Meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights

Yes, another long read.

The Meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights was done via video with 44 total attendees not counting Putin. The roster is important:

Members of the Board:

Valery Fadeyev, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights

Irina Kirkora – Director of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Author's Center "World of the Family", Deputy Chairman of the Council, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Social and Cultural Rights

Alexander Tochenov, President of the Center for Applied Research and Programs, Executive Secretary of the Council

Lev Ambinder, President of the Rusfond Charitable Foundation for Seriously Ill Children, Orphans and Disabled People

Tatyana Konstantinovna Andreyeva – Associate Professor of Lomonosov Moscow State University, retired Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation

Marina Akhmedova, Editor-in-Chief, Regnum News Agency

Igor Ashmanov – President of Kribrum Joint-Stock Company

Yulia Belekhova – Head of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland"

Irina Borovova, President of the Association of Cancer Patients "Zdravstvuy"

Alexander Brod, Chairman of the Coordinating Council of the All-Russian Public Organization Lawyers for Human Rights and a Decent Life

Yan Vlasov, Co-Chairman of the All-Russian Union of Public Associations of Patients

Kirill Vyshinsky, Editor-in-Chief of Radio Sputnik, Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights

Pavel Gusev, General Director of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Moscow, Chairman of the Standing Commission on Human Rights in the Information Sphere

Olga Demicheva, President of the International Charitable Public Organization "Fair Help of Dr. Lisa"

Maxim Zamshev – Editor-in-Chief of Literaturnaya Gazeta

Nikolai Ivanov, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Writers of Russia

Vladimir Ikonnikov, Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Sakhalin Region

Alexander Viktorovich Ionov– public figure

Kirill Kabanov, Chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Committee, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Civil Participation in the Development of the Law Enforcement System

Kirill Kaleda – Archpriest, Rector of the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo

Anatoly Kovler, Head of the Center for Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Civil Participation in the Development of the Judicial System

Alexander Kots – Special Correspondent of the Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House

Svetlana Makovetskaya, Director of the Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research GRANI, Chair of the Standing Committee for the Development of Civil Society Institutions

Tatyana Margolina – Professor, Perm State National Research University

Alexey Melinkov, Executive Secretary of the Public Monitoring Commission of Moscow

Tatyana Merzlyakova – Commissioner for Human Rights in the Sverdlovsk Region, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Personal Rights

Eva Mikhailovna Merkacheva– columnist for the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets"

Konstantin Petrovich Mikhailov – Member of the Coordinating Council of the Public Movement "Arkhnadzor"

Evgeny Myslovsky, Honorary President of the Antimafia Regional Public Foundation for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption

Yulia Nazarova, President of the Rus Food Bank Charitable Foundation

Igor Novikov, Director of the Space of Equal Opportunities Autonomous Non-Profit Organization for the Promotion of Social Integration of People with Disabilities

Igor Pastukhov – Attorney at Law of the Moscow Bar Association "YUST Law Firm"

Leonid Pplyakov – Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics

Roman Romanov, Director of the State Museum of the History of the Gulag in Moscow

Sergey Rukshin – Professor, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia

Volodymyr V. Ryakhovsky – Managing Partner of the Law Bureau "Slavic Legal Center"

Elina Sidorenko, General Director of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Platform for Work with Entrepreneurs' Appeals"

Ekaterina Smoroda – Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Ulyanovsk Region

Alexander Nikolaevich Sokurov – film director

Vladimir Solovyov, Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia

Sergey Solovyov, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Olena Shishkina – Member of the Presidium of the Public Movement "Free Donbass"

Igor Yurgens, Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Development Foundation, Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics

Guest: Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation

This annual meeting usually occurs at this time of year as it relates to Human Rights Day, facts Putin will remind everyone of at the outset. Putin mentions last year’s meeting whose Russian transcript is here. That meeting discussed the SMO, which some readers might want to review for the perspective it offers to this year’s report. I’d hoped to integrate this meeting and its information into the previous article on the UDHR anniversary, but as you’ll discover it’s quite long all by itself. The reports you’ll read cover a wide variety of areas but all touch upon the rights of Russians and those of Russia’s guests. IMO, the existence of this council is very progressive as Russia seeks to make its government more responsive and supportive of its citizens, and—dare I say—a model to be emulated. The discussion is spirited, frank and aimed at the expressed goals, one of which is cited as follows:

Olga Demicheva: Mr President, you have repeatedly stressed that increasing life expectancy and improving the quality of life of citizens of the Russian Federation is one of the top priorities facing the country's leadership.

Now for the discussion:

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good evening!

I am glad to welcome you all to our meeting, which traditionally takes place on the eve of Human Rights Day. This date is certainly significant for each of you and for our Council as a whole, and yes, I think, for the society as well.

I know that you are not only engaged in the analysis of law enforcement practice, legislative and other issues of what is called a general, systemic nature, but also devote a lot of time and effort to help people in specific life situations, respond to their requests, and achieve fair solutions to their problems.

And of course, I thank you for your caring attitude to this matter, for your generosity of heart, for your patience, for your ability to convince me of your position, and if necessary, for your firmness and perseverance, for your desire to listen to all sides and find compromises.

All these qualities are of great importance in the protection of human and civil rights. You possess them to the fullest and achieve a lot, achieve a lot. Thank you and all your colleagues, both at the federal level and in the regions – for this highly sought-after and noble activity.

I would also like to inform you that the Council has undergone a planned rotation. A corresponding decree was recently signed. The Council consists of five people-these are well-known people in the field of human rights protection and civil society development. Let me wish you every success and, most importantly, get involved in the Council's busy day-to-day work as soon as possible.

Dear colleagues, at our meeting a year ago, we discussed in detail the most pressing issues for our difficult time. The discussion was long and frank. Much has been done on virtually every issue you raised, and instructions have been given to relevant ministries and departments, as well as recommendations to regional authorities. Much, as I have already said, has been done, but something, as they say, is still in the works. Today we will hear detailed information on the execution of instructions.

One of the most important and traditional areas of work of the Council is the protection of social rights of citizens. This year, special attention was paid to the working conditions of teachers. This includes the level of their salary, the issues of increasing the prestige of teachers, and the material and technical equipment of educational organizations.

I think our Council should continue to pursue this topic. So, you made a suggestion and joined the work on preparing a new unified textbook on social studies. Of course, this deserves support. I believe that your experience in the field of human rights protection is certainly in demand here.

Of course, now one of the main issues that the Council deals with is the activity and support of our fighters, our guys on the front line, our heroes. Here are members of the Council who have visited, and more than once, the special military operation zone.

At the last meeting, you raised the issue of targeted support for special operation participants and their families. This year, the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation was established, which operates in every region. We need to work closely with him.

I know that you regularly visit the Donbas and Novorossia, meet with residents, and feel what they care about. And I ask you to speak openly and in detail about the problems that require additional solutions.

Dear colleagues, December 10 marks the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. Unfortunately, we celebrate this anniversary in a difficult situation, when the process of degradation of the international system for ensuring and promoting human rights continues. Its institutions, which are effectively controlled by the West, demonstrate political bias, hypocrisy and undisguised selectivity. So, for eight years we have seen their helplessness and direct disregard for blatant violations against the residents of Donbass.

These structures not only "ignore", but even encourage manifestations of Russophobia, support those countries that are in a hurry to take first places in this shameful competition of Russophobes.

As you know, Russia has withdrawn from a number of international human rights organizations. However, this does not mean that we abandon the principles laid down in the Declaration. On the contrary, we are ready to cooperate with all interested countries and partners, to find solutions for the formation of an effective, fair and equal system for ensuring human rights for all.

We have already said that civil institutions, due to their flexibility, are more adapted to the rapid search for possible solutions in this area. The Council has already taken some steps here. In particular, in November, the Council hosted an international conference on this topic. Of course, we must continue to work aggressively in this direction.

I would like to emphasize that in recent years, the influence of our Council has noticeably increased. A lot is connected with its name, and many people consider the opinion of the Council both in public organizations and in government structures. This is facilitated, of course, above all by your focus on the essence of the most complex problems, your ability to conduct a dialogue with different departments, with civil society structures and achieve concrete results together.

I would like to wish you success in these interests – in the interests of civil society and the entire Russian people. And let's discuss the issues that you think are most relevant at this point in time.

Please give the floor to Valery Alexandrovich Fadeev.

Vladimir Fadeev: Thank you, Mr President.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear Council members,

We are meeting on the eve of a significant date – December 10 marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is an important document, I would say a milestone for the whole world. The main pathos of the declaration is directed against oppression and tyranny, and this pathos is shared by all the peoples of the world.

However, in recent decades, the very doctrine of human rights has been discredited by the West, it has been used to interfere in internal affairs, to undermine sovereignty.

The sovereignty of the State is directly related to human rights and freedoms. At a meeting of the World Russian People's Council last week, Mr Putin, you said: "What does sovereignty mean? This is first and foremost freedom. Freedom for Russia, for our people, and therefore for each of us." Your thesis applies to other countries as well. Indeed, if the people are not free from external oppression, then what internal rights and freedoms can we talk about?

The Council is currently finalizing the study "Human Rights in the modern world". We have engaged the best Russian experts in this field, analyzed the practice of using the ideology of human rights as a tool for interfering in the internal affairs of many states. New risks of the XXI century are considered: environmental, in the field of digitalization, biological. The report will be presented to you in the near future.

The Council has just held an international conference, and you, Mr President, have noted this. The conference was attended by both Russian and foreign specialists, including from Europe, and representatives of diplomatic corps from more than 50 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.

The topic of human rights and freedoms is of great interest. The peoples of the world do not want dictates, they want respect for their history, traditions, and religion. We plan to continue this work next year, including in the framework of civil support for the Russian BRICS presidency. We have concrete proposals, and I will give you two examples.

The first. A huge network of non-governmental organizations plays a special role in interfering in the internal affairs of States, many of them are biased, especially those who give countries ratings of freedom, democracy, press freedom, and so on. Political decisions, including military interventions, are made based on these ratings. A vivid sad example of the recent past is Libya.

It is necessary to create a counterweight, non-profit analytical organizations established, for example, within the framework of BRICS. They would conduct objective research on the state of human rights in different countries, without putting social rights out of brackets, as is done in the West, and without ranking countries according to the standard of the Western system. At the same time, the methods should be accepted by all participants, and the experts should not be classified.

Second project. Today, the information environment on the Internet is largely under the control of the United States, for example, the Google search engine adapts information to a specific user, ostensibly for their convenience – in fact, for manipulation. This is actually censorship, censorship that is banned in most countries of the world.

The same thing happens in social networks. The fight against Google, by the way, began in France about ten years ago, so far unsuccessfully. I believe that it is necessary to organize international control over the activities of IT giants. Algorithms and criteria should be open, discussed and approved by international institutions. But first, the institute must be created. The task is not easy, there will be serious resistance.

They say: these are private companies, and you can't interfere with the work of private companies. This is wrong. Companies are private, but the Internet is a common good. There is an analog-civil aviation. The companies there are also private – aircraft manufacturers and carriers, but all comply with international rules, because passenger safety is at the forefront. Similarly, here it is necessary to put the information security of users at the forefront.

Environmental problems. Today, in the field of solving global climate problems, both we and the whole world are largely on the Western agenda. It is no secret that the decisions that are made in this agenda often give competitive advantages to Western companies. We need to develop our agenda for the benefit of ourselves and the world.

Our country has great advantages: our territory, forests, and other landscapes allow us to implement unique natural solutions to combat global warming.

For example, there is a project that has already been started, which will cool the tundra and, accordingly, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We are talking about gigatons of emissions. Cool, of course, not by technical means, but by correcting the ecosystem itself. We have millions of square kilometers of tundra. Just one of many possible large-scale projects.

The current Russian Environmental Security Strategy runs until 2025, and the Security Council has already started updating this strategy. We believe that it is absolutely necessary to involve not only scientific communities, but also civil society institutions and activists in this work.

Now the All-Russian Nature Conservation Society is being revived and strengthened. Next year, the UOP will celebrate its 100th anniversary. It was the first serious environmental organization in the world. We have a huge tradition here since the 1920s. We currently lack a strong, authoritative and unbiased public organization, without whose opinion resonant decisions would not have been made.

I will touch on one specific environmental issue, but it is very important, it concerns Lake Baikal. In June, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law "On the Protection of Lake Baikal"in the first reading. The bill allows for continuous logging in the Baikal natural area. This point of the bill caused a public outcry. There are serious arguments against the bill in its current form, they are put forward by professionals, not populists.

The Council has studied this issue in depth and developed its position. It is necessary to divide the task into two parts: the social rights of residents of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia and the implementation of investment projects. On the first issue, it is necessary to pass a law promptly, as soon as possible, because the roads to some localities have become unusable. We need to build sewage treatment plants. This year there were powerful mudslides, we need to build structures against mudslides. These are small projects that will not harm the lake. And on the second issue, the investment one, additional study is required. Large-scale economic activity is fraught with negative consequences, everything must be carefully thought out.

The Council focuses on labour migration issues. We believe that Russia should not close itself off from its neighbors. Residents of Central Asian countries and other former Soviet republics should be able to work in our country. At the same time, the large flow of migrants creates certain problems, in particular the formation of ethnic enclaves, which dangerously disrupts the socio-cultural balance in some Russian cities.

Our position: strict compliance with the law is necessary. For example, it is no secret that migrants can work 60 hours a week. This is beneficial for employers, but violates the Labor Code.

It is not uncommon for migrant families to keep their children out of school, especially for girls. This, of course, violates the Family Code.

In many cases, Russian language exams are accepted, to put it mildly, formally.

Military registration. People get Russian citizenship, but they don't register for military service. But in addition to the rights of citizens, there are also duties. Non-compliance with the law leads to violations of the rights of both migrants and Russian citizens.

The Council continues to inform the international community about human rights violations committed by the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces against civilians in Donbas and Novorossiya. Materials about crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine contain photos, statistics, links to video evidence. These are attacks on civilian objects: schools, hospitals, shopping centers. Already 8123 episodes. These newsletters are regularly sent by us to foreign recipients, to international organizations: the UN, the EU, the OSCE, to public organizations, to foreign embassies and the world's leading media. There are 1800 addresses in total.

The official structures of the West try to ignore this newsletter, but we understand that they have this information and they know about the crimes of the Kiev regime.

Mr Putin, our colleagues will tell us about other problems and how the Council helps to solve these problems.

The report is finished. Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Valery Alexandrovich, we can answer every question, we will discuss it, the format of a detailed discussion does not provide for each of the speakers, and there will be quite a few speakers, but I can't help but respond to some questions. This is a very acute issue about the rights of migrants, this is understandable, and here I cannot but agree that a balance must be observed – an ethno-cultural balance.

Of course, everything that happens in this area is primarily dictated by the interests of the economy and the shortage of workers, but we certainly need to train these people, we need to attract such labor resources that meet the interests of the Russian economy, first of all. This means that these people must be prepared from a linguistic and ethno-cultural point of view, must know our traditions and so on, laws, and respect these laws.

Together with our colleagues from the CIS countries and Central Asia, we are also working on this together, and schools-you couldn't help but notice that everyone sees that we are opening Russian schools there, teaching in Russian, and holding other events. But this does not exclude the fact that all visitors must, and I repeat it once again, comply with Russian laws, respect our cultural traditions, the traditions of our peoples, and so on. But, of course, as a civilized country, we must also ensure their rights.

This is a large set of issues, and it is very important that we focus primarily on the interests of the citizens of the Russian Federation, first of all, in all areas, and we should consider all these issues in a comprehensive manner. And I really ask the Council to continue working in this direction.

As for Lake Baikal, it is also a very important topic. Here we need to ensure a balance between the interests of the people who live in this region and the interests of protecting the lake itself. In general, there are many issues that require constant attention, bearing in mind that this is our national heritage.

Well, and human rights in Novorossiya, in the Donbas, and in the surrounding regions. We need to take this very seriously. And this will require professionalism and perseverance, because those who do not benefit from it prefer not to notice any problems here at all. And we know that they exist, and therefore, of course, we need to work on this.

Thank you. Let's listen to your colleagues.

Will you give your colleagues the floor? How will we build our work?

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, let me do it.

Vladimir Putin: Please, please.

Vladimir Fadeev: I am ready for this.

We said that we will review and report on the implementation of your instructions based on the results of the meetings. Alexander Sergeyevich Tochenov-Executive Secretary of the Council.

Alexander Sergeevich, please.

Alexey Tochenov: Thank you.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Usually Valery Alexandrovich in his speeches reports on the fulfillment (or non-fulfillment) of some of your instructions. But now, as we said, we will tell you more fully and in detail about the work of the Council and the implementation of instructions.

At the beginning of 2021, your Decree amended the Regulations on the Council and specified the areas of our activities. In accordance with this, the Council has established permanent commissions that cover the entire list of rights and freedoms enshrined in the Russian Constitution, and the subjectivity of these commissions has been strengthened. However, working groups are created in the Council for the most important and acute problems, and they work until the result is achieved or the tasks are completed.

Currently, there are several working groups, including the working group on the protection of citizens 'rights in the context of a special military operation, the working group on health and national conservation, the working group on education, and the working group on monitoring citizens' electoral rights.

These working groups are headed by Yulia Aleksandrovna Belekhova, Olga Yuryevna Demicheva, and Ekaterina Vyacheslavovna Smoroda, respectively.

These are the issues that you mentioned in your speech at the beginning: education, social security. These are sensitive issues, and we keep them in working groups, as they say, in manual mode.

At your meeting with the Council in 2019, Mr Putin, you drew attention to the fact that the Council should actively cooperate with the Public Chamber of Russia, federal and regional commissioners for human rights and children's rights. Of course, the Council is working with Tatiana Nikolaevna Moskalkova, Maria Alekseevna Lvova-Belova, and their staff.

But also, in coordination with them, a horizontal link has been established with regional commissioners and public chambers of the regions. Accordingly, this work is being carried out and coordinated by members of the Council – the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Sverdlovsk Region Tatyana Georgievna Merzlyakova, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Ulyanovsk Region – a member of the Council Ekaterina Vyacheslavovna Smoroda, and the Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Sakhalin Region Vladimir Yuryevich Ikonnikov.

Here is one example in this regard.

During the partial mobilization, many issues arose in the regions, and we also received appeals to the Council, although the Situation Council should not deal with appeals, and we, of course, do this. But thanks to the coordination of our activities on the part of Tatyana Georgievna Merzlyakova and organized interaction with regional human rights commissioners, the effectiveness of solving citizens ' issues has increased significantly." We have established these horizontal links.

In the current day-to-day activity, the permanent commission of the Council's working group prepares requests and proposals to ministries and departments based on the results of working out certain topics. In general, it can be noted that the responses to our appeals are of a business and working nature, but sometimes we would like a more prompt and meaningful response from officials, especially now, when the situation requires all of us to be collected and work together to win.

But perhaps the most effective and efficient form of our activity is working with your instructions based on the results of such meetings as today's. In general, however, these meetings themselves give a positive effect even without instructions, sometimes the reaction of officials is manifested already during our meeting or following its results, as was the case last year, literally right away.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, after your instructions are issued, we hold a meeting of the Council and take control of each instruction, regardless of whether the Council or the chairman of the Council is in charge. We take any assignment you give us under control, so we exercise public control, and the best control is provided through participation in the design, development, and implementation of solutions. And where our participation is not defined in the instructions, we try to join the relevant working groups and constantly contact the performers. In turn, the Control Department of the Presidential Administration interacts with the Council in the course of fulfilling instructions, that is, we still carry out bilateral control.

I will give you a few results of such activities, and I would like to thank you immediately for these assignments. I think that there will be a lot of substantive work to be done as a result of our meeting today.

Special military operation. Donbass and Novorossiya. The creation of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, which you mentioned today, has already been launched in all regions of the Russian Federation. There was also a reaction to a number of reports by Council members on the topic of CBR. In addition, as a result of instructions to the Government, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Health, and the regional authorities, a number of measures were taken aimed at helping the participants of the SVO, as well as residents of new Russian regions.

Here are just a few of them. Provision of medical supplies and dressings for soldiers and healthcare facilities. Approval of the rules for compensation payments for lost or damaged housing, both in new territories and in other border regions. Prosthetics and orthopedic doctors, so necessary in civilian hospitals, have been returned from military service. Many other things were done quickly and efficiently.

The issue of social justice. One of the most acute social issues is the multiplying number of cases of fraud involving citizens ' bank accounts. The Council reported, and instructions were given. To implement it, the Central Bank has developed a draft law that supports the methodology proposed by the Council. The bill is currently under consideration in the State Duma, that is, in the works.

Additional monthly financial support for those awarded three Orders of Courage has been established.

Issues of freedom of speech. Together with the Union of Journalists of Russia and presidential envoys, recommendations were developed to ensure the rights of journalists in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Specific work was carried out in different federal districts.

Humanization of justice. The need to criminalize the concept of "torture" was worked out by the Council, and pursuant to the relevant decision of the President, a Federal law was adopted that introduces the concept of "torture" into the Criminal Code and increases responsibility for the commission of appropriate actions by a representative of the authorities.

Work continues on the topic of delaying investigations of criminal cases on exceeding the terms of detention of suspects in pre-trial detention centers. There is no decision here yet, but the issue raised by the Council has been recognized as relevant by the Prosecutor General's Office, and the order remains on execution.

The Council also drew attention to a number of high-profile cases about the limits of permissible self-defense, when the spirit and letters of the law could diverge. The law demanded that the defenders be punished, but the sense of social justice was on their side. The Plenum of the Supreme Court of Russia adopted a resolution in which it gave exhaustive explanations to the courts on law enforcement in this area. Slowly, but the law enforcement and judicial system is being rebuilt, although the "stick records" still work in the country, unfortunately.

Digitalization. As a result of the implementation of the order in 2021, changes were made to the legislation, new strict requirements were established in regulating the activities of foreign digital companies that allowed themselves to block the content of Russian producers-leaders of public opinion, while spreading and imposing a destructive agenda. Experience has shown that this approach was correct, since after the start of the Free Trade Zone, for example, Meta platforms (such as Facebook and Instagram) began to be fully used for propaganda against Russia and, as a result, were declared undesirable and blocked.

At the suggestion of the Council, a concept is being developed to ensure the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms in the digital space. Based on these developments, the Government plans to adopt the so-called digital code.

Non-profit organizations and civil society institutions. Previously, banks applied the same requirements to NPOs when deciding whether to issue loans as they did to commercial organizations, despite the obviously different legal nature and goals of these structures. Following the instruction, the Central Bank prepared and sent out methodological recommendations to banks with special criteria for evaluating socially oriented non-profit organizations.

It should be noted that the approach of regulatory and other bodies to NGOs, to non-profit [organizations] as to commercial ones was acutely manifested during the pandemic. But we must pay tribute to the Government, which promptly responded to our proposals, which were received in a working order.

In accordance with the order to improve the legal regulation of the activities of non-profit organizations, an interdepartmental working group has now been established under the Ministry of Justice, which includes members of the Council and members of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. Not everything has been done yet, but there are already real results of this work. In addition, at the end of November, just a few days ago, the State Duma adopted the law on founders of NGOs in the first reading.

Questions of education. The Council responded to high-profile cases of violence in educational institutions and made specific proposals. Specialized programs and modules for pedagogical and medical universities aimed at early detection of the prerequisites for deviant behavior in children and adolescents have been developed and implemented.

As a result of the instruction of the head of state, the Ministry of Education took into account the Day of Liberation of the largest Auschwitz death camp by the Red Army (also known as Holocaust Memorial Day), as well as the Day of Remembrance of the genocide of the Soviet people by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War.

Ecology. After the topic of management of specially protected natural areas was raised, the Government conducted an analysis that confirmed the existence of problems in the mechanism of distribution of powers between federal executive bodies. This affects, for example, the effectiveness of the system of protection of these territories from fires and much more. The need to adjust federal legislation is recognized. We will continue this work.

I would also like to note that we are working on the topic of the law on the protection of Lake Baikal. But Valery Aleksandrovich [Fadeev] also spoke on this topic, and you spoke about it.

This, Mr Putin, is only a small list, a small fraction of how the Council works – what has been done, what is being done to fulfill your instructions and in the course of current work - but it is a serious benefit for citizens and for the country. I believe that today's meeting will not be an exception. Our colleagues on the Council have prepared proposals for various areas of civil society development and protection of citizens ' rights.

I also hope that today state and municipal employees will also start responding to our proposals without waiting for your instructions to be issued.

I finished my report. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Alexander Sergeevich, thank you very much.

If I may, a couple of comments.

You said that sometimes a more rapid response is required on the part of various authorities and departments. I don't remember if we discussed it or not. It seems to me that we need to make sure that our agreements are implemented in the form of instructions from the President, and then the Control Department and the [Presidential] Administration as a whole will be involved in this process. And then it is possible, I think, to achieve even better quality of the Council's work, because there are certain deadlines for responding to the President's instructions. You, and I see that the Council is working very actively, will actually act on the instructions of the President, issued accordingly. In my opinion, this would qualitatively improve and help you in your work, and improve the work of the Council itself.

I also ask you to continue supporting the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation. You know, the fund does not directly manage money, it does not have any money, but it has a very important function – to control how the state reacts by organizing assistance to participants of a special military operation and their families, and whether the state is achieving the goals it sets for itself in this area. You need to get feedback, feedback from those people who the work of the foundation itself is designed for, who it is aimed at – the target group of its participants. There, the State Duma also thinks about this topic, the relevant ministries, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the social sphere. And I would ask you to never forget this area of activity.

Now about social justice. You mentioned the work of banks in this area, but this is not really a question of social justice, these are other aspects of the problem. But if you think it's important, of course. But this is probably absolutely important, and I just don't think it's a matter of social justice.

Now the problems of torture, as unpleasant as it is to pronounce this word, nevertheless have to. Of course, it is necessary to continue monitoring the situation in this area, without any doubt, and to identify every such ugly phenomenon, if they arise, in our penitentiary system and in general in the activities of law enforcement and special agencies. Be sure to keep an eye on them.

Otherwise, if we miss something here even for a moment, we will have very serious consequences in terms of both the unity of our society, which is extremely important, and the very social justice that you are talking about. Many things will look different for us, and our self-assessment will be completely different, which will not allow us to achieve the results we need in so many areas of our activity and development.

This also applies to the terms of the preliminary investigation. There were a lot of decisions here, I won't dwell on it now, but not everything has been decided, and you need to follow it very carefully. Not everything is solved, people are still under investigation for years, this is unacceptable. Now I will not go into details, you can talk until the morning on this topic.

This is a very important area of work, as well as digitalization, education, ecology, non-profit organizations, and the attitude of financial institutions to them. We've just been told about it. I don't see any minor issues. I want to thank you for doing all this. Thank you.

A. Tochenov: If I may, about… Answers to errands – no questions asked. But there is an ongoing work on which our chairman writes to certain departments. Sometimes we get unsubscriptions. But if we receive unsubscriptions, then the citizens… That's what we're talking about.

Vladimir Putin: I understand.

Alexey Tochenov: As for the fund, yes, we have a working group, as I called it, on its own. It is headed by Yulia Aleksandrovna Belekhova, Chairman of the "Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland". She also works closely with the foundation. We will continue this work, and so will everyone else.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, I would like to give the floor to Yulia Alexandrovna Belekhova, head of the non-profit organization Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Yu.Belekhova: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Since the first days of the special military operation, the Human Rights Council has been involved in resolving issues. And for more effective work, a working group on SVO issues was created, in which, in fact, members of the HRC combined their personal and public resources to help fighters and families.

We work closely together with the legislative and executive authorities here. For example, Maryna Akhmedova is a member of our working group, which is currently investigating Nazi crimes in the Donbas. We have a chairman, Olga Demicheva, who is the [charity organization] "Just Help of Dr. Lisa", which today helps children with serious illnesses in our new territories, in the Donbas. We have included Elena Shishkina, this is, of course, legal assistance to the DPR.

And we all joined together to help. I head the "Committee of Families of Soldiers of the Fatherland" - these are mothers, wives of participants in a special military operation. Almost a year ago, we met in Novo-Ogaryovo with the mothers of the participants of the SVO, where we had such a frank, difficult conversation, after which your instructions were given. Thank you very much for that, as it allowed us to expand our work and help today. We have created both free legal assistance and spiritual and psychological support. Today we are organizing mutual aid groups in the regions, and we have headquarters throughout the Russian Federation.

We also have cultural and patriotic projects, a humanitarian mission, because our mothers today weave nets, pour candles, knit, collect and deliver humanitarian aid. In fact, this is such a rear for the front, which is very important. So thank you very much.

You know, there is no big or small help here, absolutely everything is important here. This is expressed in caring, because when a fighter understands that his family is being taken care of, he is fully fulfilling his duty to protect the Motherland. And this is important for us.

There are quite a lot of questions about support measures and benefits today, but there are some that require your attention and solution. There are fighters who gave their lives to protect our country, and there are support measures that apply to them if they return from the front, and to children. This is, of course, free higher education, it is an opportunity to receive special education for free. We think it is important that if a fighter gives up his life, this measure also applies to his spouse. After all, you know, it is socialization that is important here, and you need to help your spouse to socialize as well. This is especially true for the wives of regular military personnel, because moving from one military camp to another, of course, affected their education.

Higher education is clear. There is a special education. Perhaps this is also retraining, which can be done today through specialized non-profit organizations, as well as through the Presidential Grants Fund. And we ask you to support such an important initiative to enable socialization.

And the second, of course, is also very important. A year ago, you gave us instructions, provided support measures, and today it is thousands of united mothers and wives across Russia. Today we are engaged not only in the projects that I mentioned, but also, as you know, we do not allow "rocking this boat", because they are trying to exert psychological influence on us, among other things. And today we have come together and help each other, and others like us. Of course, it is very important for us that the support measures that were implemented are extended to the next year.

We are with our country, Vladimir Vladimirovich! We are with you!

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Thank you for your words, especially at the end of your speech. Thank you for the work you are doing.

About measures to support family members. In fact, the Government and the Presidential Administration have worked hard on this, and the system of measures, as it seems to me, is built up. But nevertheless, since this is a large-scale work, there may be some gaps, some shortcomings, so please send us everything you find online. This applies to everything that you have listed: retraining, material support, medical support, and wives – especially those women who have lost their loved ones, the fathers of their children, their husbands, and the widows of our heroes. Of course, a full-fledged system of such support measures should be developed.

Do you know what I would like to draw your attention to? We need to be careful, of course, so that there are no abuses here, but, of course, we should also think about supporting those women who lived in a civil marriage with their husbands. There are ways provided for by law to establish the fact of living in a civil marriage, we need to think about how to deal with such women who find themselves in a certain situation, which you described, and who do not have a marriage certificate with the man, with their loved one, with whom they lived together for some time time limit. There are even cases, and there are many of them, when they have children together – so that neither the children were left without support, nor these women.

We will carefully analyze the legal side of this issue once again, and if there is a need to make any adjustments in terms of organizing their support, then we must definitely do it.

Thank you.

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, the next speaker is Kirill V. Vyshinsky, Editor-in-chief of Sputnik Radio.

To.Vyshinsky: Thank you very much.

Good evening, Vladimir Vladimirovich!

If you'll excuse me, I'll start with what we discussed a year ago during a similar meeting. We then agreed that a very serious wave of Russophobia had risen in the countries of the European Union and the so-called collective West. At that time, we asked you to give instructions to look carefully at the legislation, introduce a legal qualification for such a phenomenon as Russophobia, and provide for the possibility in the legislation to strengthen measures to combat this phenomenon.

During the year, we held several "round tables" with lawyers, with our colleagues from the State Duma, from ministries and departments that directly deal with law enforcement issues.

Despite the difference in legal approaches, we nevertheless agreed that Russophobia is indeed a serious phenomenon, that it has practically turned into an ideological program of discrimination and, in fact, dehumanization of our fellow citizens, citizens of the Russian Federation, our compatriots – all those who associate themselves with Russia and the Russian world, if we talk about it broadly.

And thanks to your instructions, the work was serious and extensive, and we know that a whole package of draft laws has already been prepared in the State Duma, and it is now being examined by the Government. And we hope that in the near future it will be implemented, changes will be made to our legislation related to strengthening the fight against Russophobia.

But these are measures that we are taking internally, fully understanding that over the past period, realizing the scale of Russophobia, we can state that this wave has not only not subsided, but has only become even greater.

The last most striking example, as you probably know, and we know very well that special instructions were given even in this regard, is the situation with our citizens living in Latvia on temporary residence permits, who were forced to go through a rather humiliating procedure for passing a language exam.

But it was humiliating not only that the elderly people who had lived a huge part of their lives in Latvia, built a certain language infrastructure around them, communicated well with their neighbors, understood each other – they were forced to pass the exam. But the most important thing is that they were also forced to fill out completely humiliating questionnaires, where they were required to answer questions demonstrating their disloyalty to the Russian Federation. I repeat, these are citizens of the Russian Federation who lived in accordance with the legislation in Latvia, on the territory of Latvia, with a residence permit.

As a result, more than three thousand people, or to be more precise, 3255 people, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are now in a situation where, starting from December 1, they can be forcibly deported from the territory of Latvia.

I repeat, I know that a special meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation was held, and that instructions were given to all relevant agencies, as well as to the heads of neighboring border regions with Latvia. Nevertheless, I would like to ask you once again to draw your attention to this problem, since we may find ourselves in a situation where Latvian bailiffs will simply bring people in wheelchairs to the border. But among those who fell into this zone of possible forced eviction, there are many pensioners, those who were brought to exams in wheelchairs, and those who did not go, all the more so, could simply not even know, being there, deeply ill people, bedridden, about that such an exam was conducted.

Perhaps it would be advisable to organize a" direct line " of the Red Cross, so that people, if they are forcibly evicted, can simply call and report that such an event is happening to them, and get some first organizational assistance right on the border of Russia and Latvia. But I repeat, this is another particular case of Russophobia, which indicates that this phenomenon is only gaining momentum.

In Germany, our citizens who live there on a residence permit or for some other reason, our fellow citizens, just Russian-speaking people who moved to Germany at one time, close their accounts. There is a well-known story about the confiscation of cars with Russian license plates and Russian registration. I repeat, the process will continue, in our opinion and according to the assessment of quite a large number of people, including non-governmental organizations that deal with the problems of our compatriots abroad, the process will only grow.

Thanks to your recent Decree of November 22, the term "repatriation" was added to the state support program for the resettlement of our compatriots, some measures were removed, and the process itself was simplified. But I think it is very important to focus on repatriation from unfriendly countries. It is possible to create some specific infrastructure related specifically to repatriation from unfriendly countries.

This is due to the fact that there our compatriots get, in fact, in an extreme situation, when they begin to squeeze out, deprive them of certain social guarantees, simply deprive them of the opportunity to exist in this infrastructure of the countries in which they lived, closing their accounts and, in fact, squeezing them out. They are ready to move to Russia, but they face a big, serious tangle of problems, including the withdrawal of money that they earned there, creating businesses, developing the economy of these Western countries. However, now they find themselves in this situation.

I think it is important to send a signal that we are waiting for these people from unfriendly countries, also in order for them to feel a certain formula, which, in my opinion, it is high time to declare publicly, it is simple: better at home, come back, the country is waiting for you.

We all remember very well the processes that took place in the late Soviet Union and in the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We remember this largely economic migration. I think now is the time for the reverse process. And if this formula and in general this is the expectation of people who are ready to return to the country from currently unfriendly states, and their number is growing, unfortunately-if this formula is announced, if this formula is heard, I think that we will get quite a serious human resource: people who are socially active, they created themselves in a different environment, formed some businesses, created jobs, have serious experience, and own some innovative technologies. Well, as a matter of fact, which will definitely not be superfluous in our country.

It seems to me that the country is ready to give such a signal. Therefore, I would like to ask you, perhaps, to give instructions to really clarify the term of repatriation, to introduce the concept of "repatriation from unfriendly countries" and, perhaps, to give instructions to create a certain infrastructure so that this process will receive serious support from the state.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Kirill Valeryevich.

We know what Russophobia is, we have long been confronted with it, and first of all, of course, it all happened in front of the whole world in the Baltic countries long before the SVO. SVO has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Someone may have decided to take advantage of a special military operation in order to solve some of their internal political tasks, but this is their business, it does not adorn them, of course. There is also no doubt that any country – and, by the way, Russia, when we talk about migrant workers-wants, and this is a legitimate requirement, that people living on its territory respect, as I said at the beginning of our meeting, traditions, culture, and so on. including the language of the host country.

But when we talk about the category that you just mentioned, of course, these are, first of all, those people who lived in these territories during the Soviet Union, and often, due to various circumstances of living in one common country, ended up where they live today, where their children were born and so on. And that is why this position of people as "non-citizens", which is certainly breaking out of the legal regime of almost all civilized countries (this is generally a strange invention of those who claim to be considered democratic countries), is certainly ugly and is now acquiring a new quality and a new scope. We all see and understand this.

We have always assumed that in the modern world a person has the right to independently choose the country where he wants to live, if this is his choice, if this did not happen due to objective circumstances of living once on the territory of the Soviet Union in one or another part of it. But in general, if a person decides to live somewhere in another country, this is their choice.

But what you have said, what we are facing, of course, requires us to pay close attention to these processes, requires us to adjust our relations with these countries where things of this kind are happening, and requires us to pay close attention to people who want to return to their historical homeland.

Of course, some systemic measures are needed here, and you are right, Kirill Valerievich, we need to think about this, of course. We will formulate our approaches to these processes accordingly. Well, if people don't want to go anywhere, but they are expelled, we can't do anything about it either. Nevertheless, we need to create conditions for these people as well.

Of course, we need to work together, let's work together with you, with the Human Rights Council, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Russian Government to think about how to respond to what is happening.

I do not think that happiness will come to the home of those who pursue such a policy. I do not know how much it is now, but in Latvia, in my opinion, 40 percent of the population was Russian-speaking. Probably, and now a lot. If they pursue such a policy towards people who wanted to live in a particular country, worked there, created some benefits for this country, and they are treated in such a piggish way, then, in the end, they themselves will face such piggishness inside their countries.

You are welcome.

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, the next speaker is Ekaterina Smoroda, Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Ulyanovsk Region.

Elena Smoroda: Hello, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

You always pay close attention to children's issues, and therefore allow me to raise the issue of school education today.

The main value of a school is the people and teachers who work in it. And the quality of education of our future generation depends on the well-being of teachers today. Today, the system is, one might say, under stress, although it tries not to show much of it. The shortage of teachers in schools is 250 thousand, and this is calculated only in vacancies.

The outflow is enormous, and teachers are sometimes forced to work for three people, while combining not only teaching in their own profile. For example, I have attended schools where a teacher who teaches geography also teaches biology, a foreign language, and even music.

And in localities, sometimes due to a shortage of personnel, entire institutions are closed, which subsequently causes death practically, the death of the locality itself, because it is a socio-cultural center. Unfortunately, students go to pedagogical universities very little. Despite the fact that we are told that this year twice as many applicants submitted their applications, in fact [the shortage], other specialties were chosen.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, unfortunately, graduates also do not reach school by only 10 percent, and they go to work as managers in marketplaces. Young teachers also fail in the first year, and this is primarily due to the high, colossal burden that lies today on teaching staff and school teachers. This year it has increased many times.

This is primarily due to the ongoing reform, the transition to new federal state educational standards, a new educational program, digitalization, the creation of a single educational space, and the lack of textbooks for relevant programs. This is a huge problem. Modern requirements for lessons are very high and require very high-quality training.

Teachers, preparing for classes, sometimes have to resort to ten sources, it takes up to six hours a day, this is a fact, and teachers are paid only for regular hours, and this is unfair. It is extremely important that today schools have textbooks, and today there is a concern that due to the fact that the development of textbooks for the new Federal State Educational Standards and programs is a long, time – consuming and financially costly process, there will be a complete transition to electronic versions. But textbooks are primarily books that should not be taken away from our children in any case.

The workload of the homeroom teacher has gone beyond the working day so much that they simply do not have time for their own family. Teachers are responsible for every child, for every family, and both in schools, outside of school, and outside of it: for any emergency, teachers can be reprimanded or immediately dismissed. Therefore, class teachers, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, very much ask to regulate their activities in order to outline the circle and area of their responsibility.

Plus, today teachers are busy preparing for numerous dictations and Olympiads, organizing children's participation in various projects and events, which have been significantly intensified over the past year. Teachers are given countless tasks to gather information, provide reports instead of teaching. At the same time, sometimes tasks flying from above look like an absurdity, but they are threatened with dismissal. For example, make three phone calls using a new digital platform, and it doesn't matter who those calls are made to.

At the same time, teachers, and this is exactly how they get used to this digital system, sit down at operational meetings and make calls to each other. Or, for example, they force parents to maintain pages on our children's social networks and strictly monitor how the feed is updated, how the child's digital profile is maintained. Supposedly, teachers should know what children do after school hours, how the whole family lives.

But I would also like to note that our enemies, who also very carefully monitor all accounts and social profiles in social networks, including children, also now know what they love, how they live, what they do, and with whom future defenders of the Fatherland communicate.

It is enough to take a photo of the day of the class teacher, teacher in order to understand the full scope and load that they are experiencing now. All this needs to be sorted out and drastic measures taken, and most importantly, this huge daily work should be evaluated with dignity and justice.

In addition, Mr President, the burden on teachers is also increasing due to the large influx of children with migration histories, mainly from neighboring countries, who usually immediately become citizens of the Russian Federation and live according to our laws. According to our all-Russian monitoring, which we conducted this year, from 20 to 50 percent of children of different ages, including those already in their teens, do not speak at all or speak Russian at a very, very low level.

Teachers are forced to use flashcards in class to explain the meaning of Russian words. This infringes on the rights of those children who initially study in their native Russian language in classes. Teachers are not qualified to teach Russian as a foreign language, and there are no textbooks. And according to the departmental order approved this year, which is of a recommendatory nature for schools, teaching non-speaking children Russian is an unfunded elective: we want to learn, we want not to learn, everything is given to schools and organized as part of extracurricular activities.

The federal state educational program for teaching Russian as a foreign language is not provided at all. Thus, all the burden and problems of organizing social, cultural and, above all, language adaptation lie with teachers and schools. The quality of education in such educational institutions is significantly reduced, schools lose their positions in departmental ratings and even more lose their funding. It's a paradox.

Today, it is extremely necessary to streamline these processes. First of all, we must recognize at the legislative level, by making changes to our Federal Law" On Education in the Russian Federation", No. 273, that this group of children is students with special educational needs who need to create special conditions. These are manuals, special teacher training, and programs. It is necessary to ensure the creation of special adaptation classes for such children for intensive learning of the Russian language and gradual entry, that is, integration of such children into the educational process, into already formed classes. And, of course, further adjustment of the Federal State Educational Standards, educational programs and, of course, methodological support is necessary.

The feeling of injustice and defenselessness today also causes the possibility of arbitrariness on the part of the management of school collectives during the certification of teachers. The new system was introduced this year, but it shows even more subjective approach to the certified teacher, since certification commissions are created in the educational organization itself. There is no procedure for appealing the results, there is no court of appeal, and there are no evaluation criteria for category assignment refusals. Everything is left to the school management.

But in our opinion, special appeal commissions should be created locally, where any teacher who does not agree with the unfair decision of the attestation commission at the level of an educational organization can apply. They should be created at least at the level of municipal education management bodies, and even better-at the level of relevant regional ministries.

And about the patient. Today, anyone can easily pour dirt on any teacher in social networks, in the media, post videos, comment, post correspondence and discredit the actions of any teacher. This makes them feel insecure. Sometimes you read comments on even a seemingly decent publication: we don't have teachers, but monsters, not people with their own personal lives.

Teachers do not believe that the current initiative to create conflict commissions at the school level will work. Our parents are demanding, who treat education as a service, and are used to immediately turn to the President, who can solve the whole issue. For this, respectively, principals and teachers suffer and are dismissed.

In our opinion, the real protection of teachers can be the establishment of responsibility for the dissemination of information that discredits the status of teachers: for posting stories and comments on the Internet that discredit the dignity of teachers, by analogy with the establishment of responsibility for fakes and discrediting the actions of the army, volunteer formations, organizations and persons who help in the performance of its tasks.

The teaching profession should not be associated with the service provider. It should become a title, have its own value and weight. Our society should remember that the work of a school teacher is the selfless work of highly educated people who pass on knowledge that helps shape worldviews, pass on values to our children, our younger generation, and it is they who help educate our future defenders of the Fatherland, and this is their great contribution to the future of our nation.

I finished. Thank you very much for your attention, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. And since I represent the Institute of Commissioners for children's Rights, and because of the duty of our daily service, we constantly communicate, I personally constantly communicate with a very large civil society representing parents, representing charitable foundations, various organizations that help organizations – we have always voted for you and will continue to vote. I'm sorry I took advantage of this situation. We want to go together with you to further victories. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Ekaterina Vyacheslavovna, thank you very much. I don't even know what to react to, because everything you've said is very important.

A very sensitive and important area of activity of society and the state is the school. Teaching, textbooks, remuneration, and the prestige of the teaching profession. And the classroom manual and its regulations (I marked it for myself) - we will definitely look carefully, I will give the ministry an appropriate instruction, and the Presidential Administration will look at it.

What you said about reporting is somewhat unexpected for me. Everything related to the informatization of the teacher's work was aimed at relieving the teacher, de-bureaucratizing his work. Here you are talking about forced informatization. This is a very strange, to be honest, even unexpected for me, such a formal approach to informatization. I will also talk to the minister about this, I promise you.

Let's return again to the same, I think, acute topic of children of migrant workers. This is not an easy topic, and everything you said is simple, I wrote it down almost verbatim – of course, you need to think about solving all these issues. Children should learn, but this process should not be accompanied by a deterioration of the conditions for our children's education in school, the children of our citizens. This is a separate topic and it is impossible to pretend that this problem does not exist. I will also be sure to instruct you to prepare proposals, and I hope that you will take part in the development of these decisions. Here you can also create separate groups. There are a lot of things that can and should be done here, but there is only one thing that cannot be done: pretend that there are no problems here. They are there, it's true, you are absolutely right.

Now about all the options for discrediting teachers, teachers, teachers. Of course, this is a very important, very subtle area that must be regulated in modern ways, especially considering that we live in a modern information space. Only shouts and only bans will not solve anything here. I don't even want to go into the details right now.

This may be one of the most difficult topics that you have touched upon, but we definitely need to protect teachers from undue interference in their lives and from undue pressure on them in the information space. I repeat, we must give them time to think, think and make appropriate decisions that will change the situation for the better in terms of protecting the rights of teachers in this case.

Please, let's move on.

Vladimir Fadeev: Vladimir Vladimirovich, the next speaker is Olga Demicheva, President of the International Charitable Non-Governmental Organization "Just Aid of Dr. Lisa".

Olga Demicheva: Mr President, you have repeatedly stressed that increasing life expectancy and improving the quality of life of citizens of the Russian Federation is one of the top priorities facing the country's leadership.

Due to the large volume of tasks that are faced in the field of implementing the rights of citizens of the Russian Federation to health protection, this year, in 2023, the Human Rights Council created a working group "Health care and national conservation". The goals and objectives of this group are fully aimed at protecting the rights of our citizens to health care.

Of course, in the work of our group, we pay special attention to health care organizations in the new regions( now it is wrong to say so), in the Donbas and Novorossiya, in the returned territories. I must say that a number of your instructions regarding the integration of healthcare in these regions are being implemented successfully. In particular, I would like to note that children with serious illnesses, including orphan diseases, those children who are supported not only by the Fair Help of Dr. Lisa, but also by the Circle of Good Foundation, are children who require expensive treatment and receive this treatment.

In particular, the first child from the Luhansk People's Republic with spinal muscular atrophy – an 11-year-old girl, whom our organization has been helping since 2015-was the first child in Donbass to receive help from the Circle of Good .

I want to say a few words about this girl. Her name is Ksenia Kirdan, she is from the Luhansk Republic, she is 11 years old. She is a wheelchair user, but she is very good at drawing, and she asked me very much (I can't refuse her request) to give you a drawing drawn especially for you. Please take a look, Vladimir Vladimirovich, she drew and named this drawing " Moscow. Kremlin. Putin". I'll pass it through the protocol service for you. I couldn't refuse her request.

Vladimir Putin:Please convey my best wishes to Ksenia and let her recover. Thank you very much for this gift.

Olga Demicheva: Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I will definitely tell her. I think she will see this show.

I would like to say separately that medical workers of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions are actively involved in the system of providing care according to the protocols and clinical recommendations of the Russian Federation. We try to provide them with comprehensive assistance in this regard, in particular, together with the Russian Association of Nurses, we regularly hold large seminars, which are conducted by specialist doctors, in order to integrate nurses into modern methods of care and patient care.

And from the doctors of the Donetsk Republic who continue to work under the shelling… Yesterday, two children were injured again in Donetsk, and these children, fortunately, have already received the necessary assistance. One child is heavy, but everything is done for him, he will live and will not be disabled. From the doctors of Donetsk, I want to give you this book, it is called "The Hospital that did not exist". This book is about how first aid to the defenders of the young republic has been organized in the Donetsk People's Republic since 2014.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

I would now like to turn to your instructions given in 2020 and 2022, which directly relate to the organization of social and medical assistance to people without a fixed place of residence. I have already addressed you with these questions, but some points need to be worked out.

You have instructed to ensure that these citizens have their documents restored, including through the state services system at their actual location, and to exercise their right to a pension, health protection, and regular medical and social assistance. The Human Rights Council, as well as State structures, is working on these tasks, and there is some progress. In particular, new social adaptation centers are being created in the organization of social services. With the help of regional and central grant support, socially oriented NGOs provide serious assistance to citizens without a specific place of residence, socialize them, restore their documents, although not always successfully due to the obstacles that MFC employees sometimes put up on the ground, but we're working on it. Socialization is a very difficult job, but it is possible to do it thanks to the fact that centers are being created, such as, in particular, in the "Fair help of Dr. Lisa "Center for Homeless People "Green Light", where people can not only wash, change into clean clothes, get help from a psychologist, get help from a narcologist, find a job, get directions to the hostel.

But as for the problems with providing medical care to these citizens, serious gaps remain. Despite the fact that the instructions for organizing emergency and urgent medical care have been completed, and this is being done, planned medical care, regular and long-term care for these people is practically unavailable. This applies to citizens with cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and chronic infections, including socially significant ones such as HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C. This applies to people after amputations, fractures, and oral surgeries who need to be cared for, but they are discharged from hospitals almost nowhere and turn to charitable organizations, which overwhelmingly do not have a medical license, because this is specialized care that we cannot provide in charitable organizations.

We have isolated precedents when homeless veterans of the SVO applied for help, including after injuries and amputations. We are working on each of these cases separately, and they deserve special attention. It is necessary to create care, rehabilitation, and palliative care beds for such people. These beds are almost nowhere to be found. Homeless people with disabilities, at best, are placed in shelters of non-profit organizations or religious organizations, at worst-they end up on the street.

I ask you to give instructions on providing the full amount of necessary medical care to Russian citizens, even those who do not have documents. In fact, this is real, we have a positive experience – the experience of the Tyumen region, where the charity organization "Mercy" is a non-profit organization, but it, in cooperation with government agencies and the Orthodox Church, received a medical license, and allowed absolutely all homeless people in the Tyumen region who need medical care to receive this assistance at all stages.

I ask you to give instructions to study and disseminate the Tyumen experience of organizing medical care for homeless people. No citizen of our country should be placed in a situation where they are deprived of the necessary medical care. Our working group will study such cases, look for ways to solve problems and inform you about how your instructions are executed and how the rights of Russian citizens to health protection are respected.

I would like to take this opportunity to express the support of my colleagues. And in greater Russia, as they say, and in the Donbass, and in Novorossiya, and in Zaporozhye, we, the medical community, are for you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

I think that our colleagues here have already made reservations that both Novorossiya and Donbass are part of greater Russia.

The topic you raised is very sensitive. People who, due to various circumstances – I won't even say why now – find themselves on the streets, without a place of permanent residence, often without a job, of course, need special attention from society. After all, probably, what happened to each person is a significant part of their fault, but also of society as a whole. So the whole society is one that allows such people to appear-that's the whole point.

If this is the case, then we should all think about how to fix the situation – as much as possible. Let's see what this experience of the Tyumen region is, and together we will think about what and how it can be applied and replicated throughout the country.

Thank you so much for raising this issue. I would like to ask you to continue working with your colleagues from the Government and the Administration on this topic, and to pass on to them everything that you consider necessary to use in order to make appropriate adjustments in the direction of this line of work.

Thank you very much.

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, Eva Mikhailovna Merkacheva is the next speaker, a columnist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

Elena Merkacheva: Good evening!

You have already mentioned the topic of detention and the fight against torture. I would like to start now by expanding on the two topics and offering some solutions to the problem.

In fact, as far as remand in custody is concerned, about 13 regions currently have an excessive number of people behind bars. It's just about the pre-trial detention center. The Supreme Court, pursuant to your instructions, has prepared a bill prohibiting the detention of people suspected of nonviolent crimes. I would like to ask you to support him and I would like this ban to apply not only to pregnant women with young children, but also to everyone, absolutely everyone.

At least a third of the prisoners could wait for the investigation to end on their own recognizance or on bail. By the way, we do not apply bail at all, although it is provided for by law, and this is nonsense. Meanwhile, people in many cases would be ready to throw themselves off, especially when teachers are behind bars (we are talking about the shortage of teachers, but teachers are also in jail, including on charges of economic crimes), these people are accused, as I said, of crimes that are not related to the state of education. However, they do not pose any threat to society. And if they were left at home, they could be with their families, continue to work, continue to benefit. Instead, they sit in cells, in concrete "bags" for five or six years before sentencing, and this is not an exaggeration.

By the way, here you need to give a comparative analysis. During the Soviet era, the investigation of even the most complex case sometimes took two or three months, and court decisions were made in a few days. How did it happen that now we have a very long investigation even in the simplest cases, and then the court can consider the case indefinitely? This is probably a question worth analyzing, and that's what I'm asking you to do. Despite the fact that, I will note that in the Soviet years there were no phone billing, there were no surveillance cameras, but somehow they could investigate quickly and not keep people in jail.

As for torture. A law has been passed that toughens the responsibility for torture, and thank you very much for that. But many victims of torture are now afraid to talk about them publicly, and even if they do, criminal cases against the perpetrators are rarely initiated, and the victims themselves are repressed and therefore refuse to testify.

The late Andrey Vladimirovich Babushkin and I once received numerous testimonies of torture. So all these people, and according to our inner conviction or taking into account the facts that we have heard, they were really tortured, in the end they all ended up in the same colonies or pre-trial detention centers that they complained about. That is, they were in the hands and are still in the hands of those who tortured them. Of course, many of them have already retracted their statements. Even when cases go to court, they are refused at this stage.

And the investigation of torture cases is extremely sluggish. This is due to the fact that they are conducted by regional investigative committees, but they are not interested. And what's more, I can say that the investigative committees in the regions interact with the prison staff, they have a well-established work schedule, so they are able to:… What can I say, such a story is very common when the investigator, the regional prosecutor and the chief jailer are very close friends, they are friends of their families. Therefore, I repeat, such investigations do not end in anything.

Two simple solutions that could stop torture, here are two simple ones, here I ask for them. The first is for the person who complained about torture to be transferred to institutions in another region. And the second thing is that cases of torture should be investigated not at the local regional level, but by the central office of the TFR. I think that it will be possible to create a similar unit, they would go and investigate on the ground.

The next topic that I would like to raise is huge sentences. In general, the number of non-custodial sentences is growing, and this is remarkable. But against this background, the terms for those who are still sentenced to real imprisonment have increased. I am now talking about [punishments] for nonviolent crimes. In general, the timing seems wild– 7, 10, 15, 20, 24 two years for a crime that resulted in no injuries, no casualties, and no deaths.

Article 2 of the Criminal Code puts first the task of protecting human rights and freedoms, and then property, public order, and so on. But today, people get two to three times less for rape and murder with extreme cruelty than for any other economic crime. This is a phenomenon in fact.

I'll give you an example. A colleague, journalist Bayazitova, who was accused of a nonviolent crime, allegedly asked for money from a banker in a telegram channel to block negative information, was asked for 14 years by the prosecutor, and 14 years for a female journalist. In my opinion, the injured banker himself was shocked by this, because at the trial he asked: it is not necessary to sentence her to real imprisonment. The court eventually sentenced not to 14, but five. But this is a huge amount for a girl with diabetes, who did not kill anyone, and the victim, again, does not want to be sent to prison. But she is still in the pre-trial detention center and, apparently, will go to the colony for five years.

I will note that in general, our average sentence for murder is 6-8 years.

Huge sentences for nonviolent crimes are a phenomenon that has emerged in recent years. And it seems as if our life expectancy has increased, I don't know, by 2-3 times. But that didn't happen. So what guides those people who ask for, I repeat, these deadlines.

Article 43 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that punishment is applied in order to restore social justice, as well as to correct the convicted person and prevent the commission of new crimes. So, long periods of time do not carry any correctional function. It is proved that after five years of being in prison, irreversible mental changes occur, and then it is very difficult to integrate a person into society.

I ask you to give instructions to review the criminal policy in the sphere of punishing nonviolent crimes with such huge terms.

From this topic, I will turn to young people convicted under the "people's" article 228-these are drugs. They are sentenced (as an example) on average, I calculated, for terms from 8 to 18 years. We have about 100 thousand such people. In some colonies, the number of young men and women under article 228 already reaches 80 percent.

Experts predict a sharp increase in the prison population in the long term precisely because of the colossal terms that are currently given under Article 228. Drugs are terrible, no one argues, long deadlines and part of today's state policy in the field of combating drug addiction, but let me say that this does not work. The authors of this concept, apparently, were guided by American practice.

In the United States in the 80s, during the drug epidemic, they began to sentence for crimes in the field of drug trafficking for a colossal period, up to life. Soon the prisons there were overflowing, because prisoners were not released, and new ones kept coming in. This led to the fact that they had nowhere to place them, they even began to place prisoners on ships.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, there are other ways to fight the drug epidemic. I am asking for a review of the anti-drug policy.

Within its framework, ban, for example, dubious advertising about hiring couriers in order to earn big money, about creating social videos about drug penalties, attract real drug dealers, and not the so-called pawnbrokers, who are the lowest link in this whole chain, or reduce the sentences of convicted young people under 228 who committed crimes. crime for the first time.

In general, I ask you to instruct us to develop a system for preventing crimes among young people in general. Now, in fact, it does not exist. Law enforcement officers in confidential conversations admit that they are required to pay, and this is the main problem. That is, if they prevented a crime, talked to the young man, let him go, they will not get anything for it. But if they, even if he is standing on the edge of the pit, still did so in order to push him there, maybe provoke him somewhere - for this they will have rewards and everything else. This is the main problem. I would like us to have just crime prevention, so that law enforcement officers would receive awards and commendations for it, and not vice versa, as now.

The following. Today, artificial intelligence has been used in the investigation of crimes, especially in previous years, which leads to tragedy in the present. Few of us, let me say, can remember where we were 20-25 years ago. I, for one, can't remember. To prove that they were there at that moment, even if they remembered, is impossible, simply impossible. But even those who can, were powerless before artificial intelligence. I will also give the scientist Tsvetkov a concrete example of this: artificial intelligence revealed that the sketch of a female killer compiled in 2003, that is, 20 years ago, coincides by 55 percent with it. He was detained at the airport after the expedition. And the most interesting thing is that everything was documented for him precisely because he is a hydrologist. Professors and doctors of science, including the director of the Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, were with him during the days when the murders were committed in Moscow, and they are surprised, they say :" How can the investigation not believe us? We talk, we show photos, we show the results of laboratory tests, we testify that he was with us many kilometers away." But the investigation has kept the scientist in jail for almost a year. And all they have is the testimony of an artificial intelligence and a criminal who can actually point a finger at anyone. In general, there is a great danger in these crimes of the past years when people who are on a life sentence or in special regime colonies remember these crimes. They have nothing to lose, and they are ready to give any testimony, and people suffer from this, because it is possible that there is a falsification.

I would ask you to instruct the Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court to study the practice of using artificial intelligence, together with the testimony of people in prison, during the investigation of crimes of the past years.

Next year is the Year of the family. Much is said about the need to hold the desire of women to give birth. But if a prisoner gives birth, she is returned from the hospital to the pre-trial detention center in two hours. We had such precedents, just recently in Moscow there was: a woman gave birth, two hours later she was sent to the pre-trial detention center, she could not recover. The child was left in the hospital, and she did not see him for many, many days. In general, what happens? That a little person does not communicate with his mother at all for the first important hours, but also days.

What's going on in the colonies? If a woman is there with a child, the child is ill, the child is taken away and taken to the hospital, where he can be a month or more, because he is being treated. They don't put my mother with him, and all because there is no convoy, and they refuse to put these women without an escort. In other words, it turns out that society and the state are punishing these unfortunate children in this way.

I believe that this problem could have been solved if you had given the order, and I think that this would have happened.

But in general, mothers with children behind bars are, of course, nonsense. I would ask you to pardon all women who have minor children and who are suspected or already convicted of nonviolent crimes. Let mothers and their babies come home.

And I ask for a general pardon for all women who have committed nonviolent crimes for the first time, in cases where there are no victims or those who are not against their release. Let them be at home, let them start families and give birth.

I am sure that this step of mercy on the part of the state will change a lot for the whole country. It will show that mercy is possible in all situations and that mercy is above justice. This is the highest justice.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Eva Mikhailovna, I have a few comments about what you were talking about.

First, detention, bail, and recognizance not to leave. Yes, unfortunately. But recognizance not to leave is quite widely used, and the number of people who are in custody, the number of people who are under recognizance not to leave, the number of those who are in custody has decreased, in my opinion, by 10 percent, and the choice of other preventive measures has increased by 11 percent recently. Therefore, this process is underway.

Now you said you even wrote it down: in Soviet times, they could somehow investigate quickly. But we need to work with you so that we don't" somehow " investigate, but quickly and efficiently. Of course, there are a lot of questions here, but I cannot disagree with you, and I can see that very often, unfortunately, the time spent in custody is too long, and this is generally unacceptable. And, of course, we cannot assume that all issues have been resolved here.

You have such an accusatory bias. You said that the chief jailer often has family friends with the prosecutor and so on. What does "jailer", "chief jailer" mean? But, of course, you are probably right in saying that it would be desirable, we need to look at it, think about it, these are still issues related to material support, and it would be possible to transfer such issues to the top, especially with regard to torture, which I am referring to now – to transfer these investigations up. By the way, refusing to give initial testimony – well, you know, life is complex and diverse, and this is also such, frankly, there is also a trick: they talk about something, then they refuse to give their testimony. This is life, I repeat, a complex thing, so here you need to pay very close attention to these processes.

Whether you can immediately transfer to other correctional institutions – I'm just not ready to answer right now. Probably, it would be better if everything happened like this, in any case, you can definitely think about it. But also absolutely, we should think about transferring the consideration of cases of this kind higher, to another level.

Now about excessively cruel treatment of people who have not committed crimes related to the life and health of other people. As a rule, these are crimes-violations of the law in the field of economic activity, too harsh punishments, you said. I will now begin, and then finish in this part my reaction to what you said.

You know, in some countries, it is no coincidence that, for example, for tax crimes or for violating the norms in the field of cartel activities, such penalties are provided that, it would seem, are also too strict, even too cruel. But this is a conscious position of the state and the legislator, because the legislator reacts to those manifestations that he, the legislator, considers most dangerous from the point of view of the interests of the state during certain periods of its development.

And causing damage to the state, for example, in the economic sphere, for example, in the field of antimonopoly activities, cartel collusion or tax crimes, by a legislator can be considered crimes of great public significance, because they cause significant damage to a large circle of individuals or the state as a whole.

And yet, and yet I think you're right. The examples that you have given, of course, do not really fit in my head, when there are for certain actions that clearly violate, of course, the law, but nevertheless the terms there are seven or ten years. In my opinion, as a citizen of the Russian Federation, these things are controversial, let's say so carefully, controversial.

Let's take another look at all this together and address the State Duma, the Government and the public. Together, the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor's Office, we will all think about what needs to be done here and how to improve both the legislation and law enforcement practice.

Now, as for drugs, it's also a subtle question. I think you will agree with me. Yes, I know that our so-called prison population is probably already largely formed at the expense of those who violate the law in the field of illicit drug trafficking. Do we need to liberalize something here? We definitely need to improve something. If you and I were to ask parents who have lost their children to drug abuse and say that you and I want to lower the bar of responsibility for those who they believe are responsible for the deaths of their children, they would probably not praise us.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to carefully monitor what is happening in this area and carefully analyze where tougher punishment leads to a decrease in crime, and where it is exorbitant and does not fulfill its functions. It is necessary to analyze carefully with specialists. But if you think that this requires attention from the state, we will do so.

Artificial intelligence is a complex topic and the field of big data. It works very effectively in many areas. If there are any failures, we need to analyze them and draw appropriate conclusions.

As for women in prison, the examples you have given are convincing, and I think that appropriate decisions should be prepared and adopted, including on granting amnesty to certain categories of women who are in prison.

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, Marina Magomednebievna Akhmedova is the editor-in-chief of the Regnum news Agency.

Marina has been working in the Donbas since 2014, and she has written over a hundred reports.

Maria Akhmedova: Good afternoon, Mr President!

Immediately after the liberation of Mariupol, we started feeding its residents. Four times a week, we brought hot meals for women, children, the elderly, and anyone else who was hungry. Every day we fed about fifteen hundred people, and most importantly, we brought them drinking water. At that time, there was no electricity or water in Mariupol, and we cooked everything in Donetsk and took everything to Mariupol on such roads.

Gradually, of course, life in Mariupol began to improve, but in Donetsk at the same time, because of the constant shelling, residents are suffering even more poverty. Although we do not abandon Mariupol, because there is still someone to feed-these are the same children, mothers with many children,the elderly, the sick, but nevertheless six months ago we decided to constantly feed the districts of Donetsk.

When we went there, people came out very sad, gloomy people, and especially one grandfather: he never smiled, and we even thought that he was angry with us for something. And one day we arrived, and he was smiling. Nothing has changed, Ukraine also continues to fire, but he just realized that the help will be constant, that there are people in Russia who need it. Since then, he always comes out to us with a smile.

I say "we" – we did, we organized, but I mean a very large group of people: tens of thousands of people for feeding in Mariupol, in the Kuibyshev district of Donetsk, in the villages of Gornyak, Grabari, Lozovskaya, and most importantly, for drinking water for hospitals and water for the hospital on Abakumov and this place is quite difficult in terms of combat operations, our volunteers go there.

Tens of thousands of people actually collect money. It has been going on for almost two years, and I was very worried that now, in 2023, people will get tired, and they will stop helping us. And those people who are already counting on us will be left without help. But surprisingly, even more people began to join the help, and now even more. And I personally explain this to myself by the fact that in February 2022, not all people, like us, could form their own idea of what is happening. Gradually, during these two years, they observed, drew their own conclusions, and joined the help.

And with the same money that we collect, there is a drone school in the Donetsk People's Republic, which we also opened. Its technical organizer is my colleague Yuri Leonov. What is a school? They send fighters from different units there, who learn to fly for two weeks from morning to evening. At first glance, the school is nothing special at all, just a basement, and HIMARS have already flown there twice. And we even joke that you don't have to put your eggs in one basket, by eggs we mean our teachers-operators and drones bought with people's money. The school has been operating for more than a year, and it has saved, I think, hundreds of lives, the children return to their units prepared, they can protect themselves and they can protect their comrades.

About a year ago, I met a woman in Moscow, she is from the Lipetsk region, and she looked very upset, her eyes were constantly watering. I asked her what had happened. She said that her mobilized brother was killed. I asked her then: After your brother's death, were you disappointed in a special military operation? And she said that after the death of her brother, all her brothers went to volunteer, and her father sold the car and sent the money to the needs of the front.

Since then, this village is busy every day weaving nets, relatives-soldiers send them photos of the area, they look at the fabric, choose colors, weave, and even a girl blind from birth weaves with them. They make trench candles, cook stew, and in the house where cooking takes place, someone constantly pulls something from the villagers: some-a goose, some-a rabbit, some – a pig. And the soldier put the stew on a trench candle, warmed it up – and it was very tasty.

When I told my readers about these people, they themselves suggested: let's raise money for their machines and materials. And we did it. And then I went to the Noah social home. A social home is a home where old people live, they are homeless or their family has abandoned them, they have nowhere to go. They were making mats then, and no one was buying these mats. And they asked me to: "And we also want to make nets for the front." And these girls from the Lipetsk region came to them and taught them how to weave nets, left the machines.

The social home itself is maintained at the expense of the salaries of men who live in labor homes. These are men who drink, are also homeless, they live independently, work and give 25 percent to these old people. Some of these men have also already volunteered. And now older people are making social networks, and these networks regularly go to the front, and they are happy because they feel needed.

And in the Belgorod region, mothers with many children bake pies. And this is a lot of pies, this is a lot of pies that go to the front line. There they have the main baker-a mother of seven children, a single mother. They themselves collect for flour, for stuffing. Of course, we helped them and collected money for a large oven and the same flour, for filling, but I asked them: you are in need yourself, you have many children, why do you help, it's you who should help. And they answered me: and that's why we help because we have many children. In large families, a child is taught to share from childhood. And then I thought that we in Russia now have all become almost like large families to each other, because we have learned to share because of OUR own. And I think that's what you meant when you said that family is a spiritual phenomenon. Well, I think so.

I don't have any requests, I just wanted to tell you about how civil society is mobilized in general.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. As you said, these small matters are of great importance for our entire nation. Thank you very much and everyone who is involved in this activity. thank you.

Please, is there anything else?

Vladimir Fadeev: Mr President, we have been working for almost two hours. How's your schedule?

Vladimir Putin: A couple of questions... if you have any questions or…

Vladimir Fadeev: There are many of them, Mr President. Let's ask two questions. Fixing it.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Vladimir Fadeev: Kirill Glebovich Kaleda, Archpriest, rector of the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Butovo.

Father Cyril, please.

Kirill Kaleda: Mr President, good evening!

I will traditionally speak about the topic of preserving historical memory, about our dead and injured compatriots during the Soviet era.

It would seem that in our difficult time, the difficult historical period that we are currently going through, this topic may fade into the background, but nevertheless, the attitude to this topic is like a litmus test of how our society treats the value of human life and the value of the human person.

In 2015, a Government decree approved the Concept of [State Policy] to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression. In 2019, this concept was extended. By your decree, a special interdepartmental group was created to implement this state concept. And quite a lot has been done since then: a very serious historical and archival research on this topic has been conducted, "memory books" have been created and published in many regions, and monuments and monuments in memory of the victims have been erected in many places.

And of course, it is impossible not to recall that in 2017 you opened the memorial [to the memory of victims of political repression "Wall of Sorrow"] in the city of Moscow, on October 30, 2017. This was a very important step in the field of this activity.

Museums have been established in many regions and are being developed. In particular, of course, we should recall and mention the activities of the Gulag History Museum in Moscow.

In 2023 ,the [Russian] Military Historical Society joined this activity. Members of the interdepartmental group regularly make trips to the regions, where, on the one hand, members of the group get acquainted with how this activity is carried out in a particular region, and on the other hand, methodological assistance is provided in solving certain issues. The fact that this topic continues to be relevant is evidenced by the fact that this activity is now actively involved not the children of the victims and not even grandchildren, but great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. In other words, this topic remains relevant.

As you know, the Russian Orthodox Church is very involved in this area of activity. In particular, with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, a number of events are planned for 2025 to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Patriarch Tikhon-Patriarch of Moscow, the confessor.

The issue of holding an exhibition of sketches for the painting "Rus Leaving"by Pavel Korin is being considered at the Tretyakov Gallery. The artist came up with the idea of this painting under the impression of the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon. And this painting is undoubtedly a masterpiece of our Russian painting and a very important historical document. Unfortunately, due to technical reasons, the general public has not been able to get acquainted with these important masterpieces of our art for a long time.

Unfortunately, this concept ends in just a few weeks at the end of this year. Despite a lot of work done, a number of issues remain unresolved.

We are very far from fulfilling the precepts of Anna Akhmatova "I would like to name everyone by name". It is necessary to continue archival historical research. Unfortunately, despite the fact that you have given relevant instructions, special legislation on the preservation and memorialization of mass graves has not yet been developed.

A number of issues remain unresolved. In this regard, on behalf of the members of the interdepartmental group, which includes a number of members of our Council, and on behalf of our Council members, I would like to ask you to give instructions on extending the actions of the state concept for perpetuating the memory of victims of political repression until 2029. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: You know, Kirill Glebovich, when we talk about victims of political repression, we mean a wide variety of people. These are also those who really opposed the Soviet system. And supporters, but those who ended up behind bars for various domestic political reasons: because they were included in the list, or were actually members of some Soviet internal political groups, groups that fought among themselves, and as a result of these clashes were among the repressed. There were completely random people there. All of this is important, but for us something else is more important.

It is more important for us that nothing like this happens again in the history of our country, because all this has caused huge, difficult damage to our people and our state. And the absence of the right as such to decide the fate of people, it is unacceptable if we want the country to have a future. That's what's important. And in this regard, the conclusion: of course, this work should be continued.

Please move on.

Vladimir Fadeev: Thank you, Mr President.

It was very important for us. I am the head of this group by your decree, and we will try to extend it.

Irina V. Borovova, President of the All-Russian Public Organization of patient Care "Association of Cancer Patients "Hello".

Irina Borovova: Thank you very much.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, I would like to convey to you the words of gratitude from cancer patients. You have already heard the minister's report on the achievements of the Fight against Cancer program, which really exists in the country, and we strongly ask that the program be extended, although next year you will hear a more complete report. We are very much looking forward to extending the program, because we need a program document, and not just such constant system work.

But I would like to focus on people with disabilities today. In 2006, you adopted Decree No. 1455, which allowed people caring for severely disabled people to receive a monetary allowance of 1,200 rubles. And these people, while receiving allowances, unfortunately do not have the opportunity to work. On the one hand, it was assistance, and at that time it was really a sufficient measure that made it possible to improve the state of life of severely disabled people who need the help of strangers, in the care of strangers.

But at the moment, a lot of time has passed since 2006, and now, unfortunately, nothing has changed. These people who provide care do not have the right to work, but they actually provide full-fledged round-the-clock care. Despite what we can see, there is an area of work that can be performed remotely now, which can be performed at any free moment, when, for example, a person is resting.

But, unfortunately, these people are subjected to a punishing history here. Article 159 of the Criminal Code, which states fraud with social payments, and here, unfortunately, we see facts when people are really punished, including penalties in the financial sense.

We kindly ask you to reconsider your attitude to care in general. It turns out that a person with a severe disability, to whom this allowance in the form of a pension is paid so that he can afford to buy some technical equipment, consumables, something else, in addition to the fact that he is provided by the state, nutritional food, and so on. That is, what is needed for him.

So it turns out that the person who takes care of him, receiving 1200 rubles, must actually live on the same pension, because we are well aware that in modern conditions such an amount does not allow us to eat, live, or pay for housing.

Moreover, there is, of course, a whole complex here, the train goes for these people – this is the accounting of the retirement age and so on. I strongly ask you to review this decree altogether and give it a modern look.

Today we have already made a few words dedicated to the Year of the Family. As a mother of many children, as a mother of seven children, I ask you very much to federalize the concept of"large family".

What do I mean by that? As you know, the Moscow family ID card does not allow me to enjoy the benefits of a large family, for example, even in the Moscow region. If I can park my car right here, near the Presidential Administration, for free and take my children to Red Square with seven people, then I can't do it in the suburbs. Because it's going to cost me a pretty penny to park my car, and I'm very hesitant about whether or not to take it. I would very much like us to have a clear understanding of who this family is, so that the ID card is a Russian, All-Russian family.

And, you know, the last time I came across an absolute nonsense: I came to change my passport at the age of 45, and they didn't want to enter my children who were 14 years old. I was startled. I gave birth to these children, and I am proud that they are my children, Russian citizens. But I was told, " No, Mummy, now you prove that these children are yours with their birth certificates." That is, if I want to say somewhere that I am a mother of seven children, they will tell me: "Where are the birth certificates? And you only have half of it in your passport." We are a large segment of the population, and, of course, in the Year of the Family, if such positive steps are taken as you did, just a breakthrough, when it was the Year of the Mother and the Year of the Child, I think that the Year of the family will also remain in our great memory.

And we absolutely support you with our hands, and with a large number of hands, Mr Putin, and all over the country. We respect and appreciate you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Do you have any birth certificates for your children?

I. Borovova: You know, it's just now being given out easily. I came to the MFC, and in 10 minutes-by the way, a great good deed-you were issued a new one.

Vladimir Putin: Well, you see.

Irina Borovova: It's just not very convenient to carry such a pile of papers, and my passport is my document that certifies me from all sides, including as a mother with many children.

Vladimir Putin: Well, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on such a family, which is a blessing, of course, and I wish all the best to your family, to all families in Russia, and in this case, of course, to families with many children.

As for excessive bureaucracy – well, probably, you need to think about it. You can also translate it into an electronic format, so that there is no excessive load when performing any necessary actions with documents. Let's think about it, I will definitely formulate such an assignment to my colleagues.

As for the status of a large family. This is not the first time we have raised this issue. You know, this is also due to the fact that today at the regional level, for example, Moscow has certain financial opportunities, while in other regions of the country such opportunities may not exist. Therefore, car parking is only one aspect of this issue, it is not the most important, there are other components. But you are right, of course: the status should be, and it should be all-Russian, not local, and we will definitely think about it, you are absolutely right here.

Finally, yesterday was the Day of the Disabled, and it is very good that you have now raised this important topic, which concerns millions of people in our country.

This also applies to the allowance for the care of disabled people. 1,200 rubles is not a lot of money, and we have already accepted some questions of this kind, by the way, in relation to parents who take care of children, but in general, the same can be extended to those who take care of disabled people, regardless of age. Because what is the point of prohibiting people from working, even if our unemployment rate tends to zero – we have three percent unemployment today, this has never been the case. Well, why forbid people to work, pull them out of the labor market? Moreover, you are right, you can work remotely, and I don't see any damage to the state here.

I promise you that I will raise this issue with the Government. Of course, such conditions should be created here so that it does not create problems from the point of view of abuse. But this is only a matter of legal technique, you just need to think about it, and in fact you are absolutely right, I support you.

Thank you so much for asking this question.

Will we finish it?

Vladimir Fadeev: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: I want to thank all of you for such active work throughout the year and I would like to ask you not to slow down the pace of this work. You can see how important it is for the country, and perhaps even more important is that the specific people you help need it.

Thank you very much and Happy New Year to you.

Thank you. Goodbye.

Yes, there’re problems, but they’re being discussed and solutions are sought. Isn’t that Good Governance? And these issues are discussed annually in this format and constantly by the organizations named and more. Hope you caught some of the philosophies provided, particularly those regarding sociocultural responsibility.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!