Putin Meets with Heads of State Duma Factions

Long Read

Putin met with the heads of the five main Duma factions/parties: United Russia’s Vladimir Vasiliev, the Communist Party’s Gennady Zyuganov, A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth’s Sergey Mironov, New People’s Alexei Nechaev, LDPR’s Leonid Slutsky, as well as the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergey Kiriyenko. Several other minor parties exist but weren’t present. What we get to learn is the other parties view of Putin and his policies. Putin’s current positive approval in polls is between 84-86%. Those that have followed the reading provided here at the Gym are well aware that Putin makes many public appearances and deals with the myriad topics related to governance and continually says the government’s goal is to improve the wellbeing of all Russians and provide for their security. IMO, Putin has made it very difficult to oppose him because his policies are popular and are mostly successful. Given that, it will be interesting to read what those not within the United Russia party have to say:

Vladimir Putin: Good evening, dear colleagues!

At the beginning of our traditional meeting, I would like to once again congratulate you on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.

I would like to emphasize once again that the Constitution of 1993, of course, created good, strong guarantees for the observance of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, the foundations of our state and legal system and balanced federal relations.

And of course, the Constitution has largely defined the shape of the modern Russian parliament – both the upper house, the Federation Council, and the State Duma. Their role in the life of the country, the high status of the parliament, both its chambers.

I would like to add that the Constitution, which we have always considered a living organism, and the constitutional amendments adopted during the all-Russian vote in 2020 have significantly expanded the powers and strengthened the influence and responsibility of the Federal Assembly. Perhaps not all citizens have felt it yet, but the role of the Russian parliament in the life of the country has certainly become higher, including the formation of the highest executive authorities.

I am very pleased that-and this is also very important-our current parliament is certainly the successor of everything that was done on the path of parliamentarism in our country at the beginning of the twentieth century. But I would like to say that I think in any case, and many believe so, that in fact we have these principles of parliamentarism and the very ideas of democracy were formed, of course, much earlier – we still need to look at the Novgorod veche. Yes, by the way, not only in Novgorod there were people's gatherings, people's meetings and veche, which made the most important decisions in the life of a particular territory.

You represent the factions, the composition of the Duma of the eighth convocation. I would like to thank you personally for what has been done over a long period of time, because there are people here who have been leading parties and factions for many years. And you know very well how these years have developed, in what conditions the country has lived, how difficult the fate of our people has been over the past decades, there have been many disputes that sometimes turned, frankly, into a hot phase. In this regard, I would like to thank you and all the deputies of today's eighth convocation, as well as the previous one, for the fact that the level of parliamentary culture, despite the fact that the opinions and points of view on the ways and means of achieving our national goals are different, has become such a culture of parliamentarism, high, which does not allow you to go to any extremes. Despite all the controversies, it is still possible, including thanks to the leadership of the parliament, to build this work, frankly speaking, in a civilized way, to respect the alternative point of view. This approach to building inter-factional relations is also characteristic of the formation of the State Duma's governing bodies. I believe that this is correct, as it should be.

I would like to express my gratitude to you for your consolidated position on international platforms. Here, it is quite obvious that representatives of all factions act as a united front. This military terminology can also be used, because everyone is protecting Russia's national interests.

State Duma deputies demonstrate real unity and patriotism at key, decisive, and crucial moments, and in fact reflect the will of their constituents. This was also the case in 2014, when Crimea and Sevastopol were reunited with Russia. And in 2022, when our liberated historical regions of Donbass and Novorossiya once again became an integral part of Russia.

I know that representatives of your parties are not only expressing their firm opinion on key issues, but are now taking part in a special military operation, fighting together for Russia.

You provide great help to the front, our heroes who are fighting at the front, their families, residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

I would like to thank all of you and your colleagues for your hard legislative work. Much has been done, and this is especially important at such crucial moments in history as today, because you need to make both crucial and balanced decisions, but you need to make them quickly. And this requires both a high level of professionalism and intensity of work. Because this is also required by economic decisions that ensure the standard of living of people, ensure the implementation of all our strategic plans, create conditions for the operation of industry, including the military-industrial complex, create conditions for supplying the army and navy with everything they need, especially today, in the context of a special military operation.

Today, of course, we will definitely talk about our plans, what is, in the opinion of each leader of the faction, the first priority, the most important in solving the tasks that the country faces, but we will also try to find an answer together to the question of what are the priorities in today's conditions?

And, of course, I want to mention the upcoming presidential elections. The election campaign is ahead. I consider it necessary to outline several principled positions. First, everything must be done on a competitive basis and in full compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation.

Any interference in the internal affairs of Russia will be stopped, and stopped strictly in accordance with the laws of Russia. We will protect the freedom of our people, their sovereignty and the right to choose their future. It is the people, and only the people of Russia, who are the only source of power in our country.

During the upcoming election campaign, all political parties and factions will determine their position in one way or another. At the same time, I believe that the main thing for everyone is a deep understanding of the fundamental national interests, their responsibility to the people, to our country and its future.

Finally, there is no question that both the election campaign and the vote itself must be conducted in full compliance with constitutional and democratic procedures, in a transparent, legitimate and fair manner.

Let's exchange views on all these issues.

Please, Gennady Andreevich [Zyuganov], please.

Dmitry Zyuganov: Mr President, we thank you and have been looking forward to this meeting for a long time. We believe that it is extremely fruitful and at the right time.

I listened carefully to your answers yesterday, together with a large team – for the first time, the Duma even interrupted work for this time, and sent all deputies to listen to the answers-I want to emphasize: with great interest and at the same time with great support.

I am satisfied that you said about your country that the main issues will be resolved, because peace can come only when we liberate "rid" Ukraine from Nazism, fascism and Bandera and achieve the goals that are set and deeply formulated, highlighted in your messages and instructions. This is a question of our, I believe, historical survival.

I really enjoyed your meetings at the Valdai Club, where you performed for foreigners. By the way, yesterday for the first time there were foreign and Western correspondents, European and American, whose questions you answered. I watched the entire review of the Western press today: not a single careless review – it's been a long time since this happened. You convinced them yesterday, they felt the clarity and clarity of our positions, the unity of our society and confidence in our final and unconditional victory. We support this in the strongest possible terms, because the issue is very acute in this case.

At the Valdai meetings, you outlined a possible image of the future, including our ideology. To the question of the talented and brave writer Prokhanov – I was in all the hot spots and wars, I have been friends with him for many years - to his question, how do you see the greatness of Russia, you said first of all about sovereignty and self-sufficiency, and then deciphered: in the field of economy, finance, military-industrial [sphere], the latest technologies. In my opinion, this is what our work is aimed at.

The State Duma has been working in a fairly consolidated manner over the past couple of years. Very important decisions have been made. We have prepared our own big program and budget for development – we thought it would be ten trillion more-a whole series of programs for scientific and technological progress, education for all, new virgin land, sustainable development, and national enterprises. You have submitted a number of these issues to the State Council. They were further developed - both in our budget, and at meetings and in conversations with the Government.

By the way, Government reports have become a good tradition. After the Constitution was amended to make the Government accountable to the State Duma, and not only the Chairman, but also deputies and ministers should report. We have already reported almost two and a half dozen. The level and quality of reports have increased, and responsibility has also increased.

Chairman of the Duma [Vyacheslav Volodin] introduced a new practice in the Duma. Over the past year, we have probably made a dozen and a half trips to the leading teams, the best scientific and technical institutions – a unique experience.

Yesterday, for the first time as a large team, we got acquainted with the system of coordinating the work of the Government – Mishustin reported for an hour and a half. By the way, this is new, we didn't have anything like it before. I was surprised: all your national plans that you have set up begin for the first time with education, the digital economy, culture, social services and everything related to high technologies. True, if I were them, I would double the funding in these areas, but in general, the fact that both the Duma and the Government's factions are working in this direction is extremely important and useful in my opinion.

We do everything we can to support you in the SVO line. We have discussed this issue individually. We insisted that they be recognized back in 2014, but we have been sending convoys there since the first year. Now we have prepared the 125th convoy, only for children – 150 thousand gifts, to all those who suffered, to schools and boarding schools.

I was asked to thank all those who work and relax at the Snegiryakh Presidential Administration: we received 16,000 children there. We have built a magnificent military sports camp with your support, and they not only pass the school of maturation and recovery, but also get to know our country.

Two weeks: Kremlin, Red Square, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, exhibition. By the way, you were at the exhibition: the exhibition made a vivid impression on everyone. However, I said to Sergey Kiriyenko: if you had added to the Soviet era in full, it would have been quite good – there is not enough Soviet there.

Vladimir Putin: I agree, we could show it.

G. Zyuganov: But I said that they will update it. I hope that the achievements of Leninist-Stalinist modernization will also be fully reflected there. But the exhibition makes a very vivid impression on young people. I brought all my friends there – they spent three hours there, including the entire Duma leaving. I told my "home army": "Until you study it-starting from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad-I will not feed you." They are now happy to visit and get acquainted with everything.

We continue to support the guys. I want to say that Andrey Klychkov-thank you for meeting him and getting to know him better – went to the front himself ten times. Every two or three days they deliver everything necessary that is needed there. All the guys are equipped. Families – special attention, full support. This practice is implemented almost everywhere: in Khakassia, the Ulyanovsk Region, and Novosibirsk. I believe that this is the main, sacred work that we must do together. By the way, there are no disagreements on these issues in the Duma, all documents and laws have been adopted by all factions. This is fundamentally important.

I would like to say a few words that we have a number of difficult problems ahead of us – you have paid special attention to them. In my opinion, they can be key topics during the presidential elections. First of all, resources are being depleted-this is obvious. We acquired it through the efforts of our fathers and grandfathers-great builders and winners. We have a third of the main strategic resources: fresh water, coniferous forests and chernozem [humus rich—black—soil]. In this regard, your attention to these issues, in my opinion, has a decisive role. We can work hard here, and that harvest of 150 million tons of bread will be fixed for the future. We are able to feed half of Europe, or even more, with environmentally friendly products.

In this regard, we have prepared three programs. We'll show you more, and if you support us, they work great. In my homeland, we held the Russian Field festival, and our institutes prepared 50 varieties of the best plants-wheat, soybeans and peas. Already this year, we have received 130 centners each in the export fields. Such a harvest has never been seen in Central Russia. And the Oryol region produced seven tons of grain per person – this is the best harvest today. Five million [tons] per 700,000 people is the best harvest in the country, much more than in the Kuban region.

Vladimir Putin: And in Soviet times?

G. Zyuganov: In Soviet times there were 18, 20, 21, but quite different varieties and technologies. We are working very hard and will get [the result].

Vladimir Putin: It's true, I agree.

G. Zyuganov: We can make a lot of money in this area – more than in gas and oil combined.

Migration of peoples. You performed brilliantly at the Russian Cathedral. As a person who has attended all 25 events, I thank you that the Russian theme has become a key one. It will determine the outcome of our battle. First of all, war has been declared on the Russian world. Only the Russian world did not submit to the Anglo-Saxons and NATO members: they bent everyone down, only we did not submit – and they will present us with a bill. We need to hold on and resist.

At this council, His Holiness [Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia] spoke in great detail about uncontrolled migration, as you have heard. I fully share this concern, because I had to participate in five wars in the Caucasus, and I saw what it becomes when the defenders of the Fatherland leave and the national and cultural balance is disrupted.

By the way, Lukashenka has a rare experience in importing migrants. You meet with him regularly. I think that this is extremely important for all of us-look, they have a rare experience. I know him in detail – I don't have time, otherwise my colleagues will be offended, but he has a rare experience. They send them, determine their professions, select them, fix them, work for two years, who stayed and showed themselves especially-leave them, the rest – a ticket and go home. The system is very well debugged, and it works for them, in fact.

Artificial intelligence: Gref is trying to bring artificial intelligence back to us all, but I told him at the first meeting: "If your intelligence falls into the hands of evil, ignorant, bad people, it will only be used for evil." Let's start with teaching, nurturing, and supporting children.

We have a whole series of children's programs. We are now working closely with children from poor families, and we have been holding contests for ten years. These are talented people and talented children. We need to do everything possible to raise education to a higher level.

You supported us with this unique Alferov congress. It is now the jewel of our education. Higher education, an educational school, an academy and the best technologies are what will move us forward. We have now completed this program in Novosibirsk. I think it is extremely fruitful.

Both managing people's behavior and new diseases – this topic will annoy everyone, and you feel it, as you composted the brains of the same my compatriots in Ukraine. I'm taking in kids now – nice guys. But from the 2nd grade, Soros ' textbooks proved that some bad, evil uncles live here [in Russia]. You know, they are very amenable to looking at how we live, understanding our history.

What you have instructed – and the ministers have also reported to us-is that every school, every region should bring, especially high school students, so that they can learn about our history. We will avoid many terrorist attacks and troubles in this regard.

And one last thing. We are sitting in this unique Kremlin – amazing. When I studied what Ivan III planned for this kind of Kremlin, there is nothing like it anywhere on the planet, I thought: how did he have the wit and will to create such a stunning structure! Peter I was 31 years old when he laid the foundation of the Northern capital, your homeland. I also had little idea that such a city could be built in the swamps.

Just now you were at the railway workers ' house. Alexander III ... by the way, a beautiful boat was launched "Alexander III". Alexander III was one of the brilliant tsars. True, he passed away early: he was not even 50 years old. Everyone tried to dissuade him from building the Trans-Siberian Railway, everyone tried to dissuade him. He said: "Without the Trans-Siberian Railway, we will not hold Russia. It will be the tendon, the nerves that will hold the power together." They tell him: "We will not build a bridge across the Yenisei, around Lake Baikal, the Amur Road." He said: "Let's build it." I invested a lot of my own money.

If we hadn't made the Trans-Siberian Railway, we wouldn't have won World War II. Ten million people and fifteen hundred factories were transferred along this road, which in two or three months supplied the best equipment to the front.

We have just presented this idea to you-a large-scale system of express roads that will connect Moscow and St. Petersburg – 700 km, Moscow and the Urals – 1.5 thousand kilometers, Moscow and Sochi – 1.5 thousand kilometers, and Minsk – in the direction of Belarus. They will gather around 120 million people, two-thirds of the population. In general, this will be a powerful impetus for the comprehensive development of the country.

Xi Jinping, your great friend, and I have already met with them 42 times and discussed them. The first time I rode through potholes with them to Shanghai. And when I arrived, and he was already in power, I said: "I want to visit Confucius." 700 kilometers to Qufu. He says, " Let's go for a breezy ride." I was traveling by train 330 kilometers [per hour], in two hours – 700 kilometers. This is a completely different quality: service, technology, and management.

When we held the World's Fair in Shanghai, I dragged our people into their auto industry, and we built the first 156 factories for them by Stalin's decree. I went to Henan – where there is a tractor factory and a car factory. By the way: everything related to Soviet history and aid is in the museum by name – nothing was stolen, nothing was corrected, and so on. But they dragged us into a new showroom, where they said: we will build the best electric cars. This year, they will build 28 million cars at 30 factories, and their electric train is becoming the best. This latest hybrid is a fabulous car. But they also have a design: the best companies in the world made them work for themselves.

You have now built this program, and I think there are a number of unique projects for the future, and we are actively supporting them, very actively. This is a matter of principle.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Gennady Andreevich, you mentioned the "Alexander III" - I have just received two boats.

G. Zyuganov: Only, I apologize, I would have flogged the one who let you out without a cap. It's just that you're at [minus] 15 degrees… I apologize, the health of the Commander-in-Chief in war conditions is the health of the nation. You should reprimand them.

Vladimir Putin: Okay, I'll take the comment personally, too. And we are easy to flog, we will not rust behind it, we can do it. (Laughter.)

Gennady Andreevich, what I want to say: such an interesting fact. One of the boats, as you noticed, is named after the Emperor Alexander III. We still have the flag of the last flagship of the Russian Fleet, which was called the Alexander III, and I think it is now in one of the museums.

This is how our tragic history has developed – I am referring now to the Civil War. As you know, Wrangel took the fleet first to Turkey, then a part of it ended up in the French colonies in Africa, in Tunis, I think. And there this flag was lowered, was preserved by the priests, I think, and then ended up in Australia. They gave us this flag a few years ago. This is the St. Andrew's flag of the last Russian flagship.

I think we need to negotiate with our colleagues in the museum and return it to the new nuclear-powered submarine "Alexander III". I think it's fair, or something, for him to be on this flagship. Find a solution that both museum workers and naval personnel would be happy with. We will consult you again.

G. Zyuganov: The most complex product in the world is a submarine.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, it's complicated.

G. Zyuganov: When I first saw this plant, I was shocked.

Vladimir Putin: This is also an achievement of the Soviet era. It's true.

G. Zyuganov: Everyone tried.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, yes. An achievement of the Soviet era, Sevmash is a huge enterprise, and the boats are the most modern.

What is important: despite the current difficult events, we continue to develop our infrastructure. As we saw today, a new bridge has been launched, which is very important, because this is an additional exit to the ocean in the north. And we are developing strategic deterrence forces, and these are large-scale projects. And we have put the tunnel into operation today… But we'll talk more about it now.

Leonid Eduardovich [Slutsky], please.

Leonid Slutsky: Thank you very much, Mr Putin.

First of all, I wasn't going to talk about it, but what you just said is very touching. You will remember that when we managed to restore the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral quickly enough, the Varyaga huys appeared, which was preserved in the Republic of Korea. We are currently engaged in buying the standard of Emperor Alexander I from a private collection abroad. I think it will work. Thank you so much for paying such attention to the story and every detail.

As for what I wanted to talk about today. 20 months without Vladimir Volfovich. Heavily. Thank you so much for paying such attention to his memory, the great politician of modern Russia, the founder of the LDPR party, a man who could see into the future with the power of his intellect.

Literally in the near future, the largest four-deck ship in inland waters, named "Vladimir Zhirinovsky", will leave the slipways of the Lotos plant in the Astrakhan region. Many thanks to the shipowner Roman Viktorovich Trotsenko, who supported us.

Nevertheless, the party is growing. Together with the parliamentary majority party "United Russia", we are two political forces that are in a growing trend, we have more than 100 thousand more party members. All of them are well-calibrated, serious people, for various reasons. People are mostly not linear, non-standard, but they want to be with Russia and do everything possible for Russia, for victory in today's time, which can be called with good reason the main moment of truth for Russia, for the entire Russian world in our recent history – more than three decades.

I initiated the "Shoulder to Shoulder"movement. Thank you to our colleagues for supporting us and joining us. We are really working shoulder to shoulder today for the sound ideas of the President, for the people, for an early victory. Objectively, the Chairman of the State Duma is doing a lot of things here, not because we are together right now. Indeed, Vyacheslav Viktorovich [Volodin] managed to consolidate the parliamentary parties. Today, the authority of the State Duma in society has significantly increased. We pay attention to key issues that are archived for today and tomorrow.

Of course, a special military operation in a special place. The LDPR has taken under its wing all the shveibats, the "We Sew for our People" movement-heroic women, ascetics who sew in all regions of the country, without exception, masks, stretchers, jackets, balaclavas, and many dozens of other different types of products, so that our children, who are protecting us on the front line, feel warm and as comfortable as possible. Many other tasks are aimed at the SVO. I will not talk about this under the cameras, because we are not doing this for PR, but for the sake of an early victory, which I am sure will be achieved in the near future. There is no other way and no other option. Volunteer battalions, separate brigades, military units, which we fully support, and this is our sacred duty.

As for the election campaign, which is really important for society and is, probably, without unnecessary pathos, historical, taking into account the specifics of the moment, with your permission, we will talk separately. I would like to ask for a one-on-one exchange today on various, more sensitive issues.

As for the exhibition, I will certainly support what Gennady Andreevich [Zyuganov] said. Sergey Vladilenovich [Kiriyenko] and his colleagues created a megaproject, the main "VIPs" on this project are children who study. Children watch Russia's ability to overcome almost 18 thousand sanctions and restrictions, completely dislocated and unfounded. And yet everything is growing. High-tech, infrastructurally significant projects in each region. It was impossible to imagine, but it is a reality, so children are the main visitors of this exhibition, which, thank God, continues. She's not even close to picking out her potential yet.

As for the tasks that we have solved over the past year. 41 our legislative proposal became a federal law for the spring semester, for the spring session; now – 19. This is a lot, this is serious. We do not pursue quantity, we solve issues that are really important today.

In 2012, Mr Putin, you made a program article at that time, and I think it remains so, entitled "Russia and the Changing World". It was said that we should significantly increase our cultural and humanitarian presence in the world and increase it by an order of magnitude where Russian is spoken or understood. This has not yet been fully achieved. In Ukraine alone, and not in the West, 650 Russian schools were closed before the fratricidal crisis of 2014. I am the head of the Russian Peace Foundation on a voluntary basis. This is the largest non-governmental organization in our country. Our heads of faiths are also on the board, His Holiness the Patriarch and Sheikh, Mufti Ravil Gainutdin, and the leadership of our Jewish denomination are all well known to you.

We opened, for example, the A. P. Chekhov School on September 1, 2015 in Bishkek. You cut the ribbon with then-President Atambayev. But this is one school. We have opened several dozen of them, and hundreds are being closed, including in the former Soviet Union. So here, I am sure that it will be necessary to push harder. This is also the position of the Congress of Compatriots, which now takes place very often. Our compatriots are consolidated, and many want to return.

Sergey Vladilenovich created a brilliant project "Russia-a country of opportunities". I am a member of the Board of Directors of International track. 70 people get their passports every year. This is very cool. But we have a much larger number of people on the consular register who are ready to return, with a high-class education.

As you may remember, we went through the state resettlement program in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well. Most of the people left because there were no decent jobs, adequate health care, education for children, high crime rates-they returned for various reasons. And now we have already reached the level of development that, regardless of the SVR, can already allow us to create a cluster where they will return.

At the same time, in 2012, you made another important article, the relevance of which has not been lost, "Social policy – the point of building justice for Russia". I have a desktop version of this article. It's big. There you will find the section "Savings of Russia". You warned us back in 2012, 11 years ago, that if our national, demographic and migration policies were to be linked together as they are now, 11 years ago, we would risk turning into an empty space by about 2050, the fate of which will not be decided by anyone else but us. Of course, this apocalyptic scenario is not for us.

But now young people are leaving the countryside, and school graduates are being pumped out through the Bologna system to large megacities. And most importantly, we need to solve the problem that no one has managed to solve, to approach the solution over the past three decades - so that young people do not leave the village. The key, from our point of view, is to lower the mortgage lending rate. Of course, you need to do zoning. Vyacheslav Viktorovich keeps this group of questions under his personal control. We have created a working group headed by Alexey Vasilyevich Gordeev, the faction is taking part, and I think that we will work it out. This is a matter of civilizational importance.

Demography is also a matter of civilizational importance. We must once again become a country of large families. We have several dozen offers. I just came to this meeting without any documents. I think that now is not the time to load you with any documents, we will do it at the Government level. In particular, I will only say that we need to dramatically increase, from our point of view, the number of nursery groups [day care] for children from one and a half months to three years, now there are very few of them, so that young mothers can combine motherhood with a professional career. This is a multi-month task.

The same thing – we should not repeat that the country lacks 25 thousand doctors and 50 thousand average medical staff. We need to solve this problem. New – well-forgotten old: we can introduce mandatory distribution in medical universities and colleges. You have worked for three years for the country that gave you a higher medical education, which may be in the Far East or in new regions for a little less – for example, for a year and a half. But the introduction of mandatory distribution will give just a year or two, of course, along with housing, this is done by many governors, our Alexey Vladimirovich Ostrovsky did in Smolensk, and subsidies-all this together will allow us to solve the problem without utopia in about two years.

We are working with the Government to resolve all these issues. The government hears us more than ever. Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin, all deputy prime ministers participate in brainstorming sessions-there have already been dozens of them-on the Strategy of Foreign Economic Activity.

One more question. In countries that I don't like the term, but nevertheless remain not entirely friendly to us today, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves are blocked for quite a considerable amount. I won't call her under the cameras, but you know her, so to speak.

Vladimir Putin: Of course.

Leonid Slutsky: If those companies that are going to leave Russia-they are going to leave now, they will leave in the future - we will pay not with live money, so to speak, but with certain bonds that are backed by our frozen gold and foreign exchange reserves, and use them to pay foreign companies from such unfriendly countries that are leaving the Russian Federation we are legally ready to introduce a complete ban on settlements in any foreign currency with investors from unfriendly countries. Settlements with them will be made with the Central Bank's bonds, which are backed by our frozen reserves and assets. This will simultaneously prevent the withdrawal of foreign currency from the Russian Federation and significantly return our reserves to circulation, which will further support the ruble at the current moment and will be an adequate response to the import of inflation that we are seeing. We believe that this will be a worthy measure, and it can be introduced – naturally, this is your decision-quickly enough.

And of course, humanitarian issues. I have already said that we are currently working hard on education issues, and our young people are our future. I am the president of the Faculty of World Politics at Moscow State University. Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichy is a unique rector of a world-renowned university, he will be 85 years old in April, and the university is preparing to celebrate its 270th anniversary. These are the most important issues that have been partially resolved, the mosaic is moving forward, and will continue to move forward in the coming year.

As for demographic issues, demography is more or less clear here, although this is a question for years to come.

As for humanitarian issues, of course, we need to build Russian schools abroad, we need children in the largest diasporas to speak Russian-not in broken Russian, with their parents, at home-and to have [become] a part of the Russian world. Forced assimilation of the Russian-speaking population in a number of countries is proceeding very quickly. In 1989-1990, 350 million people spoke Russian, and now 270-in just over 30 years, this is a collapse. And it is on the conscience of our generation to turn it around.

The same goes for our foreign broadcasting, we have incredible companies: Russia Today, Sputnik, and RTR-Planeta. But we need to increase it, because it is now 119 times less, according to Rosstat, than it was in 1989, when there were no electronic media, no Internet. You can't hear us enough. This is what allows our enemies, especially in the United States, to try to distort our image and make Russia "red", then bandit, then Russia that is annexing something.

We have learned to cope with this, but foreign broadcasting must be forcibly resumed while we still have the mastodons of our information world, such as Vitaly Nikitich Ignatenko and many others, who were engaged in the very counter-propaganda, which then, it seems, was "unfastened" as unnecessary in the 90s.

Of course, promoting international development. With your personal coordination - thank you very much-these issues have been resolved in recent years. We have dramatically increased the number of international students. We have always prepared political and business elites for more than 100 countries around the world, who became presidents, prime ministers, speakers of parliaments, and heads of major corporations. So that we can keep the United Nations platform, which is necessary, despite all the attempts of the United States to reorganize it and somehow dissolve it among other international organizations, at the top of the world political hierarchy, of course, adjusted for today's realities, as it developed after the Second World War.

Resume the activities of the UN Security Council, which was hacked by the US State Department, which needs only it, and no one else on the planet, no other organization, to be able to impose any sanctions and restrictions, which some people are now fond of and erase from the face of the Earth undesirable regimes of their leaders, as was the case in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria. We are led by you – You did not allow events to follow the same destructive scenario.

Based on this, I am sure that we need to continue to multiply the number of [foreign] students in our universities. This whole complex: the construction of schools there, and the reception of compatriots here, and the increase in foreign broadcasting, and the promotion of international development in just a year, two, three by Rossotrudnichestvo at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or a separate agency can be created, because tasks of civilizational importance, they deserve it, you need to think slowly. And IT’S not a hindrance here – it needs a little budget funds, state support funds. But this is a burning question, especially today, when the fate of the Russian world is being decided.

In conclusion, I would like to say that all of us – the LDPR faction, my colleagues, who now number 360,000-take part in parliamentary diplomacy events at all levels – both federal and regional – not because I remain chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the same time.

Today, this is very important: Russia is becoming a forward force, a center of attraction for the countries of Latin America, Africa, and a significant number of Eurasian countries, including the Gulf, including the Asia-Pacific region, which are against, so to speak, a unipolar world based on blood – what the United States is trying to do, and all the BRICS countries, without exception, are against it. We can say that the situation in the Gaza Strip with the destruction of 6 thousand children and so on, when the United States supported only one of the parties to the conflict, became the agony of the Monroe doctrine and the myth of the hegemony of the United States. This hegemon is no more.

And it is precisely those who today advocate a multipolar world, where each country, its people, national culture, traditions, history, language, religion will become for each smallest country a separate pole of power and influence in the new world architecture of the XXI century-balanced, stable, secure, with a single and indivisible security space – this is the new global majority, and it is grouped around Russia, which is why they are drawn to our forums, including parliamentary forums.

Next year, we plan to resume the Global Forum for the Development of Parliamentarism, which was interrupted due to COVID, and which is only slightly smaller than the Inter-Parliamentary Union, but it is more than 100 years old. We will resume the meetings of the speakers of the parliaments of Russia, Turkey and Iran, the Astana format-Uzbekistan, China-on combating international terrorism, and much more. Now it is relevant. Now they are reaching out to us, and they see that we can really resist this. Plus, we will report on certain BRICS issues separately after the New Year. In particular, we have come close to creating the BRICS parliamentary dimension and we believe that it is realistic to look at these tasks during the presidency next year.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, the Liberal Democratic Party is developing. We are working shoulder to shoulder for a speedy victory and the challenges that the country and the Russian world face. Thank you again very much for helping us honor the memory of Vladimir Volfovich, and for your constant prompt response, despite your huge workload, to our ideas and suggestions.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

You once again mentioned the exhibition at VDNKh. We wanted to reflect the achievements and results of the country's work since 2000, of course. But Gennady Andreevich is right, all the same, the cushion of this security and opportunity was created back in Soviet times, so we need to see what we can do in this regard.

Sergey Mikhailovich.

Sergey Mironov: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for continuing the good tradition of meeting with the leaders of parliamentary factions.

The main outcome of the work of the State Duma in 2023 was, of course, the support of participants in the special military operation and their family members. And here I must say – and I say this: if at the beginning of the SVO there were some problems, now-thanks to your close attention, first of all, as the Supreme Commander – in-Chief, as the President, and the well-coordinated work of the State Duma, the Ministry of Defense, and the Government-now the overwhelming majority of all these problems have been solved. If there are some rough spots, and they are rough spots, then everything is already working systematically.

Since my colleagues here were talking about the wonderful exhibition at VDNKh – I will also say a few words, I spent several hours at it. You know, the idea itself is in a good sense a competition of regions: who is cooler, who has achieved what? And everyone shows it. It turned out and it really attracts a lot of people's attention. Each region shows its own traditions and culture, and certainly shows, as you said correctly, what has been done since 2000. This, of course, is a wonderful thing.

About supporting a special military operation. First of all, you correctly noted that everything related to the international agenda is always absolutely consolidated by the position of all the factions of the State Duma – all your initiatives are promptly considered, unanimous voting. And everything that concerns, of course, the support of participants in a special military operation, their social protection, [protection] of their family members – here, too, we fully understand.

But I would like to outline a few suggestions.

First. The Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation was created absolutely correctly. At one time, you responded to our proposal to move a little away from the flat income tax scale, and now there are 15 percent. We have people who receive more than 50 million rubles a year. If only we could make at least 18 percent for them… Remember, this money, socially colored, goes to the treatment of children. And this additional money could be directed just to the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation.

Just a few days ago, I sent a letter to Sergey Kuzhegetovich Shoigu. The fact is that you and I know that many military personnel, even after losing their limbs, return with prosthetics and fight in their homeland. They want it, they don't want to abandon their comrades-in-arms.

In this regard, I have such a proposal: to give those who are under 35 years old the opportunity to enter military institutes in the profile. It is clear that there must be some restrictions. But they want, and this would be a good example – both for civilians and for children to receive military education, being formally disabled. Now medicine is doing wonders, there is prosthetics. So, I think that would be a good thing.

Another problem is related, among other things, to the conduct of a special military operation – this is the problem I would like to outline. We are talking about citizens of other countries who are being persecuted in their countries for supporting Russia, for supporting the principled position of a multipolar world. For example, in Germany alone, 140 such criminal cases were initiated in 2022. There is another category of citizens. These are both our citizens and citizens, for example, of Ukraine, who express a different point of view than Mr. Zelensky. They are also criminally prosecuted.

In this regard, I think it might make sense to set up an official interagency commission under the Security Council to deal with these civilians. Because Tatyana Moskalkova is working very well on the exchange of prisoners of war, and in general the work is well established. And with these categories of people, and not only in Ukraine – in other countries… Perhaps we should give them the opportunity to come to our country in a simplified manner, to obtain citizenship, because, relatively speaking, they no longer have a life there and are ready to come here.

And one more topic is also related to SVO. We are talking about armed territorial defense. In the regions adjacent to a special military operation, such detachments are being created, but the issue of arming them has not been resolved. And they are ready to defend with weapons in their hands, to be combat squads of territorial defense. We have made such an amendment to the law on defense. I think that it is necessary to consider carefully.

And one more topic that concerns our history. You are absolutely right to pay due attention to this. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, it may make sense for the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly to create a special commission to write a single textbook on the history of the Great Patriotic War for all CIS countries under the conditional title "Victory in the Great Patriotic War – one for all". So that there is one absolute interpretation. When I once headed the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly – there is a special commission there. They could coordinate and issue such a unified textbook. By the way, this idea is supported by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Education, and the Russian Academy of Education. By the way, we are promoting this idea together with our colleague, State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova.

A few suggestions on demographic issues that you are paying proper and proper attention to. It's great that 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family – this is what we need right now. We have such an offer. We have families with more than eight minor children. In fact, there are no more than ten thousand such families across the country. We have a suggestion: parents should be allocated two minimum wages per month. This is a small amount and a small amount of money, but it will encourage and show that when there are not even three, but quite a lot of children, the state helps.

Another topic: maternity capital. We have directions where you can spend it. For example, for a large family – to purchase a domestic car. I think that would be the right direction. In particular, I rely on letters from citizens and large families who raise this issue.

And one more suggestion from this series. It may be about such a negative fact, but we need to resolve this issue. We are talking about our" runners " – alimony payers. Poor women – I think that all deputies receive such letters - they apply: our bailiffs can't find them. The proposal is this: to create a state alimony fund, so that the state pays what is due to children, and the state will find these "runners" and collect from them even with interest – so that the family does not suffer and that women do not suffer.

I would like to say a few words about the migration policy. Very well you said on the "Direct Line" about this and you know that there is such a problem. Look, the regions are already making certain decisions, such as prohibiting migrants from working in certain areas. Such local laws have been adopted in the Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk Regions and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. I think that this is absolutely the right approach and we should go this way.

Mr Putin, if you'll excuse me, you know that I am a mining engineer, geophysicist and geologist by my first education. Now it is time to form a new Government structure. Once again, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have significant budget revenues from the mineral resource complex. Nevertheless, we need to deal with this issue professionally-creating a professional Ministry of geology that would raise everything that we have already developed. No business will ever invest… We still don't even have a 200-thousandth [1:200,000 scale] geological survey covering the entire territory of Russia, so we still have, relatively speaking, white spots. In this regard, I am supported by the Rector of the Mining Institute, Vladimir Litvinenko, who is well-known to you.

And since I mentioned it, I would like to draw your attention to this problem. Sanctions have not achieved anything. And what's more, no matter what restrictions they impose on oil and gas prices, we are still developing them and still trading them. They come from the other side: they are methodically destroying the geological formation in our country. [This is a very curious comment with the pronoun reference, “they,” being very unclear.]

Unfortunately, I can say today, and I am responsible for my words, that the only university where geology specialists are trained professionally today is our native Mining University in St. Petersburg. In the rest, everywhere just like that, in small things-there was a geological profile [became] a construction one. This is all great, but we need "specialists" who would understand what geology is.

Finally, I would like to inform you that our party will hold a congress on December 23 to support your candidacy. Tomorrow I will take part in the meeting of the initiative group. We are ready to work actively, we are ready to collect signatures, we are ready to enter the headquarters, we are ready to submit – and I have already given such proposals-to authorized representatives. We are ready to work actively here. Let me remind you that on May 20, we held a congress where we voted that we would meet in December to support your candidacy. And we will do it with great pleasure.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

You mentioned the idea of creating a commission to support civilians, especially abroad, who share our goals, values and support our actions. I need to think about it. It's not a bad idea, it's a good one.

Sergey Mironov: We need to do something about them… Let them feel that Russia is extending a helping hand. In what form is [another question]. There are really a lot of difficulties there.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, yes. Indeed, work is underway on the exchange of prisoners. By the way, I would like to inform you that the number of Ukrainian soldiers surrendering has increased dramatically recently.

Sergey Mironov: They understand.

Vladimir Putin: Please, please, Alexey Gennadyevich.

Alexey Nechaev: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

We have completed the parliamentary year. This is the second full year for our party. I believe that the maximum contribution that we have managed to make is in the issues and in the draft laws on supporting entrepreneurs and protecting the environment. Of course, we are actively working with the Government on all these issues, including smart protectionism, which we discussed earlier.

They say that it was the most difficult budget, the most difficult for the time of the State Duma. But I also want to say that together with other factions, we have reallocated about 139 billion rubles for medicine and healthcare. There was a general consensus that it is impossible to save money on this, as well as on protecting the country's interests: on defense, on the military sphere, on the military-technological sphere.

This year, for the first time in the history of the State Duma, on the initiative of the New People party and with the support of Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin, large parliamentary hearings on small and medium – sized businesses were held-entrepreneurs were given the floor. Officials also spoke, but mostly answering questions. Entrepreneurs, which is good, said about their plans and problems. These are well-known things – the availability of credit, participation in public procurement, but it is important that we have collected 549 proposals, where there are many new ideas. This is a multi-year task for both the Committee on small and medium-sized businesses and our faction.

Thank you very much for your position on the "Direct Line" yesterday that the term of 14 years in economic terms is too much. After your words – I don't know, maybe they didn't get through to you – several people called and said that people responded to this.

Thank you very much. We will work during the spring session.

Vladimir Putin: That is, no one wants to sit for 14 years?

A. Nechaev: No. (Laughter.) But they don't want to break it either. And that you understand this – everyone was very pleased.

Vladimir Putin: It is better not to break it.

A. Nechaev: On the same topic. We discussed a year ago, in February, our draft law on raising the damage thresholds for economic articles – the thresholds for transferring administrative penalties to criminal ones.

Thank you very much: after you signed the letter, and with the support of the Security Council, the Government went to a meeting and agreed on it. We submitted it to the State Duma and passed it in the first reading this year. Now it remains in the second, third. We can handle it ourselves. Thank you very much.

In February, you also approved the expansion of our "I'm In Business" educational program. The government then added funding: previously there were 295 universities, but then there were 455, which means that there was immediately more interest in this area. This year we are finishing the fourth season. We trained 90 thousand students in the three - or four-month course "Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship" and attracted about the same number of thousands of schoolchildren to the program, but more as career guidance to attract people, show them.

The main thing, of course, is that two thousand mentors have already taught this program for other students and schoolchildren over the past two years. Now we have prepared three thousand more mentors for the next year. I believe that our Mentor Year is also an important result, because these are people who have not only done something good for the country, for their region, but also teach it to others. This is probably active patriotism: not only feelings and conversations, but such concreteness is very pleasing.

At the same time, nine thousand graduates started their own projects and startups. Of course, this is mostly what is called a "school", that is, beginners, but there are several serious projects - with strong teams, with good universities in the field of new technologies. And it is clear that there you can no longer collect start-up capital through friends.

To help such tech entrepreneurs, a bill on benefits for venture investors was introduced in the spring. Then big companies will be bolder to invest in startups, and it will be easier for businesses to attract investment. We discussed it with the Government for several months, and with experts for six months, to be honest. We came to a compromise – even Anton Siluanov agreed in the end.

Vladimir Putin: I gave up.

A. Nechaev: Yes. Which, of course, is important.

Every ruble that is invested in a Russian startup will be returned from the taxes paid to the company that it financed. This procedure is already valid for domestic software, and it is time to apply it to those who turn technology into new products and services.

Since we have a party about something specific, let me get you involved in an urgent story. This year, the Government increased the recycling fee for cars. This is a very correct measure, no doubt, because we are fighting with resellers and supporting domestic car production. But there was an incident specifically at the moment, we received several dozen requests. There are people who suffered during the transition period of the introduction of the recycling fee. They bought cars in the nearest foreign countries, for example, in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.

A small example. We were approached by a family from the Moscow region, they saved up for a car for four years, but prices rose in the fall, and they decided to buy abroad. At the time of purchase, the fee was five thousand rubles per car, and now they need to pay 528 thousand rubles. I gave you their letter. There are several thousand such people.

Vladimir Putin: And at the time of purchase it was five thousand?

A. Nechaev: Yes. Our colleagues also know this story.

Remark: Imported at the time of raising the recycling fee.

A. Nechaev: They ordered the car before the new rules were introduced, but they raised the scrap collection rate while the car was on the road, which means, in fact, it turns out to be a retroactive increase. And people, of course, did not know that such rules were being developed. At the same time, in general, there is no doubt that the waste collection rate has been increased, and people do not object. But those who are caught in this transition period, they are confused.

Vladimir Putin: The law is not retroactive, so you need to think about it, of course.

Alexey Nechaev: I also think that it would be great if we met them halfway-to make a transition period, for example, until January 1. We need October, November, and December – this is a very short period of time for those who have already imported a car to pay this fee at the old rate. I sent a letter to your reception from us, and I enclosed one of them [from citizens].

That's all there is to it.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you very much.

Thank you for noticing this. The law has no retroactive effect, so if the purchase and sale transaction itself took place before the introduction of this new fee, then, of course, we should not impose this additional tax on people.

Alexey Nechaev: The State Duma Committee on Industry and all our colleagues in the factions know this.

Vladimir Putin: Good.

Vladimir Abdualievich [Vasiliev], please.

Vladimir Vasilyev: Mr President, let me also join in thanking you.

Your statement of tasks and the role of the Chairman [of the State Duma] have consolidated us all. Our colleagues have already pointed out that, first of all, these are tasks to support the participants of the Free Economic Zone. In order not to repeat myself, I would like to focus on a few points.

About the exhibition [at VDNKh]. Many thanks to those who organized it, [for] the idea. It seems obvious that the West seriously believed that Russia will never be able to become a competitor and the economy will not be able to rise after the sanctions. They believed it, and a decent part of our population believed it. When now at the exhibition people see achievements in all industries and superiority in a number of positions, which was previously simply ignored, then, of course, this [produces] a powerful effect, which everyone noticed.

It seems that the exhibition has not yet exhausted its potential. The proposals of Gennady Andreevich [Zyuganov] and other colleagues are very interesting. The exhibition can work not only inside, but also outside of Russia, giving out absolutely obvious examples of competitive superiority.

Thank you for this opportunity. We were all there, too, as a whole staff [of the Duma Council], and it became a tradition. This is one of our consolidation themes.

I want to support the work carried out by the Chairman [of the State Duma]and my colleagues. We visited both Murmansk and Tver. We studied agriculture, liquefied gas technology, and many other issues. It is very useful to look at the places.

When, for example, colleagues from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation ask questions and ask the head who conducts this work on liquefied gas: "How much do you need from the budget?" He says: "You don't need anything, leave it as it is. I do everything for my profit and I will do it." It is very useful for us to understand that there is a business that works for the benefit of the country, based on the conditions in which it finds itself.

My colleagues and I have different opinions on a number of positions. Someone says that in the current situation it is necessary to tighten the belt, and probably correctly. Truth is born in the discussion, and you have also paid attention to this. You gave the example of a chicken egg. Before that, we faced [the problem of rising prices] for diesel fuel during the harvest period. Then Gennady Andreevich says: "Let's plow even more". But there are other questions – how to save, how to process, how to sell non-raw materials. And Turkey earns dozens of times more on our raw materials, on grain, and not only it. And here we all need to think. There are short solutions that are obvious to everyone, but there are modern and effective ones. And the exhibition teaches us that, and so does life.

The second point I would like to focus on, as you pointed out, is the amendments to the Constitution. Not everyone supported them, not everyone voted. And this is very good again-we critically evaluate it.

But today we see that if there were no amendments, we would not be able to work with the Government as we are working now. Not easy. As a majority party, this is doubly difficult for us. Why? First, [members of the Government of the Russian Federation] began to go to the Duma just regularly. It has already become a tradition that each minister and his deputies meet first in all the factions. By the way, the First Deputy [Prime Minister of the Russian Federation] was present at the meeting with small businesses and immediately gave answers. It's amazing. This is a new form of Government work, and we should thank them for it.

And this modern format of work allows us to develop slightly different and responsible approaches. We understand that if we [the United Russia faction] support the government's proposal, and we can't do what Gennady Andreevich Zyuganov said yesterday, what people like, and they vote for it, we have to [vote] not for what we like, but for what we need, what is necessary in this situation. Otherwise, we will not be able to be a responsible party that determines economic policy in the interests of the country? So, there is a very interesting process going on here, and in my opinion, a useful process. I would also like to thank the Government for this and for making decisions on amendments to the Constitution.

What else does it seem important to me? I have already told you that working in this format [together with the Government] obliges both the United Russia party and the faction as a representative in Parliament to work with responsibility.

In particular, there are issues that we just started to solve within the framework of the people's program. You then supported our initiative at the congress and the people's program was created, 2 million people's wishes were taken into account. This is a unique experience. And there are such examples, I want to tell you now, because they have already been tested by time.

I reported back in 2022, and now I just want to emphasize once again that this is an important experience. We managed to completely renovate a fairly large number of schools – almost 1,700 – in 2022. At the same time, budget funds for this major overhaul were spent twice as efficiently as it was before. This is a good result. It was not recorded by us, it was recorded by the Accounting Chamber, and again, reporting to us.

Please note that the Government shows its work to the Parliament. Why? Because our deputies went to places, looked at every school. And with whom? With the parents ' committee, with the parents of students who will come there. As they say, you can't find such a controller – he is incorruptible. It works.

Now we were talking about healthcare – a serious topic. We, for example, worked out such a mechanism in Rzhev, when 20 doctors from Moscow arrived there and in three days removed all the issues that local medicine did not provide. After that, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, who is a member of our party, went to the regions to study the situation. Now we are starting to introduce new methods of work.

We reported that just recently the party's selector summed up the results: today, more than ten regions in the country have mastered not only this year's budget, which was more than a month ago, but also the budget of 2024, and Penza is already mastering 2025.

What happened? Party and deputy control led to the fact that kickbacks began to go away, prices began to decline. Funds are released, but we give the budget for three years. They are starting to master this year what they can master next, and they have finally opened the way for our domestic producers.

They started offering similar and significantly cheaper equipment. I was at the school myself – they invited us to the opening after the renovation-all the interactive whiteboards are ours, all the computers are ours. Previously, it was impossible to break through. By the way, the exhibition also works for this.

From this point of view, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our basic laws are being tested. For example, we have created jobs in families where people will be able to receive a salary for caring for their relatives – the sick, the elderly.

We have now adopted such a law, but before that we "tested" it in the regions. He showed himself well. I also appeal to my colleagues here: it is good when the boldest, most progressive proposals are "tested" in practice. Not just a theory that is divorced from real practice. I think we have great potential in this area. I would also like to emphasize what is being done today, especially by the United Russia party.

Just the other day we met, and Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev] held a meeting. There were a large number of foreigners there. And they talked about it too.

The Assembly of Peoples of Russia is transformed from a public organization to a public-state organization. This is a step in the direction you mentioned. Such an important and complex task as our multi-ethnic, multi-confessional society today deserves very close attention, prompt, preventive and regular monitoring.

The process is underway. And what was nice, literally just passed the "Catherine readings", the Administration was preparing, everyone took part. Thank you very much. It was a very interesting conversation. There was, by the way, a direct heir of Catherine, who also performed very well. There were many representatives, especially from Germany. I've heard this before, and my colleagues know it well, and Leonid Eduardovich [Slutsky] knows this topic. In Germany a lot of immigrants from East Germany, who say, anyway, I have various sources of information that they want to come to Russia. They ask for a simplified procedure, like at the World Cup, they say: well, find us, we are not migrants, we are investors, we will be useful. It was in history. This is a good thing. The exhibition is open again.

So in this regard, I would also like to say a big thank you. And I can't help but thank you, on behalf of the party and the faction, for asking you to allocate funds for drugs for cardiac patients. Thank you very much. Of course, I would like more. But even what is allocated will help a large number of people whose lives will be saved. This was done even in the face of a budget deficit.

We also discussed with Gennady Andreevich that we have developed forms that we didn't have before – breakfasts at the Chairman's house with the invitation of leading heads of the executive branch.

But at the same time, if possible, I would like to pass it on. Before the meeting with you, I had the opportunity to talk to all the members of our faction. I said that I was coming to see you, and they asked me to send you their best wishes for success. We will work honestly and support you in every possible way.

Thank you for this meeting, thank you for the Direct line with you -this was also our reporting – we saw, listened, and worried: there was a lack of work here, and we need to put more effort into it. You have set us tasks, and we will work out everything that is necessary. There is such an atmosphere now when, colleagues, we are united on such issues.

There is another important issue that our Chairman mentioned, and it has been raised repeatedly. This is not an easy decision, but it took place, thank you very much, and you told people about it when you answered. These are commissions for housing and communal services from banks.

We are also learning now and have begun to understand. When we invited the Government leadership, I specifically asked them at the Presidium of our faction to explain where the money from commissions for housing and communal services goes. They explained to us that Sberbank spent the money it received, including from this one, on the implementation of very important products that allowed us to survive in the conditions of sanctions. As we understood, everything is not so simple, everything is not linear.

I listened very carefully to my colleagues, and we communicate constantly. We need to develop approaches where we make responsible decisions to our constituents, to you, rather than simple decisions. Vladimir Vladimirovich, you show exactly this attitude in everything. Just before we met, we were waiting for you and touched upon your working day. What an example. It obliges a lot.

In conclusion, I would like to repeat myself at such a meeting. First of all, I would like to wish you every success.

That "Direct line" during which you answered, as you know, I spoke with my colleagues, and we took it as our responsibility, each member of the faction, to the people for the questions that were asked and that have not yet been resolved. We are ready to work with the necessary tension. People asked me to pass this on.

And I hope that my colleagues from other factions will support the extreme question that many of my colleagues have asked me. You partially touched on it when answering questions. A great deal, I won't mention it, as my colleagues said, has been done to support the members of the SVO and their families, and a lot of work has been done. What the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation is doing is simply wonderful.

From the questions and your answer, I understand that you understand this very well, but not everything reaches a specific participant, a specific person. This is well understood by our deputies. Yesterday I literally had a conversation with a colleague from Bashkiria, his brother serves in the Rosgvardiya, he has five children, he volunteered. He says: "I want to take a UAZ truck there. Plus a few more cars – we want to go." We comply with the decision dictated by security concerns, but both people and deputies say: "We can be useful." Why, for example, in the same Bashkiria and not only collected a large number of warm clothes. They call each other, talk, and write letters to each other. This is a huge force, I think, because there is a family, there are children, there is a wife, and he is there. And when a message comes through, they pass it on... Gennady Andreevich will tell you how much to whom and who sent it. To be honest, we don't even talk, because there are so many of them that it is impossible to count. Everyone is trying to do even more. And most importantly, when a person who gave his own, and even came, and there is a community, kinship feelings. From this side, I think we can get even more energy. And in schools and hospitals, the control is incorruptible, when people and their relatives are there, they are taken to them, they look at it, I think it can be useful. I'm sorry, but I pass on this wish from my colleagues.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you very much.

You mentioned yesterday's "Direct Line" and the fact that I announced the cancellation of the previous decision to charge commissions when paying for housing and communal services. I said that this decision was made in relation to pensioners.

Vladimir Vasilyev: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: In fact, the decision was made in relation to privileged categories of citizens. We proceeded from the fact that pensioners, as a rule, are all beneficiaries, but not all of them.

Vladimir Vasilyev: Not all of them.

Vladimir Putin: But since I mentioned pensioners, after that we will assume that I misspoke.

Vladimir Vasilyev: I see.

Vladimir Putin: The Government then decided to extend this rule to all pensioners. You see, in any case, the benefits of these "Straight Lines" are obvious.

Vladimir Vasilyev: Yes, it is significant.

Vladimir Putin: Good disclaimer.

Vladimir Vasiliev: Everyone will save from 50 to 300 rubles. This is a lot of money, if you look at the preferential categories. Bankers will feel this, of course.

Vladimir Putin: Vyacheslav Viktorovich [Volodin], please.

Vladimir Volodin: Mr President, we have held the final session of the State Duma today. We were summing up the results. 694 laws were adopted. But I would like to focus on the decisions that we have been making throughout the year, identifying them as priorities. We have completed the formation of the legal framework in the new regions of the Russian Federation – it took a year and two months. For comparison, the same tasks in Crimea and Sevastopol were solved within five years. With the accumulated experience, we have now done it faster. It is clear that it may be necessary to make additions and amendments in the future, but still, these are already amendments to the created legal field, and now we can say that all new subjects are completely in the same legal field with the Russian Federation. In order to solve this problem, it was necessary to adopt 62 laws, and they have been adopted to date.

Among our priorities is legislative support for the implementation of the President's Address to the Federal Assembly. We are reporting to you today, and this is a priority for us in our work. We constantly monitor the implementation of the Message. To date, 90 percent of the legislation has been implemented, 67 laws have been adopted, 5 bills are under consideration and are being prepared for the second reading, and 2 laws are expected from the Government. They have not yet been introduced, but we hope that by the beginning of next year we will have 100% legislative support for the President's Address to the Federal Assembly.

This is how we have built our work and see that the result is obtained. For us, the goal is not to pass a law, but to solve the problem. Yes, it is not easy, and we are discussing these issues with the Government. We are arguing somewhere, demanding that we step up our efforts in this direction, because people are behind the goals and objectives that the President announced in the framework of his Address, and everyone is waiting for these issues to be resolved. Therefore, we believe that such a systematic approach has a lot to offer. It takes a minimal amount of time from setting tasks by the President to implementing them, but combining the capabilities of the Parliament, the State Duma, and the Government gives a concrete result.

By the way, the situation really changed after the adoption of amendments to the Constitution. thank you very much. Because if it wasn't for your initiative to transfer powers to the parliament, then, most likely, we would even have a different atmosphere, because previously deputies usually blamed the Government for everything and said: "This is the Government, and we have nothing to do with it, we are good." Now we have come to understand the overall responsibility for the results of our work, because we have come to realize that once we appoint ministers, deputy prime ministers, then we must also be responsible for the outcome of their work. At the same time, this applies not only to factions that supported the appointment or support the Government's decisions, but also to opposition factions.

If we talk, for example, about a special military operation, all issues are resolved in solidarity, regardless of party tickets and programs. Here we have a fully consolidated position.

Over the past year, 91 laws have been passed, and these laws are supported by all the deputies of the State Duma, because there is a responsibility, and this responsibility is already for the country.

Therefore, when we talk about the parliament, the Constitution, without your support, without the decisions that you have taken all the time, we would hardly have developed parliamentarism and would hardly have improved the quality of our work.

Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude. Indeed, we closed the year and summed up the results in all areas – there is something to talk about. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much. {My Emphasis]

Of course, one wonders what is said that doesn’t get transcribed since all those present know their words will be made public. Recently, Putin met with the justices of Russia’s Constitutional Court and separately with its Chief Justice Mr. Zorkin. Both links are to the Kremlin’s English site, where unfortunately the long discussion with all the justices is greatly truncated, but at least readers can get the main gist that the discussion was about Russia’s Constitution’s 30th Anniversary. That such a document emerged during 1993’s great political and economic crisis within Russia was quite remarkable. Many items are highlighted. One main theme that isn’t is the clear level of solidarity of all parties with Russia and its people and the intimations made to the fantastic volume of support for “the guys at the front” coming from all corners of Russia and its society, which is in very marked contrast to the situation within Ukraine and the entire West. Repatriating items from Russia’s past that escaped may seem trivial but isn’t within Russia. Politically, there’s a unity of purpose that is a reaction when attacked; but for Russia, this isn’t the first time it’s been attacked, and this time has fueled a resolve like never before. Historians will likely write that Putin is the one mainly responsible for bringing about Russia’s constitutional amendments. Recall the West dissed those proposals that appear to have profoundly increased the efficiency of Russia’s governance. Putin will surely be reelected and serve until 2030 when I expect he’ll retire but not vanish from the scene.

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