensure national savings, protect motherhood and childhood, and support families with children.

In solving the problem of improving the well-being of citizens, of course, the key components are labor income and employment.

According to preliminary data from Rosstat, for 10 months of 2023, nominal wages in the whole country increased by 13.7 percent compared to the same period last year, and in real terms – by 7.7 percent and amounted to 70.7 thousand rubles.

As we say, in 2023, an additional 410 billion rubles were allocated from the budget to the budget systems in order to maintain the necessary levels set by you, of which 224 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget and the budget of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund. The Government is monitoring the implementation of Decree No. 597 on an ongoing basis.

We also continue activities aimed at supporting the labor market and employment. Various forms of employment cover more than 93 thousand unemployed citizens and citizens who are at risk of dismissal. Since the beginning of the year, state support to employers in order to stimulate employment has allowed 50 thousand people to be employed, of which 98% are young people under the age of 30.

The training of our citizens has also been continued. As of December 15, 172 thousand people have completed their training, and 65 percent are employed during the training period or after its completion.

As a result, as we have repeatedly said, the record low rate of unemployment, which already, according to the data of November this year, is 2.9 percent, it has not changed compared to October.

On your instructions, Mr President, we have prepared the first version of the forecast of the need for labor resources, this forecast is made for the main types of economic activity. Mikhail Vladimirovich held a relevant strategic session and gave instructions to rethink the approaches to the education system of both secondary special education, general education, and higher education, so that the training of personnel meets the needs of the labor market and the challenges of technological sovereignty that the country faces today. Of course, we will report on this work to you as well.

We continue our targeted work with the low-income population. You have already mentioned the single benefit and its indicators for the current time period.

I would like to mention additional measures that are also being implemented on your instructions.

Starting from January 1, 2023, families whose income does not exceed the subsistence minimum will be able to receive a monthly payment for any of their children under the age of three in the amount of the subsistence minimum per child from the maternity capital. This norm in 2023 is currently used by 402 thousand families.

Our social contract is being translated into the principles of the social treasury, and from January 1, 2024, it will be possible to conclude it by submitting an application on the public services portal and with a minimum number of documents.

Currently, the social contract is concluded with 229 thousand people, and taking into account family members, it covers more than 671 thousand. We have repeatedly evaluated this tool both with colleagues from the regions and from the Accounts Chamber. I want to say that this tool is effective. More than 70 percent of recipients increase their income, and 30 percent end up in poverty.

As a result of targeted work with low-income groups of the population in the third quarter, income growth in nominal terms among citizens with the lowest incomes averaged 108.5 percent. If we translate this into the number of people, then 1.1 million of our citizens have come out of poverty.

Starting from 2024, we have already decided to increase the maximum amount of temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth benefits paid from mandatory social insurance, and monthly child care benefits, the amount of which depends on the insured person's earnings.

In 2024, the amount of such benefits will increase almost 1.5 times, and from 2025-more than twice. This is due to an increase in the payroll tax base, which we adopted not so long ago.

According to preliminary estimates of Rosstat, in the first 10 months of this year, the real monetary income of the population increased by 3.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the third quarter, you already mentioned this, but you spoke about preliminary estimates for the year, but I want to say that in the third quarter of this year, the poverty rate is 0.3 points lower than in the same period last year. And now, such quarterly monitoring allows us to conclude that our plans to achieve the poverty indicators that were set and approved by you will be implemented and work on achieving more ambitious poverty reduction indicators will continue.

Starting from January 1, 2024, the State Information System "Unified Centralized Digital Platform in the Social Sphere" will start operating a register of citizens in need. This will allow us to monitor more quickly the income dynamics of low-income groups of the population in order to identify potential recipients of additional support, increase its targeting, and improve approaches to its implementation.

Now in the part of the block on ensuring national savings, protecting motherhood and childhood, and supporting families with children. I would like to say that since the introduction of maternity capital, which you decided on back in 2007, we have already issued 13.7 million certificates of maternity (family) capital. In 2023, this is almost 879 thousand certificates. I would like to say that this has become the most effective and most significant measure of family support during the entire observation period.

On your instructions, Mr President, we have taken a decision, and you have signed the relevant laws and a decree, to preserve the right to receive a monthly child care allowance for working citizens who simultaneously take care of children under the age of one and a half years, and for parents and guardians who take care of a disabled child, the right is established to receive compensation for child care if the child is working part-time.

Preferential mortgage and housing programs are also continuing. For 11 months of 2023, about 393 thousand young families improved their housing conditions with the help of preferential mortgages – this is 63 percent more than in the same period last year, and about 180 thousand large families as mortgage borrowers received payments of 450 thousand rubles to repay the mortgage.

You mentioned this on Direct Line – the family mortgage expires in the middle of next year. And here are these payments of 450 thousand [rubles] - for its repayment at the birth of the third and subsequent children. And given their high social demand, we are currently working on extending them on your behalf, and at the same time we plan to further evaluate the effectiveness of the current model of family mortgages and payments of 450 thousand [rubles] in terms of its impact on the birth rate, and, if necessary, make proposals to change the terms of granting.

Short-stay groups and mother-and-child rooms are being opened in universities and colleges to support student families. I also want to say that when creating new university campuses, the need for such rooms – family-type rooms for young families-is taken into account.

We also develop medical assistance in pregnancy planning. From 2017 to 2022, the number of IVF cycles at the expense of the basic compulsory health insurance program increased by 47.3 percent, and in 2022 and the past period of 2023, more than 19 thousand children were born using IVF.

In all regions, more than 600 departments and offices for pregnant women who find themselves in a difficult life situation provide legal, psychological, and medical and social assistance to women who are in a situation of reproductive choice. In 2022 and for the first nine months of 2023, almost 435 thousand women were consulted and more than 98 thousand were taken under pregnancy monitoring. This is a very important potential for preservation and subsequent birth. We will continue this work.

Since July 2023, regional programs to increase the birth rate are being implemented, which should take into account regional specifics. And I want to say that the regions, when adopting their programs, have provided for more than 3,600 events, of which 700 are new ones. We are monitoring these programs on your behalf, and the most successful measures will be distributed to the entire territory of the Russian Federation.

Also, on your instructions, starting from September 1, 2023, we are implementing a pilot project to increase the birth rate in three regions: the Novgorod Region, Tambov and Penza regions. Appropriate sets of measures to respond to the birth rate have been adopted in these regions. Starting from January 1, 2024, we will provide a small amount of financial support for these sets of events. Based on the results of the" pilot", which should be completed in 2024, we will identify the activities that have shown their effectiveness, and formulate proposals for possible revision of existing ones.

As for the reduction of mortality rates, there is an absolute emphasis on improving the availability of medical care, expanding prevention, combating cardiovascular and oncological diseases, and developing children's health care. During the entire period of implementation of the primary health care modernization program, about 10 thousand healthcare facilities were covered. Infrastructure improvements have taken place in every sixth primary care facility, and by the end of 2025 there will be more than 20 thousand such facilities, that is, every third.

The continuation of primary care modernization programs following the results and beyond 2025, as you instructed at the Direct Line, will allow minimizing the number of damaged buildings to the minimum figures of 1.1 percent and reduce the share of obsolete equipment to 12.1 percent, since this equipment is constantly worn out and needs to be replaced.

In addition, we will continue to solve the problem of putting in order and improving the quality of work of women's clinics, maternity wards and hospitals, and children's polyclinics, according to your instructions given on the "Direct Line".

As part of the project to combat cardiovascular diseases, we have re-equipped 595 regional vascular departments and primary vascular departments.

Starting from 2020, we will provide free medical care for patients with cardiovascular diseases with a high risk of complications. Over the entire period, 1.8 million of our citizens received such treatment. In 2023, for ten months, – 776 thousand.

I speak about these figures from the point of view that they have allowed us to save 21,000 lives over the past 10 months.

Since 2019, the opening of 510 outpatient cancer care centers and updating the material and technical base of the cancer service have allowed us to increase the detection rate of cancer in the early stages to 60.3 percent. This is 2.9 percentage points higher than in 2019. As a result, the five-year survival rate of patients with cancer increased by 3.4 percentage points compared to 2019 and amounted to 58.7 percent. These are very important indicators for describing the work of an oncological service.

Of course, special attention should be paid to prevention. For 11 months of 2023, 77.5 million of our citizens were covered by preventive examinations and medical examinations. This is 1.4 times higher than the same indicators of the previous year.

What does this give us? Compared to last year, the detection rate increased: malignant neoplasms – by 1.7 times, including primary-by 5.7 percent, cardiovascular diseases-by 1.4 times, and type 2 diabetes mellitus-by 1.8 times. All this allows you to provide timely medical care.

Of course, there is still a high coverage of children with preventive medical examinations. In 11 months, this is almost 89 percent of children under 17 years of age. According to the results of examinations, 1.3 million children were sent for further examination, 1.2 million children have already passed this additional examination.

As a result, for the first ten months of 2023, this is the latest data, as you said, infant mortality is at a historically low level – it is 4.1 ppm. Overall mortality decreased by 9.8 percent compared to 2019, the pre-epidemic year, and life expectancy, according to preliminary data, for 11 months was 73.5 years.

In short, in addition to financial and medical support measures for families with children, conditions are being created for the early development of children. Schools and colleges are introducing new methods of teaching and upbringing and educational technologies, and the infrastructure is being updated. Since 2019, about 1.7 thousand kindergartens have been built. The availability of pre-school education for children aged one and a half to three years is close to 99 percent. More than 1.2 million places of additional education have been created. Starting from September 1, 2023, the federal budget will provide 100% coverage of free hot meals for primary school students. 67 billion rubles are spent on this every year, taking into account indexation. Since 2019, 1,527 children's art schools and music colleges have been equipped with musical instruments, equipment and educational materials. 716 buildings were completely renovated and reconstructed. We will continue this work.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, you said at the beginning of your speech that you have declared 2024 the Year of the Family, and, of course, a large multi-generational family should become the norm, a way of life for all Russians. A positive attitude towards a large family, encouraging employees with family responsibilities and children should be widely implemented and supported not only at the state and municipal levels, but also in the corporate sector, advertising communications, sports, tourism, and public spaces, and a family-friendly environment should be created. I would like to say that in accordance with your instructions, we discussed and came to a clear understanding of the criteria for a large family in the Russian Federation – three children or more. We are currently finalizing measures to support large families in accordance with your instructions, and you will be informed about this in the near future.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Tatyana Alekseevna, will we reach the target salary indicators for the specified categories of state employees this year?

Tatyana Golikova: Mr President, we are doing our best.

There is a small problem here in planning in what sense? On the one hand, we are seeing positive wage growth. I have already said that over the past 10 months, we have seen nominal growth of 13.7 [percent], while we planned for budgets of 8.7 percent. So, of course, this gap forces us to catch up with the wage growth rate all the time in order to meet the requirements of the 597th decree that you have set.

I have already mentioned measures to support 410 billion rubles, of which 224 [billion rubles] are the federal budget and the budget of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund. Now we have data on achieving the indicators of the 597th decree only for nine months. But on the basis of operational monitoring in the fourth quarter, together with the Ministry of Finance, we have already allocated an additional 70 billion rubles. They are included in the amount I mentioned. We continue this monitoring together with the Ministry of Finance.

But I want to draw the attention of my colleagues from the regions as well. There are free balances of funds in the regions, and they, like us, should carry out this monitoring and monitor the implementation of indicators.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: All right. Thank you very much.

I ask you to pay close attention to this and do everything possible to reach these indicators.

Marat Shakirzyanovich, we are in constant contact with you regarding the development of infrastructure. In general, I understand and know what is happening there, and the entire Government is working on it and helping you. Nevertheless, I would like you to tell us very briefly about the main parameters of infrastructure development. We are really working ahead of schedule, and everything is working out, thank God. But still, please say a few words.

M. Khusnullin : Vladimir Vladimirovich, thanks to your systematic support, the construction industry has been showing positive dynamics over the past few years, despite the pandemic and the sanctions.

In 2020-2022, the volume of construction work increased by 4.9 percent, and in the first ten months of this year, it has already increased by more than eight percent. Such rates allow us to meet and exceed the established indicators of the national development goal "Comfortable and safe living environment".

At a meeting of the council last December, you instructed us to focus on the rapid development of infrastructure. I can say that today we already see more than 105 million square meters of housing – people just go en masse to register housing, of which 51 million will be multi-apartment [housing]. And, of course, social gasification has a very strong impact: people register their newly built housing by the tens or thousands every day.

We have a huge increase in the mortgage portfolio this year – by more than four trillion rubles. Here I want to say that two million loans were issued for 7.8 trillion rubles, which is one and a half times more than in 2022. This has improved the living conditions of almost four million residents – more than last year.

We are actively engaged in the integrated development of territories. Thanks to the legislation, this process is gaining a very good pace. We have resettled almost 152 thousand citizens from 2.5 million square meters. Since 2019, 611 thousand citizens have moved to new, comfortable housing out of 10.5 million dilapidated housing. 16 regions have completed the program, 34 are planning to do so by the end of the year. We will almost complete the restoration of the rights of defrauded shareholders under federal obligations by the end of the year.

The urban environment has grown by 17 percent, 65 thousand courtyards and public spaces have been improved. Residents are actively participating: 14 million residents voted this year.

The infrastructure menu mechanism, which was launched thanks to your participation, allows us to use 190 billion rubles for advanced financing this year, 180 billion for treasury loans, and 50 billion for the development of infrastructure bonds next year.

We are implementing a large program worth 4.5 trillion rubles to renew and restore municipal infrastructure until 2030, and work has already been done in 65 regions.

Mr Putin, I won't talk about road construction – I won't repeat myself today. We exceed all indicators of national projects ahead of schedule. This is the most recognizable, most perceived national project by the population. "Safe high-quality roads" – 52 percent, agglomerations-83 percent. We will definitely finish next year.

Andrey Removich [Belousov] has already said in sufficient detail about the comprehensive modernization of infrastructure that all plans will be exceeded.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we are actively working in new regions: eight federal customers, 208 contractors, 82 regional bosses, 16 thousand objects have been restored, 53 houses have been built, and residents have received more than four thousand apartments. As of today, more than two thousand kilometers of roads in the new territories have been repaired. A free economic zone is being created, we have launched a highway along the Azov Sea, we are reconstructing it and making it better and better.

32 federal laws have been adopted: we are reducing the investment and construction cycle from 989 to 594 positions, from 1,574 days to 1,300 days.

We have moved from the FAIP [federal targeted investment program] to a comprehensive construction program. We reported to Mikhail Vladimirovich [Mishustin] at the session on our Development Strategy until 2030 with a view to 2036. This program will allow us to increase the provision of housing for citizens by 20 percent by 2030 – up to 33 square meters per person. 36 million families will improve their housing conditions, 30 percent of the population will improve the quality of housing and communal services, 100 million people will be provided with high-quality roads.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, all issues have been resolved on your part. Despite the most difficult financial year, we still managed to balance the three - and five-year budgets. Thanks to this, even with a small reduction, but in a basic way, thanks to this three-year, five-year program, all plans are being fulfilled and exceeded.

Thank you so much. I finished my report.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Last year, 102.7 million square meters of housing were put into operation, and this year – 105 million. That's a record, right?

Mikhail Khusnullin: Yes, Mr Putin. And every day there is an influx – we don't even know what to do already: every day there is registration – residents rent out, rent out housing. By the end of the year, it seems to me that we will have left significantly for 105 million – somewhere 107-108. The regions all report on increased housing delivery.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, we have agreed with the Federal Registration Service that housing is automatically registered within three days. We don't even know how many applications people submit for registration. We sent two documents and received a certificate of ownership two days later. We can only rejoice at these processes. Of course, social gasification gave up to 500 thousand households a plus this year – this is a huge work of Gazprom.

Vladimir Putin: Industrial construction, municipal infrastructure, road construction, all other types of construction projects and, of course, the introduction of housing – all this shows that the country's construction industry has gained very good momentum, is operating steadily, reliably and shows good potential.

We know that there are also issues that require additional attention and solutions. I won't go into details now, but we have a lot of problems to work on, a lot of them, and with such a large volume of them, there are many things to work on in the social sphere, in the economy, and in finance, improving the stability of the financial system and balance in other areas.

But in general, the situation is satisfactory. We have achieved targets in almost all areas that we consider and have named as priorities and most important in terms of ensuring sustainable development of the country and improving people's well-being.

Of course, I want to repeat this once again: the more we do, the more horizons open up for what needs to be done. This is absolutely obvious, and it is such a general law – you can't get away from it. We just need to be happy that we have new tasks.

Citizens of the country, of course, expect from us, as I have already said many times, results not on paper, but expect from us a result that they themselves would feel at the level, at the quality of their lives, and in a daily, everyday mode. I think that the pace of the Government's work shows that we are able to meet all these challenges.

I would like to thank you for this work and express my hope that we will continue to work at the same pace, including – I want to finish here – on issues that require our additional attention.

Thank you very much.

Yes, lots of information. Russia still has a poverty problem and somewhat related social ills particularly with alcoholism and heroin addiction. Russia’s approach to those problems is unique as it sees them as societal problems, not individual problems; so, the way to a cure is to improve the overall socio-economic situation that prevent people from getting into situations where they see respite in the form of drugs and/or alcohol. I’m interested in seeing how Russia’s combat vets reintegrate into civilian life.

As mentioned, there are several other meetings on the topic of development that still need to be provided. The portion on railroads was just that, and there’s another on Arctic development. Most every major sector where development is planned has its own long term planning document, which are always in Russian and pdf or doc format. They are very detailed and usually from 40-50 pages. Compared to Soviet times, Russia is being very open about its plans and how it means to accomplish its goals. It would behoove the West to quite trying to block progress and pull up their own boots, except those behind the curtain don’t want to earn money anymore in the sense that something useful and material is produced, and they prefer financial tools instead that aim at indebting people and generate monopoly rents.

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