Not Just Another Government Meeting: You Never Know What to Expect

Another lesson in Russian Governance and a long read.

Earlier this year I reported about the floods Russia was experiencing and detailed how Putin was overseeing their emergency management. There’s some feedback in this report related to that and other weather-related events as well as seasonal happenings. The point is when you go to the Kremlin’s website and see “Meeting with Government members” as the event’s topic, you’ll never know in advance what to expect. And even once you open that page, Putin almost always says the following sentence: “But before we start discussing the stated main topic, there’re several current issues.” After that the lead topic is announced, but the remainder aside from the main topic is still unknown. So, being a veteran of such surprises, I just go with the flow to see if readers will find the information useful and interesting. Recently, getting some Russian websites to open has become a challenge because of cyber- attacks launched by NATO against it. I wanted to provide additional info related to some of the topics covered but was prevented, which is very annoying—not nearly as intrusive and a violation of my rights as was meted out to Scott Ritter, but similar nonetheless as we’re kept from freely associating with whom we choose.

It often appears that Russia has few problems of governance because of the great job Team Putin performs, but that’s not the case as Putin is always saying. The major reason for Putin’s Direct Line talkathon primarily with Russian people is to discover problems so they can be solved as well as their suggestions for improvements. Direct Line is also a form of direct democracy no Western nation wants to admit occurs. Yes, that’s a hint for the content that follows. As the above photo suggests, Putin does more than listen during these discussions.

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

Summer has begun, and the tourist season is already in full swing, so let's talk about it today: the main topic is the development of automobile tourism in Russia.

But before we start discussing the stated main topic, here are a few current issues. One of them is the progress of the sowing campaign. Unfortunately, in 21 regions of Russia, frosts have passed and a little more than one percent of the crop has died – about 1.2 percent.

Oksana Nikolaevna, how does the situation look today?

O. Lut : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Currently, the sowing campaign in the country is coming to an end. As of June 4, almost 50 million hectares were sown with spring crops, which is 90 percent of the planned area.

In the current season, due to difficult weather conditions, there is a slight lag behind the pace of sowing – we are about 2-3 days behind, but by June 10 we should finish all the sowing.

In general, the total sown area for this year, including winter and spring crops, has been increased by 300 thousand hectares, and this will amount to 84.5 million hectares. In a week, some regions of the South and North Caucasus are already planning to start harvesting a new crop.

I will focus separately on the provision of farmers with resources and means of production. The need for seeds is completely closed, and this year, of course, the priority was given to domestic breeding. The situation with the availability of plant protection products in the regions remains stable. Thanks to the systematic measures taken, the purchase of mineral fertilizers is proceeding normally. Since the beginning of the year, farmers have already purchased 2.8 million tons, which is 74 thousand tons more than last year.

Preferential programs of Rosagroleasing continue to operate for the purchase of agricultural machinery, the company has already delivered about eight thousand units. Also, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, we are implementing a plan to purchase basic types of equipment.

As for fuel and lubricants, prices are now lower than during the peak growth period in September last year. There was no information about fuel shortages and interruptions in its supply from the regions. We are constantly monitoring this issue with the Ministry of Energy and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, the provision of basic resources to farmers is under special control, we pay close attention to this in the framework of the operational headquarters and in the framework of field meetings, we do not allow failures.

As you noted, this year was not an easy one for us. In 21 regions, there were really unfavorable weather conditions. Recurrent frosts affected Central Russia, the Volga region, the South and the Luhansk People's Republic and led to the death of more than a million hectares of crops – about 1.2 percent of the total area. I would like to note that currently the vast majority of these areas have already been re-sown.

About 700 thousand hectares were also affected, of which 600 thousand are grain crops, and there will be a decrease in yield on these areas. More than 13.5 thousand hectares of perennial fruit and berry plantations were also damaged.

As a result of this situation, 11 regions at their level have introduced a state of emergency, taking into account the scale of damage. For a number of them, the Ministry of Agriculture initiated the issue of introducing a federal emergency regime.

From the very beginning, we have been in constant contact with the regional authorities, farmers,as well as insurance companies that are now actively working in the fields, activating damage.

The issue of these payments is being resolved online. According to insurers, the deadline is no more than 10 days from the date of the company's request. As of the current date, the volume of insurance payments has already reached 600 million rubles.

Dear colleagues, I will briefly outline the preliminary production forecasts below.

Despite all the difficulties that I have outlined, we maintain our expectations for the grain harvest at the level of 132 million tons and oilseeds at the level of 28 million tons. This volume will be sufficient to fully support the domestic market and maintain a significant export potential for both raw materials and processed products. Separately, I would like to note that grain exports in the coming season are expected to reach 60 million tons.

We plan to produce 45.5 million tons of sugar beet, 7.3 million tons of potatoes in the organized sector, and 7.4 million tons of vegetables in the organized sector. That is, we are going according to plan here, the weather situation has not affected us.

Separately, I would like to say that we will fully meet the needs of our livestock breeders in terms of the yield of forage crops, taking into account the passing residues, which will become the basis for further development of the industry.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, These results in the main areas of crop production will help to maintain a stable situation along the entire production chain and avoid sharp price fluctuations in the market. The country's food security will certainly be ensured.

The report is finished. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: In connection with these frosts, we will not be left without apples? In general, how many apples do we cover the market needs with our own production?

Oksana Lut: Mr President, last year we harvested 1.7 million tons of apples. Every year we increase. For this year, we set ourselves a plan – 1.8 million, even more, but unfortunately, the frosts affected. This is the main type of product affected by the frost, so now we are lowering the forecast to 1.5 million tons.

We have already started working with our partner countries and friendly countries on the supply of additional apples. We started doing this in advance, so that the situation with frosts does not affect the price situation in any way. Accordingly, we have current countries-Azerbaijan, Belarus, Serbia, from which we obtain volumes [of apples]. We can slightly increase them, respectively, in stock there are Iran and Turkey, which produce a large volume of apples. Here we started discussing with our colleagues additional supplies of apples to the territory of Russia in the corresponding season.

Nevertheless, I would like to point out here that we will see if the southern regions will still add volumes for apples this season, and we will consider the delta that we need to ensure the domestic market. But we will certainly do this in advance.

Vladimir Putin: Please tell us again what additional measures to support agricultural producers you are planning.

Oksana Lut: In principle, the main measure of support that we have provided in the framework of such bad weather conditions is agricultural insurance. We allocate five billion rubles for agricultural insurance annually. This year, we insured about 14 percent of all our acreage. Quite a lot of the sown areas just got into this unpleasant weather situation (frosts), for which insurance payments will now be made.

We are working very actively with insurance companies to ensure that all those who need to receive their insurance payments receive them on time and in full.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

The governor of the Lipetsk region Artamonov Igor Georgievich takes part in our work.

Igor Georgievich, how does the situation look from the regions today?

I. Artamonov : Vladimir Vladimirovich, good afternoon! Good afternoon, dear colleagues!

The agro-industrial complex of the Lipetsk region is one of the leaders in many areas: investments in agriculture are being actively attracted, and production volumes are growing. In 2023, we entered the top 10 exporting regions and the top 5 fruit and berry producing regions.

This year, the total sown area is 1.4 million hectares, including 340 thousand hectares of winter crops. Spring sowing was normal, but, of course, the May frosts led to the death of agricultural crops on an area of 44 thousand hectares, of which, what is terrible, 3.1 thousand hectares are perennial fruit and berry plantations. It was decided to introduce emergency situations at the regional level.

Most of the affected farms had an insurance fund for seeds, and the dead crops were quickly re-sown. Part of the area is insured, and currently insurance companies are reimbursing the damage.

The situation is more serious in fruit and berry fields, with orchards and berry fields significantly affected. Last year, we harvested a record harvest for the region – more than 80 thousand tons, and this year we plan a significant increase, since in recent years more than 20 billion investments have been attracted to the industry.

But, unfortunately, there is a clear understanding that more than 60 percent of the crop was lost. According to preliminary estimates, the total amount of damage, the actual costs incurred by the region as a result of the current emergency, is 3 billion rubles, 2 billion falls on fruit and berry plantations.

Separately, I would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture for initiating the introduction of a federal emergency regime. This will allow our farmers to more quickly work out all the issues that arise with insurance.

At the same time, Mr Putin, we would like to consider the possibility of providing additional state support to fruit and berry products affected by emergencies. This will allow us to preserve our farms and get a good harvest next year.

The report is finished.

Vladimir Putin: Good. You must be in constant contact with the Ministry. Oksana Nikolaevna, I hope that all decisions will be made in a timely manner to support agricultural producers and to carry out all the measures necessary to purchase the relevant imported goods. Just do not delay anything, so as not to lead to some price spikes in the domestic market.

In general, you still didn't answer me, how long have we been closing this Apple theme with our own production? How much do we produce ourselves as a percentage of the market?

Oleg Lut: Mr President, our total fruit production is now about 44 per cent. According to the indicators of the [food Security] Doctrine, the threshold value is 60. We must achieve this goal by 2030.

Vladimir Putin: So you have something to work on here?

O. Luth: Absolutely.

Vladimir Putin: But we must create appropriate conditions. We need to work properly with the economic block of the Government, with the Ministry of Finance. Conditions need to be created, and maybe investments will go faster.

O. Lut: All right.

Vladimir Putin: We have all the conditions for this. Especially since we can't plant apple orchards, can we? It is clear that they should grow, but they grow quite quickly. The main thing is to create economic conditions. Think about it again, and consult with your colleagues. By 2030-why wait until 2030? It seems to me that everything can be done faster. Dmitry Nikolaevich [Patrushev] and I will talk about this again.

Good. Thank you very much.

Now about the summer vacation. Sergey Sergeevich, summer vacation for children.

And please tell us a few words about how the exams and the Unified State Exam are held. We have a novelty this year – you can retake some exams. What is happening in this area?

S. Kravtsov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

If you'll excuse me, I'll start with the Unified State Exam. Eight exams have already been passed, including today's in social studies and physics. In general, 700 thousand graduates take the exam in all 89 regions of our country, including abroad in 77 countries.

The absolute priority, Mr President, is the safety of our children. Therefore, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Rosobrnadzor, we have equipped all points with frames and metal detectors. A medical professional must be present everywhere. If necessary, teachers and psychologists are ready to help, and a special "hotline" is also open. There is a video surveillance system.

In general, Mr President, the unified State exam is held regularly. We are assisted by more than 40,000 public observers.

It is important to say something about the content of the exam. We excluded the test part and added tasks for applying subject knowledge, reasoning, argumentation, and logic. In the history section, much attention was paid to the development of Russian statehood, outstanding people, and examples of military heroism. Taking into account the new history textbook for grades 10-11, the exam materials this year included facts from the recent history of our country, including those related to the special military operation.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, you set out to increase the popularity of physics. We're working on it. A year ago, less than 16 percent chose physics, and this year it's just over 16: 16.5 percent. This is why there is such a positive trend here, and we will continue to work in this direction.

I would like to mention separately our border regions-the Donbas and Novorossiya. Here, an exam is held in the form of a state final exam or intermediate certification. Those who want to can take the unified state exam: about 40 percent of children from new regions took advantage of this opportunity. We have established similar rules for the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions – for a number of schools that are located in the frontline zone.

As for the question of retaking the Unified State Exam, your proposal, which you voiced in your Message, was very positively received. We have worked on this issue quickly, and such dates-July 4 and 5-have already been included in the schedule. Children can use this right. We will process the results as quickly as possible, and we will try to do our best within a week so that students can submit their documents safely before the end of applying to universities, by July 20.

Another assignment for you. In your Message, you said that the content of exams should correspond to the school curriculum. Next year, this issue will be resolved, because we have introduced a unified content of education, unified programs. Previously, virtually every school worked according to its own program. When we introduce uniform programs for schools, we will correlate them with the results that we ask for in the unified state exam, and this issue will be resolved next year.

And the first results of the chemistry and geography exams have just arrived. We can see that seven thousand more students took chemistry classes this year. And I am glad that there are more hundred-point players: last year there were 805 of them, this year-998. In terms of geography, the number of hundred-point players also increased – from 76 to 113.

Abstract about the children's health campaign. Here, too, we prioritize the safety of the children's health campaign. On May 20, together with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Rosgvardiya, we conducted all-Russian exercises, worked out all actions in case of emergencies, and also discussed the topic of anti-terrorist security in the lessons "Conversations about important things".

We have a federal "hotline" for children's recreation, and in all regions there are also "hotlines" for prompt communication with parents on all issues.

Recreation is organized for 5.3 million children, which is 200 thousand more than last year. 39 thousand camps will be involved in the summer health campaign. This year, the total amount is 76 billion rubles, which is 8 billion more than last year. In other words, we see the development of the children's recreation system.

Separately, Mr President, I would like to say something about the regions where large-scale floods have occurred, as you have said and given instructions. We've worked everything out. In Orenburg-5,5 thousand children and 16 thousand children from the Belgorod region will have a rest in the Krasnodar Territory and the Crimea. The first races have already taken place. The necessary funds have been allocated from the reserve fund, so everything is organized here.

We also connected our federal centers, additionally allocated 2.5 thousand vouchers to children affected by flooding and floods. This is Kurgan, Yakutia, Omsk.

Separately, the recreation of children from Donbass and Novorossia is under control, this is more than 48 thousand children, as well as the children of our defenders, heroes of a special military operation, this is about 115 thousand children. We also have them under control, so that everything here is as high-quality as possible.

We work out the content side of the content of recreation programs. We will have thematic shifts, including those dedicated to the Year of the Family, the anniversary of Pushkin, the liberation of Leningrad and Sevastopol from the nazi invaders, profile shifts together with the "Movement of the First". This year we are organizing educational projects with the Znanie society and screening good Soviet and Russian films together with the Ministry of Culture in our children's camps and centers.

We have also approved an interagency comprehensive plan to support counselors at the Government level. This year, more than 66 thousand counselors will be involved in the children's health campaign.

About our federal children's centers. Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, we opened the Korsun branch of Artek last year. It is very popular, more than 20 thousand children have already visited the"Tauric Chersonesos". And we will continue this work.

On June 1, we opened a branch of Artek in Berdyansk – Krasnaya Gvozdika. In general, this camp was completely destroyed. We restored it as much as possible, sent counselors there, and already on June 1, the guys arrived. About a thousand children this year will have a rest in the "Red Carnation".

Also next year, our flagship Artek celebrates its 100th anniversary. According to your decree, work is underway, and appropriate events will be organized – bright, solemn ones.

Dear colleagues, I invite everyone to take part. And of course, we will be very happy if you, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, find the opportunity to come and personally congratulate Artek on its centenary.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Sergey Sergeyevich, we agreed that children's recreation will be provided not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively. Indeed, plus 8 billion this year. There is, of course, inflation, and we should also keep this in mind, but you yourself said that the number of children who will be able to relax is increasing. Don't forget about quality and safety. You've said everything, but we need to put it all into practice.

Tatyana Alekseevna, we talked some time ago about paying special attention to the summer holidays of children from the border regions and from Novorossiya. Sergey Sergeyevich mentioned this. I hope that's what happens in real life, Tatyana Alekseevna.

: Yes, Mr President, this is what is happening. Moreover, on your instructions, we have allocated additional financial resources to both the Belgorod Region and the Orenburg Region. You also gave the relevant instructions, because the summer health camps in the Orenburg region were affected. We agreed with the Ministry of Finance and allocated financial resources.

We keep the situation in the border areas under control and provide our colleagues with the necessary assistance. All the regions of the country are also providing the necessary assistance here, for which we also thank them very much: they allocate both places and provide financial assistance.

Vladimir Putin: Tatyana Alekseyevna, please check for yourself what is happening in real life, okay?

Tatyana Golikova: All right.

Vladimir Putin: And many thanks to our colleagues from the regions who join this work.

Tatyana Golikova: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: One more question. He asked the All-Russian People's Front to join the work on analyzing the appeals that citizens made during the "Direct Line" in 2023. This work has been completed. I would ask Mikhail Mikhailovich Kuznetsov to briefly, but still say this, bearing in mind that we all need to work on this together.

After all, citizens apply so that their issues are resolved, and not just lying somewhere under the cloth. It is very useful for all of us, including the Government, to know what people apply for first and what concerns them.

Please, Mikhail Mikhailovich.

Mikhail : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Since 2019, the People's Front has been monitoring the execution by the authorities of messages received on your Direct Line. Of the three million requests received in 2023, 520,000 have been answered, 827,000 are being processed by regional authorities, and 690,000 are already being processed by a specific contractor, and we are waiting for a decision on them.

16 thousand representatives of regional and federal authorities are in the system, as well as state corporations, see their appeals and work with them. On a weekly basis, all regional branches of the People's Front go to the applicants, clarify the problem and provide all possible assistance.

The best regions in terms of the number of problems solved are Khakassia, the Arkhangelsk Region, and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. We need to step up our work in the Tver Region, Altai Krai and the Republic of Tuva.

Of the federal authorities, the Ministry of the Far East, the Pension and Social Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Culture, and the Bailiff Service are the best performers. We need to pay attention to the Central Bank and Rosprirodnadzor. I would also like to mention the active work of Russian Railways, Russian Post and Rosseti. They work out their requests very efficiently.

We conduct a random check of [requests] marked as "resolved"in the system. Now 41 percent of applicants are satisfied with the result. This is more than in 2021, but we understand that not every issue can be resolved instantly. Nevertheless, we will continue to monitor the dynamics and satisfaction of applicants.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I will focus on the problems that your "Direct Line" has revealed.

We give priority attention to the appeals of participants of the special military operation and their family members. There are appeals when, in the event of the death of the spouse of a conscript or a contract employee who has minor children, it is impossible to leave the military service. This is not a mass event, but the topic is very emotional.

In the process of preparing for today's report, we met with the Minister of Defense and found out that there are sufficient legal grounds for dismissal, but there are cases when this does not happen. I am convinced that this can be solved.

The second problem from the same category is that in order to provide regional benefits to relatives of participants in a special military operation, it is necessary to apply for supporting certificates to military units. Often, obtaining such a certificate for obvious reasons stretches for months, during which the family cannot receive the required benefit.

We suggest moving such confirmation to the interagency level and making it automatic. Of course, it is important to take into account all security measures related to the personal data of our fighters. We discussed this issue in the Ministry of Defense. Andrey Ramovich [Belousov] proposed an algorithm and set the time frame in which the problem should be solved.

The third problem. Military families receive various benefits for their children, including kindergarten fees and free meals in all classes. We have examples when these benefits are terminated after the death of a fighter – formally, this is within the framework of the law. It is also clear that all benefits cannot be saved. But if a person gave his life for the Motherland, then his child should not feel abandoned, just like a human being. Please support our appeal to the governors to carefully and carefully treat such tragic cases.

Other Direct Line issues include healthcare.

Beneficiaries, Mr Putin, face the refusal of pharmacy workers to submit prescriptions for deferred service. In 2022, the relevant order of the Ministry of Health was canceled and it was assumed that the information system would solve all problems.

However, according to our surveys, which we conduct on the work of Leonid Mikhailovich Roshal, out of three thousand beneficiaries, 30 percent tell us about the lack of the necessary medicine and the inability to put it on deferred service, 49 percent - about the refusal of the doctor to write a prescription because the drug is not available. In other words, the system shows that it is not available, and, accordingly, the doctor does not prescribe it.

We have worked out the issue with the Ministry of Health and propose to allow beneficiaries to use deferred service in pharmacies, taking into account the real time required for the purchase of rare drugs. Previously, this period was ten days, so it is true that regions sometimes need more time for it to appear. But it is extremely important for people to have the opportunity to check the box when they come to the pharmacy, so that they can be informed later about when the drug will appear there.

Social security. Disabled people face long periods of crediting funds to already issued electronic certificates for the purchase of TSR [rehabilitation equipment]. There is a certificate, but there is no money on it.

This problem was very relevant last year, but by the end of the year, the Ministry of Labor solved it. Now it has worsened again. We discussed with the Minister [of Labor and Social Protection Anton Kotyakov]: the Ministry has internal reserves, which they plan to move to solve this problem. We consider it very important.

There are many appeals on various problems of special professional education (SPE). While we were dealing with them, we found out that enterprises of the military-industrial complex have legal restrictions on co-financing participation in the Professionalitet project – they cannot dispose of their profits in these areas – which was created for the purpose of training specialists in the interests of enterprises.

We discussed this at our educational platform in Sirius with Elena Vladimirovna Shmeleva. There is a proposal to either cancel mandatory co-financing for defense industry enterprises, because they may be planned unprofitable, or change the regulatory framework and allow them to fully participate in this project.

About creating conditions for involving people in sports and a healthy lifestyle. Due to the requirements of federal legislation, organizations implementing sports training programs were required to obtain an educational license no later than September 1, 2023. Some sports clubs, including those opened by famous athletes, continued to operate without a license, which is possible in accordance with the law. Such clubs do not provide sports training, but provide physical culture and health services. At the same time, now those who train in them cannot participate in most competitions and have problems with obtaining confirmation of sports categories.

I think it's a simple regulatory story. We propose to extend the mechanism of state accreditation of the Ministry of Sports to sports clubs, their associations and other organizations. This will allow sports training and remove restrictions on participation in competitions.

Another important issue concerning the motivation of people to play sports: the Government introduced a bill to the State Duma on personal income tax deductions for passing TRP standards and passing medical examinations. At the moment, the proposed amount, from which a deduction of 13 percent is made, should be 6 thousand rubles per year – this is 780 rubles per person. This amount may not be an effective enough motivation tool.

Also, Mr Putin, we are monitoring the repair and construction of social facilities where there are requests to the "Direct Line" for delaying the deadlines for the so-called long-term construction. I can give you a few examples without naming the region.

After contacting your "Direct Line" in 2016, the renovation of the Palace of Culture began in one of the regions. To date, only half of the work has been completed. People continued to apply to the "Direct Line" both in 2021 and in 2023.

Since 2006, a multidisciplinary medical center based on a regional hospital has been under construction in one of the regions of the Central Federal District. For 17 years, people have been following the long-term construction and even gave it a popular name - "Titanic".

In one of the Ural regions, a central district hospital has been under construction since 2010, and the project completion dates have been postponed several times. Officially, the construction readiness of the facility is 99 percent. At the same time, according to our regional office, the actual readiness is lower, and the completion date is not yet known to people.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you very much for the opportunity to make this interim report on resolving the issues that have been submitted to your Direct Line. We continue our work.

Vladimir Putin: It is very important. I ask you to finish this work, and then work together with the Administration, together with the Government, on each item. This is a voluminous, large and useful work, very important, because this is the very feedback that we talk about all the time.

Nevertheless, I would like to draw your attention to some questions, or rather listen to them. For example, in healthcare.

Mikhail Albertovich [Murashko].

Mikhail Murashko : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear colleagues,

As for setting prescriptions for deferred provision, it is true that the norm of 10 days used to apply earlier. Then, when issuing a new order, the working group together with representatives of pharmacy organizations asked to remove this deadline, but prescriptions are put on hold. Apparently, there is a violation here, and we will instruct the supervisory authority to take a look.

Well, in the order, Mikhail Mikhailovich [Kuznetsov] and I have already discussed it, we have now prepared it, and we will introduce a norm for the return of the deadline, taking into account the procurement procedure of the 44th Federal Law. Up to 30 days, of course, should be done, because people should receive [prescription drugs]. We are mostly faced with situations where drugs are not widely used, mainly for them. Therefore, we will definitely work out this issue and do it. Mikhail Mikhailovich is absolutely right here. I am very grateful to the Popular Front .

It was mentioned on construction. A good hospital, really beautiful. Practical readiness – there is commissioning, the main equipment is delivered. We took control of the licensing process. I think that all this will be completed in the next month and a half.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you very much.

Work with Mikhail Mikhailovich on all the questions that were raised there, the main ones, of course.

Mikhail Murashko: Of course.

Vladimir Putin: Of course, the health of people and the health of the nation is closely linked, as we know,to physical education and sports. Now Mikhail Vladimirovich [Degtyarev] will tell you how many people are constantly engaged in physical culture and sports and what figure we should reach in the coming years.

As for the restrictions that Mikhail Mikhailovich mentioned, restrictions on sports, unfortunately, we still have enough of them. But, in my opinion, the main thing comes to the fore, and the main thing is that we are seeing the unjustified commercialization of physical culture and mass sports, that's what is happening. Pulling money out of Russian families. This is what you need to pay attention to. Including how the law on sports works. We need to understand that people with small incomes, families with small incomes cannot pay for physical education classes for their children on a permanent basis, and we must not pretend that we do not notice this.

Mikhail Vladimirovich, please.

Mikhail Degtyarev : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

I'll start with percentages. Today, 56 percent of our citizens regularly engage in physical activity and sports. Our goal is to reach 70 percent of Russian citizens by 2030, and 76 percent by 2036. To achieve these goals, the state takes various measures on your behalf.

From what Mikhail Mikhailovich said, I fully support the inclusion of all organizations and all forms of ownership that provide sports and recreation services in the state's field of view. Of course, it is necessary to include them in the OKVED: in order to regulate them more effectively, all physical culture and sports organizations and individual entrepreneurs should be included. This can be done by giving the Ministry of Sports control functions, eliminating the application procedure. Today, organizations themselves decide in a declarative manner whether they provide services, whether they are physical education and sports or not. Here we fully support the Popular Front, which is an urgent issue.

Of course, the regional authorities – our ministries of sports of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation-should also be given the authority to license all physical culture and sports organizations in order to avoid injuries and ensure that services are provided properly.

By tax deduction. Deputies of the State Duma introduced a draft law on your instructions, and it was adopted. Indeed, there are not enough funds, Mr Putin. Here I share the opinion of the people who contacted you on the "Direct Line", and we are now preparing a decision.

First of all, we have no difference in the current legislation between gold, silver and bronze TRP signs, which, generally speaking, eliminates the gold ones. You need to introduce different [tax deductions]. And here, of course, the amount of tax deductions should be increased. We will continue this work with the Ministry of Finance and all other agencies.

If we talk in numbers, today we have 752,700 working citizens who have the insignia of the TRP complex in Russia. If we go by today's standards, then a maximum of 195 million deductions should have been paid, which, I think, is not enough. And that is why we stand in solidarity with the People's Front and with the people here: we need more.

The report is over, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: All right, all right.

But we'll talk more about the entire complex, keeping in mind what you've just reported. We need to strive to ensure that as many people as possible in the country are engaged in physical culture and sports, as much as possible. You need to create conditions for this. And all measures aimed at solving this particular problem should, of course, be funded by the state.

Everything else is a matter of creativity. We must treat this positively and support all sports organizations. But to create conditions for maximum free physical education and sports is our absolute, absolute task. Please pay attention to this. We'll talk about this again later.

Let's move on to the main goal-the development of automobile tourism.

Please, Maxim Reshetnikov.

Mikhail : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Dear colleagues!

The demand for domestic tourism continues to grow. Last year, residents and visitors of the country made 83 million trips – which is 20 percent more than the pre-forecast figure. This year, we expect more than 90 million trips.

Tourist infrastructure, hotels, resorts, beaches, and amusement parks are actively developing. We support businesses and regions through the national project "Tourism and Hospitality Industry". We regularly report our results to you. Thank you for your support. Thanks to it, it is constantly developing.

Now the summer tourist season has started – this is the best time for car tourism. It is taking an increasing share in our travel around the country. According to surveys, over the past five years, 40 percent of Russians have traveled by car, and last year, according to statistics, 26 million tourist trips were made by car. We expect this figure to double by 2030.

This is the goal of the Government-approved Concept for the development of auto tourism, which was developed on your behalf. It is based on the concept of "automobile route", which links together roads, roadside services, cafes, restaurants, recreation areas with campsites, glamping sites, hotels, viewpoints, museums that work at a convenient time for a car tourist, national parks that create conditions for recreation with children. communication and Internet are provided, as well as all the amenities on the tourist's way.

We propose to implement the concept on three time horizons.

The first is what needs to be done, as they say, right now. We have identified the destinations that attract the most tourists. This is about a third of the federal roads that lead to major cities and key points of attraction. Among them, we chose routes for piloting the new approach: from St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg, that is, the M-11 and M-12 routes, and from Novorossiysk to Vologda, that is, the M-4 and M-8 routes. They cover 18 major regions, and, according to Avtodor, two-thirds of all passenger cars are sent along these roads to recreation areas.

Now we are working with the regions to create a list of specific automobile tourist routes along these roads, and, of course, we take into account the possibility of visiting both nearby major cities and interesting places nearby.

We post information about routes on the national travel portal "Travel.rf". Today, there’s already data on 35 auto routes, and in June we will add 10 more routes, and now we are actively working with the regions. There are also inter-regional routes there. The national tourism portal itself will become a single information resource for travelers, which we also create on your behalf. We are developing it together with the Moscow Government.

We will also use the portal to get feedback from tourists. Taking into account their proposals, we will form regional programs for the development of auto tourism for the next three years.

Yandex was also connected to this work. It will transmit to us on the national portal all reviews of travelers on car routes with reference to specific objects. In other words, we will have feedback on a specific infrastructure item, on a specific road, and what complaints travelers have.

Of course, this year we ask the regions to pay close attention to basic issues, namely, the availability of normal navigation on the roads, focus on timely cleaning and proper maintenance of recreation areas, viewpoints, and sanitary zones. And of course, night-time lighting and security issues.

Colleagues from the Ministry of Culture, together with the regions, synchronize the work of museums to meet the needs of auto tourism.

We also have some suggestions on administrative issues, in particular, we suggest that starting next year we will allow you to check into hotels with a car license. Unfortunately, this is not currently possible. We suggest that we make this decision, give a year to connect the information bases, and that from the middle of next year this opportunity will appear.

Now, what needs to be done in the next two years. When linking to tourist routes, you need to restore the roads to their standard condition, if they are not already made somewhere else. Although, most likely, it will be problems with municipal roads, because federal and regional roads are usually in order. This is the task of the Ministry of Transport, Rosavtodor together with the regions.

On the roads themselves, there are still areas where stable communication and Internet are not provided. We also identify such zones and work out them together with the Ministry of Transport.

It will be necessary to support the development of tourist infrastructure and points of attraction. Here, on your instructions, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will create an infrastructure for eco-tourism in all national parks of the country. These are recreation areas, museums, business centers, ecological trails and hiking trails.

In your Message, you instructed to allocate 30 billion rubles for the next six years, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is now preparing proposals.

For our part, we will support the creation of new cafes, retail outlets, modular hotels and new display facilities just in the area of tourist routes. We have engaged the SME Corporation of the Russian Federation together with funds from another project to support small and medium-sized businesses. Experts will help regions and businesses form a project and attract funding, as well as provide targeted support for its implementation.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, the regions are now collecting all the initiatives within the framework of their development programs, which we support through the single tourism subsidy mechanism.

Within the pre-approved limits of the national project, 28 billion rubles are provided for the next three years. We propose to distribute them by region this year, so that the regions understand that they will have more money starting next year, and have already started implementing these measures, because the money will be available in the first quarter, so some work can be done even now. This is our first offer.

Second suggestion. We also suggest that this year, now, we start selecting projects for the construction of modular hotels for the next three-year period. This is a program that is very much in demand in the regions and that allows you to quickly and inexpensively deploy campsites and glampings where there are difficulties with heavy infrastructure. We have five billion rubles a year planned. Accordingly, we propose to make the next three-year period also available to the regions.

The third point. We propose to allocate part of the budget infrastructure loans and a new stage of the regional debt relief program to support hotels and points of attraction. This is something that we discussed recently, including at the State Council. We understand that tourism is a point of growth, it is a real economy, so we are also setting up the regions for this.

At the same time, there is a third horizon – these are longer-term tasks, but they also need to be solved now and which we are working on. First, we will have to create full-fledged multifunctional road service zones on tourist routes, so that there is not just a gas station with a snack bar, but so that the tourist has a place to refuel, eat normally, take a shower if necessary, and there should be normal sanitary zones, and buy goods on the road.

We determined the need for such zones together with the Ministry of Transport. Here we must pay tribute: our colleagues have been working on this issue for a long time. Now there are 440 such zones on the territory of the country – of course, with different levels of service, to put it bluntly. Approximately the same number will be built in the coming years. We have already identified specific points somewhere, we are defining them somewhere, preparing projects, connection conditions, complexity, and so on.

In addition to road service areas, it is also important to equip roads with recreation areas with sanitary modules, including for servicing excursion groups on buses, so that during a long journey you can stop, rest, stretch your legs. We will ask the regions to also include such sites in their programs. We have also developed standards and approaches.

The second major issue to be resolved is the shortage of normal tourist buses. We have tourist buses, as a rule, imported, and also with long, let's say, terms of use, that is, not new. In total, we need to buy three thousand new buses a year, this is the industry's request.

In the coming months, together with the Ministry of Transport, we propose to develop and approve a program for developing the production of domestic buses, and we also propose to include tourist buses in the preferential leasing program. Our plants are ready, of course, maybe not 100% localize at the moment, but they are ready for long-term programs and are ready to take on localization obligations under this. We have already held a number of meetings with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

And the third. We suggest that the factor of tourist routes should also be taken into account when repairing and reconstructing federal roads. We are also working on these issues together with Vitaly [Savelyev].

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, as a result of these comprehensive solutions, we will get affordable, safe and comfortable car routes for people, so that eventually more citizens of all ages, families with children and guests of our country will choose this type of travel more and more often.

Please support us. We have prepared a draft of your instructions, which will allow us to speed up the implementation of all these initiatives.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: What are the problems with bus localization here? In my opinion, there are no [problems] there. Denis Valentinovich, what problems do we have? I don't see them.

Dmitry : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

Thank you very much.

Several Russian manufacturers are currently working on the development of the model range. First of all, this is Volgabus: at the beginning of the year, it already certified a model – called Serpentine – on compressed natural gas, 44 seats. As part of the program of special treasury loans, 64 buses were already purchased in February, in particular by the Leningrad Region. Volgabus also has "Marathons" with certification: 50 places, on diesel and gas fuel.

Sollers. As part of the implementation of the SPIC [special investment contract] You will remember that we used to produce Mazdas in the Far East, and now they are replacing this production with excursion buses. In the third quarter of this year, production of buses with a capacity of 53-55 people, 12-meter and 9-meter buses, was launched. The project will be implemented in cooperation with the eastern partner.

GAZ Group has its own large class bus "Cruise": from 48 to 51 people. Under the brand "LiAZ" expects to offer the market in August of this year its bus. The projected sales volume this year is 200 units. At the first stage, the bus will also be implemented with Eastern partners.

The same applies to GAZ Group's line of smaller models, so we are ready, together with the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport, to work out this program in terms of routes and STLC, the leasing company, and ensure demand for this type of product with gradual localization.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, but only here, in the instructions, it is written: to work out the issue of including tourist buses in the program of preferential leasing. What does it mean to work out the question? It can be worked out indefinitely, until 2030.

Dmitry Manturov: Just turn it on and that's it.

Vladimir Putin: Well of course.

Dmitry Manturov: Everything will be done.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Let's look at this question in relation to a specific region. Gleb Sergeevich, please.

G. : Good afternoon, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!

We fully support the comprehensive proposals of the Ministry of Economic Development, which were just announced by Maxim Gennadyevich. It is very important for the regions to develop new directions of domestic tourism, of course, using the potential of highways.

In this sense, the Nizhny Novgorod Region is an indicative region. We are located at the intersection of two major international transport corridors: "North – South "and"West – East". Of course, here an additional opportunity for the development of the region and auto tourism was the opening of high-speed traffic, the M-12 "Vostok" expressway. According to the state-owned Avtodor company, more than 10 million trips were made on the highway in six months.

Of course, the project encourages the development of tourism, including the landmark for the region pilgrimage and tourism cluster "Arzamas-Diveyevo-Sarov". Large-scale work on the construction and modernization of transport infrastructure was carried out within the cluster. We were waiting for the completion of the construction of the M-12, preparing. Thank you very much to the Government for the support that was provided. In particular, for road travelers in the village of Diveyevo, a parking lot for 700 cars was created, and the South-Eastern and North-Eastern bypasses of the village of Diveyevo were put into operation. Construction of the Southern bypass of Arzamas has been completed, which made it possible to move transport completely outside the historical center.

With the support of the Government (thanks a lot to our colleagues too), we are expanding the federal road R-158, which connects Arzamas with Nizhny Novgorod, to four lanes. The traffic intensity here will more than double.

We also pay great attention to the development of tourist infrastructure and display facilities. In particular, on the eve of the opening of the M-12, the Cathedral Square and the historical streets of Arzamas were comprehensively landscaped. We carry out reconstruction of churches, facades, historical buildings, cultural heritage sites, and other display items.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, you were in Arzamas last September and had the opportunity to assess the work done. Its effectiveness is confirmed by a significant increase in the tourist flow, which we already see and observe.

This year, within the framework of the national project "Tourism and Hospitality Industry", with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development, Dmitry , we are implementing the tourist code of the city center. Such work has already been carried out in Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets, and now we are working on Arzamas.

Special emphasis is placed on creating tourist navigation, service centers and sanitary modules. In Diveyevo, a comfortable walking area was opened on the embankment of the Vichkinza River. We continue to work on the restoration of the historical appearance of the Diveyevskaya monastery, form projects for the development of hotel infrastructure.

In general, using the example of a cluster for further development of auto tourism and tourism in general, it is advisable to consider the possibility of supporting municipalities for the development of display objects.

We also have one of the priority tourist routes, also connected with M-12, this is the village of Bolshoe Boldino, the ancestral estate of Alexander Pushkin, which is associated with one of the most fruitful periods of the poet's work – "Boldinskaya Autumn".

In preparation for the celebration of the 225th anniversary of Pushkin's birth, a set of measures was also carried out: the museum-reserve was reconstructed, the central part of the village was improved, social and cultural institutions were reconstructed, roads were repaired, and tourist navigation was installed.

For a systematic understanding of the general approach to auto tourism, you can take the Boldin Ring project as an example. We have developed and approved four automobile tourist routes to places connected with the poet's life.

A rich event program is planned. Key festive events, it should be noted, will be held in the Nizhny Novgorod region the day after tomorrow, on June 6. We have this day coming up.

For motorists, information about the main tourist destinations of the region will be presented on the multifunctional zones of the M-12 highway.

In order to avoid queues at peak times, it is very important to speed up the creation of such multifunctional zones and extend this practice to the main federal and regional highways. The region's goal is to create service zones, gas stations with public catering facilities, sanitary modules, and recreation areas.

In addition, it is necessary to provide for the installation of tourist signs in the same corporate style on highways, including an increase in the number of signs on federal highways, in particular on M-12. I also wanted to draw your attention to this.

As part of the information support, it is necessary to promote the idea of road trips in Russia through culture, cinema, shows, as well as use the opportunities of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Internet Development Institute".

We also suggest providing support for motorhome manufacturers on a topic that has already been discussed, related to rolling stock. That is, not only tourist buses, but also motorhomes, with the possibility of purchasing them under a preferential leasing program.

In Nizhny Novgorod, the creation of motorhomes was tested on the basis of the Gazelle chassis. If this program is supported, we are also ready to act as a pilot region.

The orchestration of federal and regional support measures will help create high-service tourist car routes, significantly increasing the share of tourism in the economy of the region and the country as a whole.

Please support us.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Thank you very much.

Mikhail Mikhailovich, do the ONF have any comments or suggestions on today's topic?

Mikhail Kuznetsov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

For today's meeting, we conducted a survey of one and a half thousand auto tourists and 600 more experts. Half of the respondents believe that, indeed, there is a need for certain improvements in the automotive infrastructure for auto tourism. There are a number of problems related to the infrastructure of federal highways.

The first problem is the maintenance of parking lots. For example, on the M-5 Ural highway from Chelyabinsk to Ufa, there are parking lots with good coverage and service, but the infrastructure is poorly maintained: garbage is not taken out, tanks are full, toilets are not cleaned – people complain to us.

The second problem is that there are still areas where we have rare gas stations: M-12 from Murom to Arzamas, there are queues on the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow, in Tver. There is a problem with diesel fuel in the area from Petrozavodsk to Murmansk. 39 percent of respondents say that they would like to have more "pockets" where they could stay and relax.

But the main answer to the question "what would you like to improve?" – 74 percent of respondents complain about mobile communication failures. Mobile communication is probably the number one issue, especially since everyone uses Yandex.Navigator.

There are complaints about poor-quality road sections that are important for motorists: M-6 "Kaspiy" - in front of Tambov, holes and potholes; [highway] Barnaul-Pavlovsk, leading to natural attractions, to salt lakes on the border with Kazakhstan, this is a very popular road, there are 47 kilometers of crushed stone pavement; Izhevsk-Sarapul, the contractor carried out the work and has now stopped doing it.

The last problem that I would like to mention is the difficulty of getting to places of tourist attraction. This is the area of responsibility of regional authorities. For example, Kapova Cave in the Republic of Bashkortostan, where there are petroglyphs more than 10 thousand years old – is a gravel road here. [Entrance] to the Sayano-Shushensky reservoir: there is an entrance to the hydroelectric power station itself, and where people like to relax, there is only gravel. Krivoborye, a popular tourist destination on the Don coast in the Voronezh Region – is only three kilometers from M-4. There is an observation deck, also only a gravel road.

It seems very important to pay special attention to this last mile, the last section where people could get to tourist vacation spots.

I finished my report.

Vladimir Putin: All right, all right. Thank you.

Dear colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to this. There are some things in the draft list of instructions that require, of course, very careful study.

In particular, the sources of development of tourist infrastructure, for example, indicate written-off debts on budget loans, or parts of infrastructure budget loans that should be provided for the development of the relevant infrastructure.

In this regard, I have a question for both the Finance Minister [Anton Siluanov] and Marat Shakirzyanovich [Khusnullin]. Have these questions been worked out? Are these sources considered possible for achieving the goals that we are discussing today? There are other issues related to subsidies and so on.

Anton Germanovich, please.

: Yes, I understand.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, on loan write-offs and new infrastructure budget loans. In accordance with your Message to the Federal Assembly, you have instructed that the loans that the constituent entities have that should be returned to the federal budget should be written off when they are directed to new investment and infrastructure projects.

The tourist infrastructure, in our opinion, is quite suitable for this and will create new jobs and new taxes. This is exactly what is needed for the development of the regions.

The same applies to new infrastructure budget loans. We also believe that the main thing is that they invest in places where the economy would develop and new resources would be created for the development of the region and then, of course, for the repayment of these loans. Therefore, we support this proposal.

I think there are other proposals that are included in the draft assignment that still need to be reviewed and worked on. There are quite strict formulations here – "provide", "include" and so on, although, I think, there are a lot of areas that Maxim Gennadyevich also spoke about and that are included in the draft instructions that are suitable for business. These are purely business projects: roadside infrastructure, cafes, modular hotels, road services. As a rule, the state builds roads, and life begins to resume around the road.

It seemed to me that with the support measures that we have in place, such as tourism support, infrastructure support, and a national project that will be planned for specific events, a business with state support should and can fully cope with the tasks that you have set today.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Marat Shakirzyanovich, we need to take into account that these sources, which we are talking about, are also related to the tourist infrastructure, and not just, say, to the municipal one.

Mikhail Khusnullin : Mr President, we support all the proposals. Our agreement is as follows: the regions decide to use 50 percent of these [funds] for municipal infrastructure, and they can use the remaining 50 percent, including for the development of tourist infrastructure.

Taking into account the fact that M-11, M-4 and M-12 are already promoted existing projects, this will have a huge synergistic effect for the development of the transport industry, regional development, and tourism development.

There are questions related to the money on the M-8 Kholmogory: it is not fully provided with the ruble, its expansion. Rosavtodor and Roman Vitalyevich [Novikov] and I are still working on it. There is a need for additional financing, as well as the need to shift a number of additional funds to the left.

Plus, when drawing up the new program " Safe and high-quality roads "as part of the project" Infrastructure for Life", we will take into account as much as possible that you instructed us to look at all access roads. For example, on M-11, on the Moscow – St. Petersburg highway, we have already taken your comment into account and included it in the project. The exit from M-11 will be made.

Therefore, Mr Putin, we will take everything into account: the topic is very necessary, and we support it.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you very much.

I would like to thank everyone who prepared our meeting today. This is an important area of our joint work, and the more tourists will use these services, the better it will be in the end – not only for people, because it is all done for them, but also for the economy: the money will remain here, in our country. Therefore, I ask you to work on the final version of the draft instructions.

This also applies to industrial production, primarily of motor vehicles, buses, and so on. There is a lot to work on – improving and improving the regulatory framework, and so on. Let's just not delay – please complete this work in the near future.

This concludes this part and our meeting in general. But nevertheless, I have one question that does not relate to the topic of tourism development. We are talking about a meeting that we recently held with some colleagues in Korolev, about the development of the defense industry.

We agreed that draft instructions should also be prepared in this case. I know that my colleagues have been working hard all these days. Please complete this work. We are talking about the priority tasks of the defense industry, the volume of production of the most popular military products and, of course, the profitability of production.

I ask Denis Manturov as First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industrial Development (Anton Alikhanova), Minister of Defense (Andrey Belousov), Minister of Finance (Anton Siluanov), and the Presidential Administration to complete this work as soon as possible. Please do it tomorrow. My colleagues and I have already discussed this issue during the day, and I think we have discussed it quite a bit. We need to finish this work, there is no need to delay here.

Since the issues are diverse, we need to take into account the profitability of production, and we need to ensure that the Ministry of Defense receives the appropriate equipment.

We need an independent coordinator for this work. This coordinator will be the Secretary of the Security Council (Sergei Shoigu). Please keep this in mind. I repeat once again: I ask you to complete this work tomorrow.

Thank you again to all those who prepared today's topic. Please prepare draft instructions as soon as possible.

Thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

Lots of very interesting information about Russia and how it goes about governance. The Ag report was insightful and contributes to where I think Russian Ag policy is headed, but that’s another article in itself. What I tried to dig up to provide for readers was more info on the Unified State Exam and the summer children’s health campaign. Artek was a Soviet Era Summer camp that contributed to the Class stratification of Soviet society since it was made for the elite and other “special” children, but it nonetheless became a prototype and here’s its current website in Russian. The campaign is organized and managed by Russia’s Ministry of Education, but that site isn’t available for me to access so I could provide more info. Personally, I’m very interested in how it operates and its roots in Russian culture as it’s clearly a big undertaking. I know it follows in the footsteps of the Pioneers and we’ve read Putin and Lavrov comment on their experiences at Summer Construction Camps. My aim is to try and understand just how different childhoods are between Russia and the West. Yes, my cultural anthropology background is very curious since I see the two societies moving in almost opposite directions. The point Putin made about sport, exercise and fitness and it being accessible for free to all Russians was very important and again signals the aim of Russian governance. The Direct Line feedback IMO needs no explanation as that’s its purpose. As you read, there’s plenty of problems for Russian government at all levels to solve. And finally, as the section on tourism made plain, Russia is very much a developing nation and has much to do in that economic sector. I see the point of developing Travel Culture, but really hope they don’t promote single family automobile (Car) Culture too heavily. That China has most of its internal tourism based on train is the example to follow.

*
*
*
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!