Putin: Strategic Development and National Projects Important as SMO

To cap a very busy day we have Russia’s Meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects and State Council Commissions on Socioeconomic Development. As seen in the above picture and verified by the roster provided by the Kremlin, almost every minister and many regional governors were present. Not everyone present spoke after Putin’s opening remarks some of which were not merely key but critical. I doubt if any Russian government member at any level will find their duties simple, although they may be rewarding and enjoyable. There’s lots of work to do, and Putin sets the pace:

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

As you know, on May 7, the Decree of the President of Russia on national development goals was signed: on our most important long-term priorities, on the fundamental tasks facing society and the state.

First of all, we are constantly talking about saving the people, improving the health of people and improving the well-being of Russian families, creating new opportunities for everyone to maximize their abilities and talents and achieve success, creating a comfortable and safe living environment, and improving the environmental situation in cities and towns.

And of course, among the national goals is to increase the sustainability of the economy, achieve a qualitatively new dynamic in industries, primarily by strengthening Russia's technological sovereignty, training modern personnel, and making extensive use of innovative digital solutions.

Specific targets and tasks have been set for all these areas until 2030 and for the future until 2036. Many of them were mentioned in the Address to the Federal Assembly in February of this year.

I would like to repeat that the main, substantive work on achieving national goals is carried out, of course, not in the offices – we always talk about this with you. It is being implemented locally, in the regions of the Russian Federation, in our cities and towns. This means that the efforts of regional and municipal teams, entrepreneurs, public associations, and citizens ' initiatives play a decisive role here, not least.

Therefore, it is natural that we hold today's meeting of the Strategic Development Council together with the State Council commissions and colleagues from the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. I know – some of the Administration staff and I have already talked about this in the morning – that yesterday you discussed in the format of round tables how to work most effectively to achieve national goals, how to establish interaction between the authorities at all levels as clearly and smoothly as possible.

I hope that the heads of regions and the chairmen of relevant State Council commissions will tell about the results of these discussions and present their recommendations to the Government before the final stage of working out all the details of national projects.

I ask my colleagues to carefully analyze the proposals of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and additionally, not formally, but essentially, direct the ministries to actively involve the regions, civil society, and business in the preparation of new national projects.

I repeat: we are not talking about projects of individual departments, but about large-scale, interconnected programs that should work to solve common systemic problems that are important for all citizens of the country.

By the end of the summer, national projects should be drawn up and coordinated with each other. We all know that the main tasks of the country's future are largely solved on the line of contact – we should never forget this. And all of us together – all those who are sitting here, and all your teams on the ground-should work exactly as our guys work on the front line. We need to work constantly, hard, understanding at what point in the history of Russia we are working together. And it is from this that we can build both goals, tasks, and the very style of work of today.

Everything should be coordinated between different departments and levels of government, submitted to the Strategic Development Council for consideration. And of course, you need to work out their financial part in detail. Let me remind you that to do this, we have expanded the state's financial planning horizon from three to six years.

Yes, in the future, of course, projects will be supplemented with new initiatives, life will make its own adjustments-this is natural. But we can already say that spending on national projects will become the core, the most significant part of the development budget at the federal and regional levels, and therefore a key direction for all levels of government.

I am convinced that despite the objective difficulties that they are trying to create for us from abroad, and despite the current challenges that we are facing, we nevertheless have all the opportunities, resources, and personnel to implement our plans, for the confident, long-term, integrated development of Russia, our territories, regions, and localities.

At the same time, I would like to draw your attention once again: we will evaluate the results of national projects not by how many activities have been carried out or how much funds have been spent, but by how national development goals are being achieved, how people's lives are really changing, and, of course, how citizens themselves assess these changes. I ask the participants of our meeting to proceed from these fundamental considerations.

Let's start working. The floor is given to Andrey Sergeyevich Nikitin. Please, Andrey Sergeevich.

A. Nikitin: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

I would like to say a few words about the most important tasks that are formulated in the national project "Family". The new national project will contribute to an increase in life expectancy. Programs for maternal and child health, long-term care, modernization and construction of social institutions have a significant impact on this indicator and, of course, are supported by the governor's office. Almost every citizen of our country is involved in them.

A big step has been taken in the digitalization of the social sphere. While at home, a person can make an appointment with a doctor, view tests in their personal account, and choose a package of social support measures. All this gives people a new quality of life, and these areas, of course, need to be continued.

Today, the risks of poverty and the risks of growing poverty have been overcome. We have reached the national target of 8.5 percent. A common approach to social support measures for the population and social contract programs make a significant contribution here. We have agreed with the Ministry of Labor on mechanisms for expanding social contract opportunities for large families for a new cycle of national projects.

Your instruction to introduce new approaches to the wage system for public sector employees starting from 2027 and accelerate the increase in the minimum wage will also help reduce the level of poverty.

Our strategic priority is to increase the total increase in the birth rate to 1.6 by 2030. Special and very important decisions are needed here.

I would like to start with practice. On your instructions, this year the Novgorod, Tambov and Penza regions have become pilot regions to overcome the so-called demographic winter. As part of the federal pilot project to increase the birth rate, we analyze the problems of reproductive attitudes in small towns and localities. We have Valdai, Borovichi and Staraya Russa.

In the course of our work, it became obvious that the decision to start a family and have a child is connected not only and not so much with social policy – it is influenced by a number of factors in different spheres of people's lives. Residents name these priorities in order of importance: the first is new housing. Let me remind you that small towns haven't had new housing built in a very long time. The second is, of course, a well-developed infrastructure and a well-maintained residential area. And, of course, the high quality of medical care and the availability of modern medical equipment.

The funds that we received as part of the pilot were used to upgrade the municipal and transport infrastructure, repair youth centers, build family MFC's [multifunctional centers] and outdoor sports and playgrounds.

We have attracted developers to build apartment buildings. It was not easy, because, of course, it is profitable for developers to build up large cities and large sites.

And today, although the pilot started in January, we are already seeing at least a small increase in the birth rate, an increase in the registration of women.

Our reserve consists of small towns and localities: more than 40 million people live there. It is there that a comfortable living environment should be formed. You need to ensure that you can follow the principle: work where you live, and not vice versa.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, yesterday we had a lively discussion on demography and the principles of allocating financial resources. At the same time, the term "economic efficiency of national projects"was constantly used. But if we take it only as the basis for forming national projects, we may not be able to solve demographic problems.

Only when we sincerely believe in the feasibility of developing our small towns and villages will investors and entrepreneurs believe in it. They do not come to such cities now, because there is no appropriate infrastructure, and as a result, economic development points are not formed there. Therefore, in our opinion, the only way to implement national development goals in terms of demography is to put the interests of the family first in all national projects.

In this regard, I propose to conduct an audit of all the national projects currently being developed and the principles of allocating funds in the interests of demographic policy, to understand that everything we do is really aimed at the interests of families and children.

Probably, it is advisable to develop a certain standard for a small city or locality. They should answer such simple questions: what infrastructure, what services should be provided in a comfortable city, what quality of housing and communal services. Next – we need to evaluate all national projects for compliance with the standard, with a focus on the regions of the so-called demographic winter and plan our activities for the upcoming period to achieve national goals, taking into account the principle – this is probably the right word – of family-centricity.

At the same time, of course, there are also supporting tasks, and we will certainly solve them. This is the need for frequent statistical estimates of total birth rates and the level of poverty. It is important to constantly monitor how the situation is changing. It is necessary to expand family MFCs and improve social services for families with children. Of course, the contribution of the corporate sector is very important to us, and here we will definitely discuss programs to support families and employees with their families.

Of course, we need to pay attention to the modernization of cultural facilities: museums, music schools, cultural centers, which create a favorable climate for the development and upbringing of multigenerational families.

Finally, we need to think about expanding training programs for management teams, state and municipal, the very people who will implement national goals at the level of our subjects and municipalities.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, we have a fundamentally important task – to make it comfortable for our families, our parents, and our citizens to have children and raise them comfortably in our great and beautiful country. I believe that we have every chance to do this within the framework of today's national projects.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

You said about the audit – it is necessary to conduct it. Yesterday we had a meeting, a meeting. Is this an audit, or is it not enough?

Mikhail : Preliminary audit.

Vladimir Putin: Do you have any comments, please?

Mikhail Mishustin: Mr President, on audit-related issues: to date, we are systematically engaged in it.

Vladimir Putin: Andrey Sergeyevich said that we should conduct an audit of all our plans.

Mikhail Mishustin: We conduct audits at our strategic sessions. Today we discussed the procedure for the two-month session with Maxim Stanislavovich [Oreshkin]. One of the sessions will be devoted to the audit, but the audit is constantly monitored in our system. I can show the corresponding audit inside the table.

Vladimir Putin: Tatyana Alekseyevna, would you like to add something?

Tatyana Golikova: Mr President, Andrey Sergeyevich said that he would like to see all the national projects that will be prepared-he may have used the word "audit" incorrectly - but he said that the national projects that are being prepared should be verified, if you want, to ensure that the measures are in line with the creation of a favorable environment. family friendly environments. That's what he meant.

In this sense, we are talking about measures aimed at creating a favorable environment for families in small towns and rural settlements. Because the main focus of families now is not even on social benefits and payments, but on housing and infrastructure, so that this can happen. That's what he meant in terms of a standard for the family.

Vladimir Putin: Andrey Sergeyevich, right?

A. Nikitin: Yes, that's right.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Please, Stanislav S. Voskresensky.

S. : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Your Decree sets national development goals, and all of them in a complex - this is actually an image of the country's future. Yesterday we discussed in detail with members of the Government how to ensure that the goals set were met. We agreed that today we will discuss exactly the priorities – what we need to focus on in our joint work.

There are new goals for the health of the nation. Along with life expectancy, your Decree sets the goal of advancing the growth of healthy life expectancy, as well as reducing the total duration of temporary disability of citizens of working age. Simply put, so that people get sick less.

This means, among other things, that the focus of the health system should be shifted to disease prevention. We understand that prevention is not only a medical task: it is important to create conditions for a healthy lifestyle in general. In this regard, we consider it important to implement a separate federal project on the formation of a healthy lifestyle. Here we have a common understanding with Tatyana Alekseevna and with the Ministry of Health.

In terms of medicine, prevention means a higher return on the work of the primary health care system. Therefore, it is important to continue the transformation of primary health care. By the way, the image is being transformed: you know that since 2019, more than one and a half thousand polyclinics have been repaired in the country, and more than 4,600 paramedic and midwifery centers have been built. But people today care about the availability of medical care, in other words, to get to the doctor.

And here, Mr Putin, there is a challenge, given the general situation on the labor market. The reality is that if you do nothing at all, it may be more difficult to get to a doctor in perfectly renovated clinics.

What should I do in this regard? The program should be accompanied by a sharp increase in efficiency. Yesterday, by the way, we discussed with our colleagues-governors that amid the shortage of doctors, we often compete in cash payments, lifting surcharges, and social packages – the main thing is that a doctor comes to work. But not all regions have this option. And we see all this in other sectors of the economy as well. What's the way out? How does the company get out of the situation, for example? There is only an increase in efficiency, and it gives results, there is no other option.

Therefore, we believe that it is important to direct funds not only to invest in infrastructure, but also to develop the competence of doctors and management teams, that is, to invest in people. In addition, [it is necessary] to introduce modern technologies to help doctors, freeing up valuable doctor's time, including telemedicine and artificial intelligence technologies, as well as to distribute work more efficiently between the doctor and the rest of the staff.

Further: The decree sets another new important goal – to reduce the differentiation of life expectancy by at least 25 percent by the level of 2023. Let me remind you: now the gap between the minimum and maximum values is 13.3 years. In many ways – not in all cases, but in many ways-this is due to differences in the level of the health care system between regions. In this sense, we support the Ministry of Health here, meaning to adjust the approach to allocating money for the modernization of primary health care, meaning to use not only the population size, but also the real state of the health system, as well as population density. This is especially important for colleagues from the Far East.

Now for financing. According to the condition of co-financing the primary care modernization program, you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, in 2019, according to the results of the State Health Council, a ratio of 90 to 10 was established. I mean 90 – the federal budget, 10 – co-financing from the regions. This was your separate decision. We ask you to maintain this co-financing procedure.

Finally, this also applies to health care, and, continuing Andrey Nikitin's thesis about an environment friendly for families with children: we are talking about children's health care. By the way, there are results here.

Let me remind you that since 2018, infant mortality in our country has decreased by almost 20 percent, to be precise – by 17.6 percent. By the way, when I was preparing today, I checked the figures again: since 2017, infant mortality in Russia is lower than in the United States of America – in the world's largest economy. Confidently lower, steadily lower, that is, the result is quite decent.

But there is clearly a potential for improving the situation in children's health care, especially in better medical support for children, so that children's untreated ailments do not develop into diseases in adulthood.

Children have no choice whether to use medicine or not: children are constantly undergoing examinations, visits are mandatory. Therefore, the mood of people and families is particularly sensitive to the situation in children's healthcare.

In this regard, we believe that we need a separate project dedicated to children's healthcare. We are talking about equipping children's hospitals, putting children's polyclinics in order, and introducing advanced diagnostic technologies.

Naturally, we should also talk about medical offices in schools – you mentioned this in your Message. In general, children's healthcare, as I have already said, is an important element of the family-friendly environment that we need to create, including for increasing the birth rate.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

You suggest allocating resources not only by population size, but also by the actual state of the healthcare system in the region, right? And who will determine this real state?

Tatyana Golikova: May I, Mr President?

There are statistics that characterize the health care system of the respective region, the state of wear and tear, and so on. My colleagues are partly right here: starting from 2021, we are implementing primary care programs, all the statistics already exist, and they have already entered everything into the data.

But some have had better opportunities because their budgets are richer and they have the ability to channel their financial resources. And some people – given the low level of budget security-do not have such opportunities, but the population should not suffer from this.

Therefore, our colleagues suggest introducing a slightly different adjustment factor, so that those who have not yet reached the appropriate level can simply catch up and by 2030 already have the necessary infrastructure for healthcare.

Vladimir Putin: It's clear. And then it will allow you to reveal the potential of each person.

Please continue."

: Thank you, Mr President.

Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

Yesterday, in preparation for today's meeting, we held a vote: which national goal is more difficult to implement? According to the general opinion of colleagues, preserving the population, promoting health, well-being of people and supporting families is the most difficult goal to implement. And, in fact, this probably determines how new national projects should be assembled.

Andrey Sergeyevich has already said that the pilot project that we are implementing on your behalf in the Novgorod, Penza and Tambov regions shows that, once again, social payments are not always decisive in terms of ensuring that people stay in the place where they were born. Infrastructure is important, and the mood is important, including what you get from this infrastructure. This is important both for young people and for those who are already raising children.

Today's priorities are priorities that are based solely on priorities for our citizens, for our multi-generational family with many children. Everything that we will build from January 1, 2025, in my opinion, should be subordinated to this main and fundamental goal-the preservation of the population, health and well-being of people.

What do I mean? Since the goal is to increase the total birth rate, we should understand that today this total birth rate by the end of 2023 is 1.41 – this is the number of children per woman.

You have set a target to reach this figure of 1.6 by 2030, and 1.8 by 2036. It seems that the difference is small, but the efforts that we must make not only at the federal level and not so much at the federal level, since life takes place in the regions, should be absolutely joint. Here, it is very important to work together, which will be carried out by both the federal authorities and the regions.

That is why it is very important that, as part of the preparatory work that we are carrying out, as we have agreed with our colleagues, the regional programmes to increase the birth rate that everyone has today should be completely rethought. They are rethought solely based on the priorities that are specific to each region, including taking into account the national characteristics of the region, which are important for solving demographic problems.

Every national project in our country consists of many activities, but the surveys that we have conducted and are conducting as part of pilot projects and that we see say that a road is important for a certain region or municipality, a school for some, a hospital for some, and so on. All this is spread out in different national projects.

But it is very important that not only the national projects "Family", "Long and active life" or "Youth and Children", but also infrastructure projects work for the family, work to create jobs, and therefore citizens' incomes. In my opinion, this is the key thing that we all need to achieve. Therefore, when Andrey Sergeyevich spoke about the audit, he said that each national project should meet the needs, so to speak, of the family.

I would like to draw special attention to the 41 regions that by the end of 2023 have a total birth rate lower than the national average. Here, on your instructions, you have proposed to allocate an additional 75 billion rubles to these regions over the next six years. And here, too, it is very important that our colleagues choose the measures that will specifically affect the problem that we are solving. [Don’t just throw money at the problem but tailor a solution that wisely uses those monies.]

I would also like to draw our colleagues ' attention to bringing our regulations in line with your Decree on supporting large families.

Most recently, at the Council of Legislators in St. Petersburg, we discussed this issue under the leadership of the heads of the two chambers, but I must inform you that today, unfortunately, another 27 regions have not adopted their decisions on bringing the regulations in line with your Decree, which means that people's expectations have not yet been fulfilled. 18 of these 27 regions are currently considering these documents, and I think they will adopt them in the near future. But I want to appeal to my colleagues to make these decisions as soon as possible.

For our part, starting from July 1, we will launch a resource on your behalf that will monitor the security situation and the implementation of these measures, which are provided for by your Decree and have been continued in the regional regulations.

Why do we need this? We need this in order to make it more transparent, so that large families can see what kind of support they are entitled to in various regions of the Russian Federation, and if necessary, we can complete these support measures accordingly. As you said in your opening remarks: of course, conditions will change and, therefore, the decisions that we are making today will be clarified.

I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that our main task in this difficult problem continues to be the formation of a positive image of the family based on the strengthening of traditional spiritual and moral values. I will repeat once again: we have a tendency to increase large families, but so far this trend is insignificant, and we need to strengthen it.

We have decided now that a federal project on culture for the family and family values will be allocated as part of the new national project "Family", which in principle we did not have before, but we hope that it will be implemented. Our colleagues from the Ministry of Culture actively participated in this process.

Colleagues have already talked about the indicator of life expectancy. You will remember that by the end of 2023, it is the highest for all previous years – 73.4 years. But the indicators – 78 by 2030 and 81 by 2036 – are serious, and we need to achieve them. Of course, the national project "Long and Active Life", which we will implement from January 1, 2025, is here to support us.

As for the healthy life expectancy, which you also mentioned in the Decree that it should also be increased, according to the results of 2023, this figure was 61.4 years – an increase of one and a half years compared to 2022. We will still need to use all the resources available to us to improve this indicator.

As for the new national project - "Long and active life", unlike the project that is being implemented now, it will have a holistic character: starting from a healthy lifestyle, prevention, infrastructure and personnel to content, that is, providing appropriate medical care.

My colleagues told me about the footage. Most recently, in the State Duma, we discussed the topic of personnel in great detail. We have come to the conclusion, Mr President, that now – taking into account the arsenal and additional resources that we will be working on – each region of the Russian Federation should prepare its own plan for staffing the healthcare system.

We will carry out such work. It doesn't matter whether it is done on a shift basis, involving second – year residents, a district doctor or a district paramedic, or the payments that you have increased-all this arsenal will work to provide the health care system with personnel.

I want to draw your attention to one more point. We plan that by 2030, the proportion of citizens who are registered in a dispensary and suffer from chronic non-communicable diseases will be at least 90 percent. Why do I draw attention to this indicator? Because if we meet this target, and all the constituent entities of the Russian Federation meet it, it means that we detect diseases on time and provide medical care on time. Of course, the quality of treatment depends on this.

I would also like to draw your colleagues ' attention to the fact that in addition to the additional resources that you have identified in support of these national projects and this national goal, we have other resources – the state guarantee program, and the funds of the constituent entities. All this should work towards achieving the national goal. Additional money and the money that is in the database cannot be used separately.

Taking into account the experience of implementation – I am completing it-I would ask my colleagues not to stop this process and smoothly enter 2025, but to complete territorial planning for the objects that we want to build and reconstruct, for those objects for which, we assume, design and estimate documentation should be prepared, so that we have smoothly entered 2025.

Taking into account that the estimates of top officials of the regions will be updated by October 1, I suggest that in addition to the life expectancy indicator, the total birth rate should also be included in the assessment of top officials of the regions, because this indicator will characterize how successfully the regions are coping with the main goal-preserving the population and increasing it.

Thank you.

Please support us.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Tatyana Alekseevna also spoke about demographic policy, support for families, and so on. Artyukhov Dmitry Andreevich will continue – issues of youth policy.

Dmitry : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Thank you for deciding on a separate national project "Youth and children". This is a big responsibility and a huge challenge for all of us.

The national project directly affects 50 million of our residents-these are children from three to 35 years old, and if you take into account their parents, then, in fact, everyone. The national goal is: "Realization of a person's potential, development of his talents, education of a patriotic and socially responsible person". We have a difficult task – we need to educate and raise a strong generation of the future.

How to achieve this? The day before, when preparing for the Council, we identified three main areas: developing talents and abilities, expanding infrastructure, and, most importantly, training competent personnel.

Working with young people and educating them can only be built on personal example, the principles of mentoring and generational continuity. At one of your meetings, you very accurately named all those who work with young people as guides of meaning. The most important tool for achieving the set goal of the national project is the development of a sustainable community of "guides of meanings" – these are advisers on education in schools, teachers, mentors, lecturers of the Znanie society. We need to invest in these specialists.

For many decades, the generation of winners – veterans of the Great Patriotic War-served as a true example of love for the Motherland and military valor for young people. Unfortunately, every year we lose the opportunity for such meetings, so it is especially important today to involve children who are heroes of a special military operation. They are already becoming ministers for youth policy in the regions, mentors in schools, in the "Movement of the First", and leaders of youth centers.

In the new national project, it is important to continue building a system of patriotic education, involve special operation fighters in this work, and revive and scale up such successful formats as Zarnitsa [A game based on capture the flag concept].

It is also important to pay special attention to infrastructure development. In particular, we expect that the Warrior centers will open all over the country in the next two years.

Of great importance is the environment in which the first meeting of the mentor and pupil takes place. Thank you for the decision to save the construction and major repairs of kindergartens, schools, and colleges. Modern spaces for learning will help children to open up, be active and successfully express themselves.

What would you like to focus on?

First, it is important to continue working on the introduction of early career guidance in schools and, by the end of 2030, help all students from the sixth to the 11th grade choose their future profession. This will significantly increase the share of students who are focused on choosing technical and natural science specialties. This will also require raising the qualifications of teachers of exact and natural sciences. In the next six years, we will have to update the knowledge of more than 200,000 teachers of physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science, including in rural schools.

Secondly, it is necessary to further develop existing effective projects: this is "Professionalism", it has proven itself very well, and "Success of every child" is all the best that we have gained in the Sirius educational center for gifted children.

A whole range of solutions is also prepared for the realization of the intellectual and creative potential of students, young teachers and scientists.

We consider it important to include in the national project “Youth and Children” two more federal projects—“Universities for a generation of leaders” and “Creating a network of modern campuses”. Their implementation will make a significant contribution to the development of regions and entire sectors of the economy.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, a year and a half ago, at a meeting of the State Council for Youth Policy in this hall, you launched the "Region for the Young" program. This decision was an impetus for the creation of a whole network of new youth centers filled with opportunities for children even in the most remote cities and towns. By the way, for one ruble of allocated federal funds, the regions actually add 2.5 rubles to the results of last year. We also ask you to support the extension of this program until 2030 and its expansion.

You are very familiar with the work of our largest year-round youth education centers: These are "Mashuk" in Pyatigorsk, "Tavrida" in the Crimea, "Senezh" in the Moscow region, “Istoki” in the Pskov region. This year, their "family" has expanded, and we have opened 12 more centers in different regions of Russia. Two centers will start operating this summer in Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

Thus, within the entire network of year-round centers, more than 150 thousand young children will be able to receive training annually. We consider it important to ensure the development of these centers and the high-quality content of training programs within the framework of the national project being formed.

Finally, you have repeatedly stressed how important it is to feel like a part of a big country, even as a child. To love Russia with all your heart, you need to know it, you need to see it. Of course, a child who has visited the Far East, the Caucasus, the Crimea, our North, and Yamal will perceive Russia as one of their own and will feel at one with all the inhabitants of the country in all the diversity of the country.

Today there is such a program-this is the program "More than a trip". It has already given 175 thousand children the opportunity to learn about their country. Since last year, it has also included hiking. This format brings up the best qualities in young children, teaches them how to work in a team, and gives them a sense of work ethic and responsibility. We consider it important to expand such useful trips, and we also ask you to support the development of this program within the framework of our new national project.

Of course, our main task is to create such conditions for children and young people that everyone feels the care of the Motherland. This is the beginning of love for your country and a sincere desire to participate in its development.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Mikhail Mishustin: Dmitry Nikolaevich [Chernyshenko] will continue on the topic, if you will allow me, there is a short report.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

D. Chernyshenko: Thank you very much.

In your Decree on national development goals, you have very clearly defined our guidelines. Therefore, the new national project "Youth and Children" is really designed to create conditions for the upbringing of a harmoniously developed personality, patriotic, socially responsible, based on our traditional values.

This is indeed one of the most ambitious national projects, Dmitry Andreevich said, and concerns almost every citizen of our country.

What Dmitry Andreevich has just reported is the result of our conscientious work on the formation of this project, which included proposals from State Duma deputies and senators of the Federation Council. They were all supported yesterday.

I would like to draw your attention to important areas in addition to those that have already been mentioned, without which the achievement of the national goal will be, if not impossible, but extremely difficult to achieve.

In March of this year, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Sirius hosted a large-scale International World Youth Festival. We all remember the flurry of emotions at the closing ceremony, when, remember, you communicated with participants from all over the world. The forum then demonstrated the enormous interest of young people from all over the world in Russia, in our culture, in our values, in a correct, fair assessment of what is happening in a special military operation.

We propose to combine your decisions to strengthen the international community of young people, support their social projects, and create conditions for the regular arrival of foreigners to Russia into a separate federal project "Russia in the World", within which we will continue the infrastructure development of the Sirius federal Territory, and take measures to promote our values to a new level, to promote the Russian language abroad, we will increase the number of foreign students to 500 thousand. Of course, these activities will require additional funds. Now, as part of the strategic sessions that Mikhail Vladimirovich mentioned, we will work on this issue.

Our young people should have ample opportunities to express themselves and their talents, which in turn will provide our economy with professionals and young researchers. This will be the contribution of our youth to ensuring leadership, competitiveness of our country, as you have instructed us, sovereignty of all kinds.

This is the goal of measures aimed at developing our universities and colleges, creating youth laboratories, and providing grants to researchers. The most ambitious university support program in the history of modern Russia, Priority 2030, advanced engineering schools, the creation of a network of world-class campuses, which you have instructed to expand to 40-this is very much supported by the subjects; the renovation of colleges and universities to create a comfortable environment for learning and leisure for young people.

To fully unlock the potential of students who study at colleges, we will continue to implement the federal project "Professionalitet", which was successfully launched by Tatyana Alekseevna, and within the framework of which, on your instructions, we will already train more than a million additional specialists by 2028.

To do this, we plan to include all regions in the project by 2030 and create new so-called model clusters. We will also ensure that 100 percent of students in the sixth to 11th grade are covered by a set of career guidance activities, so that children can choose a profession in accordance with their abilities at an early stage, and get better acquainted with the engineering and scientific specialties that our economy needs.

We are also actively involved in the implementation of the tasks set by you as part of achieving technological leadership. The national project "Science and Universities" ends this year. It has successfully created the necessary conditions and groundwork for the development of our country's intellectual potential, technologies, and innovations.

As part of your decisions and a separate Decree on the formation of a unified science management system at the Government level, a commission for scientific and technological development has been established and is functioning, and a new ambitious task to achieve technological leadership is being solved jointly through a set of measures of a separate state program, the 47th, scientific and technological development of Russia, where all educational budgets are consolidated.

In order to realize the previously formed technological reserve, I ask you to support the continuation of the activities that were in the national project, which ends in 2024, "Science and Universities", already as part of this state program starting in 2025, which would be logical. These are world-class research and education centers, instrument base upgrades, grant support from the Federal Scientific and Technical University, and world-class research centers – these were all your direct assignments, and these programs are in high demand by the scientific community and technology partners. Please support this.

Let me tell you something off the agenda: sports management in our country has now been strengthened by the new powers of Alexey Gennadyevich Dyumin and Mikhail Vladimirovich Degtyarev. The sports community took this very positively. Over the past four years, the number of people who regularly engage in sports has grown significantly. Now the federal project "Sport is the norm of life" is planned to be included in the national project "Long and active life".

In principle, of course, it can exist, but we have all consulted and believe that it makes sense to discuss and form, perhaps, a separate comprehensive state program on sports, which would include both infrastructure measures and mass sports events, including digital, major sports, and reserve training, since they can be implemented in the future. They are implemented not only at the expense of the federal budget, but also at the expense of other sources. Approximately only ten percent is the federal budget, the rest is regional funds and other sources.

Please support us.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Do you suggest that the available resources should be collected in some way?

Dmitry Chernyshenko: Yes, we need to collect them in a separate state program.

Vladimir Putin: Come on.

Does the new Minister think so too?

Mikhail Degtyarev: Yes, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich. This seems like an optimal story.

Vladimir Putin: We discussed this in general terms. Well, let's do that.

Thank you.

Andrey Yuryevich, you know the numbers, right?

A. Vorobyov: Vladimir Vladimirovich! Dear colleagues!

In 2020, by your Decree, you launched a digital transformation that is aimed at improving the lives of our residents, and, of course, the quality of work of state bodies, including efficiency.

At the meeting of the National Projects Council, you emphasized that a broad digital transformation should permeate every industry, enter the life of every person and every family. Within the framework of the national program, a lot of work has been done by both the regions and the Government, of course, with the support and work of the Ministry of Digital Development.

I would like to thank everyone, as well as our parliament, which carefully considers and promptly adopts important legislative initiatives. As a result, over the past four years, I am sure that every person in our country has experienced changes.

The portal of public services is currently used by 115 million people, that is, the absolute majority of the country's population. Taking into account that, Mr Putin, it is only possible to register on the portal when you are 14 years old and have a passport, we can see that the older generation is also well versed in technology and can receive municipal, regional and federal services remotely.

We have converted all mass social services on your behalf to electronic format. And electronic voting, which took place earlier, has become convenient for millions of citizens, especially young people. We can see this in the high participation of young people in elections.

It is important to note the proactive payment of social benefits and everything related to helping people both during covid and now, when the payment comes automatically-without unnecessary red tape, applications and references.

In the education system – "Electronic diary", "Electronic journal". Moscow played an important role here, because it provided not only a platform, but also content that is both modern and convenient for teaching our children. Plus, you can enroll in a school or kindergarten today, in fact, without leaving home.

In healthcare – making an appointment with a doctor, telemedicine, digital medical records, artificial intelligence technologies, which we discussed on one of the forums with your participation, are now becoming the norm, and reading pictures, and robots that can quickly give important information.

In transport today, technologies have been introduced that allow you to see the bus schedule, properly organize parking space. It is important that the issue of Internet access for all social facilities in our country has been resolved.

Mr President, you always place an important emphasis on feedback. In 2020, you were in the Moscow region, and we were able to show you the regional management center. You have instructed that every region should have the opportunity for citizens to apply and, accordingly, the authorities to respond to what is important.

Plus the project "Improvement", which takes place every year in our country. Residents vote for their favorite city, what they want to see there: a park, a square, or some other important change.

All this was done in four years.

As for the program that we are considering, we believe it is balanced and extremely important, because it provides very significant resources for investment in artificial intelligence, and further development of the public services portal is even more proactive. More accessible and high-quality communication in remote areas, including yesterday this topic was heard from Yakutia and the Trans-Baikal Territory.

A very important project, which, I am sure, our domestic specialists are implementing, has already begun, is the development of the space group. It's nice that both the equipment [is ours] and we are completely independent of our colleagues abroad. It is important that the same program provides programming training for high school students for the first time.

At the same time, after discussing and interviewing the governors, we would like to outline three points separately. Only three.

The first is yandex. Mail. In the first place is the Russian Post modernization and digital transformation initiative. This is more likely not about the repair of post offices, but about technologies that will allow you to receive high-quality, prompt communication services. In particular, all registered letters and utility bills should be converted to an electronic form on the state services register. This is convenient for a person, but if suddenly someone does not like to use the electronic service, the opportunity to receive a payment by mail, of course, remains.

The second is communication. Yezhe mentioned that a number of remote territories and federal highways – both rail and road – need to be strengthened and better connected. In megacities, 5G is important – fast Internet, fast communication, which also allows you to provide convenient work. To do this, it is important to provide soft loans to telecom operators.

Wi-Fi in schools, tablets for teachers and doctors are also very important topics. The fact is, Mr President, that according to your instructions, today the regions receive free Internet service in the regions. This norm ends this year. We would still like to ask you to consider extending it. Plus tablets. "Electronic diary" and "Electronic journal" are great if you have a tablet. We have already equipped a number of territories with equipment, but we need help somewhere.

As for healthcare, the tablet is primarily needed by the ambulance service. For what? Dispatching. No time to waste. Such practices have already been used and have shown their relevance.

A separate topic is cybersecurity. We are talking about protecting people from threats and protecting the infrastructure from hacking. I think it is necessary to work out the issue of finding additional sources of funding. I know that the profile block has its own proposals and, so to speak, internal reserves that could also be submitted.

Finally, Mr President, process solutions that do not require money, but, on the contrary, help to save money. These are changes in laws and regulations that allow people to use digital services more actively.

As for the work of the state apparatus: all regions are unanimous, and colleagues at the federal level understand the importance of translating all the reporting that we conduct among ourselves, also into figures.

The Ministry of Digital Resources, Maksut Igorevich [Shadaev] is present here, says that by the end of the year such implementation can be implemented. This can be provided by a "data showcase", where each region uploads the necessary information, and the agency, accordingly, takes what it needs.

I am sure, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, that the new national project will bring important changes for everyone and for our country as a whole. For our part, we will make every effort to achieve this goal.

Thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Please, ecology, Gleb Sergeevich.

Gleb Sergeevich: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

For the first time, we have a separate national goal – environmental well-being. At the same time, your Decree has already defined indicators and tasks for achieving it, there are five of them.

The State Council Commission, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the regions, prepared proposals for their implementation, all of which were supported yesterday. I'll tell you the most relevant ones.

The first task is to create a closed-loop economy. We support the continuation of the activities implemented in the national project "Ecology" within the framework of the federal project "Integrated system of solid municipal waste management".

However, since it is now necessary to ensure that at least 25 percent of all production and consumption waste – not just MSW [Municipal Solid Waste]-is involved in circulation as secondary resources and raw materials, additional measures are required to create a sustainable demand for processed products. It is necessary that the eco-catchment area, which, by the way, has not been recalculated since 2017 and today, of course, requires updating, should be a source of financing and creation of recycling capacities.

Proposals in this part also include: a request for regulating the management of construction waste and other waste of the third and fifth hazard classes, with the definition of a procedure that works similarly for MSW; the possibility of assigning MSW composting to regulated activities; expanding the use of recyclables for state needs. Here we note that all ministries should be involved in the implementation of this indicator, not just the relevant ones.

The next task is to halve air emissions. We support the extension of the implementation of the Clean Air federal project. In addition, we propose to provide at the legislative level for regions that are not included in the implementation of the quota experiment to join this experiment.

The goal of a comprehensive ecomonitoring system is linked to all these tasks. We strongly supported the creation of such a fedproject, but its value depends on the completeness and reliability of information, and on the amount of data, which means that we need to develop an observation network.

Here we propose to adjust the regulation regarding the verification of data from territorial surveillance systems, primarily mobile small-sized stations, and the possibility of bringing them to justice on the basis of their information, as well as to create economic conditions so that enterprises choose to pay not according to the standards, but according to actual discharges and emissions, that is, install sensors.

The task of eliminating 50 dangerous objects of accumulated environmental damage. The work will be carried out within the framework of the federal projects "General Cleaning", "Infrastructure for waste management of hazard classes I–II", and the continuity of activities implemented today will be ensured.

At the same time, the heads of regions separately raised the issue of the need to transfer 100 percent of payments for negative environmental impact to regional budgets. Now, let me remind you, 60 percent of these funds go to the municipal level. This proposal is also supported.

The goal is to halve the volume of untreated wastewater and preserve Lake Baikal. Here, too, our proposals are mostly regulatory. There were three federal projects in this area, and now it is proposed to make two, but the continuity of activities will also be ensured.

At the same time, regulatory proposals are related to the fact that it is impossible to simultaneously bring the treatment facilities of all water utilities into a standard state, where equipment wear in some cases reaches 90 percent. Therefore, in order to prevent claims of bankruptcy of state and municipal enterprises, uncontrolled redistribution of funds outside the indicators of national projects through claims for damages, we intend to change the approach to control activities in this area.

We also need more economic instruments to ensure investment in the modernization of water utilities' equipment in small towns, for example, preferential leasing.

If we talk about sources of financing for modernization, we always talk about tariffs with our colleagues. It is clear that we cannot shift all investment costs to the population, but we support the position that regions should be given the right to set a reasonable level of payment for housing and communal services in cases of construction and modernization of municipal infrastructure facilities, sewage treatment plants in particular, at least to compensate for the increasing costs of their operation.

The fifth task is to preserve forests and biodiversity, develop specially protected natural areas and create conditions for eco-tourism. Like all the previous ones, it is not new. Together with the Tourism Commission, we have included a proposal on the development of eco-tourism, in particular on the creation of tourist infrastructure and increasing the investment attractiveness of the industry, as well as on the elimination of unauthorized landfills in specially protected natural territories and improving waste management in such territories.

Finally, a cross-cutting proposal for all national projects, which correlates with the national goal, is a sustainable and dynamic economy. We have formulated several principles of an environmentally responsible economy, in particular resource efficiency, the production of durable goods, the rejection of non-recyclable materials, a climate change adaptation program, and others. We believe that many national projects should have indicators that reflect, among other things, the environmental effectiveness of the measures implemented.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Please tell us about an issue that no other issue can be solved without: economics and finance.

Alexey Leonidovich, please.

A. Teksler: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for the Council on Strategic Development and National Projects being held now, in the spring, which is extremely timely. Based on the results of the decisions taken, the regions will have the opportunity to prepare for the new cycle and plan everything clearly.

In accordance with your Decree, the national development goals of the Russian Federation are defined. To achieve these goals, a number of system solutions for financial support of this work are important.

The past few weeks were spent in discussions-yesterday at a seminar, and this morning we discussed it. We have largely agreed on these approaches, and we are submitting them for consideration.

First of all, an important financial source for the regions is funds from writing off two-thirds of the outstanding budget loans in accordance with your decision, Mr President, for which we thank you once again. Based on the results of all the discussions, we suggest the following:

First – we have regions with low budget security, and they actually planned to repay budget loans at the expense of new commercial loans. By and large, these regions do not have free funds.

There were a lot of discussions, but in the end we came to a common decision and we ask you to support a special procedure for writing off debt for regions with low RBO [estimated budget security] - less than 0.65-until equalization. That is, to establish for them the possibility of writing off debt on budget loans on a separate basis, provided that the appropriate amount of funds is used for investment expenditures in terms of achieving national development goals.

Secondly, for regions with a higher RW, we propose to provide the opportunity to independently determine the directions of using the released funds. Since the regions are different, it is necessary to consolidate the widest possible list of possible types of infrastructure projects and forms of investment support.

For example, we believe that infrastructure projects should include: projects in the housing and utilities sector, including the replacement of elevators; projects to upgrade public transport; projects to develop strong points, and a number of others. And to support investments – the mechanism of NIPS (new investment projects); compensation for shortfall in regional budget revenues from the use of the investment calculation; support for management companies of special economic zones, TORS, industrial parks, technology parks; additional capitalization of regional industrial development funds, guarantee and microfinance organizations.

After the discussion at the seminar, we propose to agree with the principle that at least 50 percent of the funds released from write-offs should be allocated to infrastructure projects in the housing and utilities sector, based on priority. In other words, there may be more according to the region's decision, and the rest is funds for other infrastructure projects and investment support.

Third – in terms of the criteria for selecting infrastructure projects, we consider it important to avoid red tape, long and complex selection and approval of projects. Therefore, if the project belongs to one of the agreed expenditure areas, it can be approved by the region. It is also important that we have agreed on a six-year write-off cycle, since most projects are not limited to one year, and it will be possible to implement long-term projects using the write-off funds.

The next systemic issue is the establishment of parameters for co-financing regional expenditures from the federal budget for the next six years, primarily for national projects. There were also a lot of discussions: We met both at the State Council commissions and at the Government site, and yesterday we discussed it at a seminar. As a result, we agreed with our colleagues from the Ministry of Finance to maintain the existing approaches that apply in this cycle of implementation of national projects.

What is it about? Subsidies for national projects will continue to be provided, as now, based on the principle of 95 to 5, and outside of national projects-on the principle of 70 to 30. At the same time, a separate co – financing procedure should be maintained in the program of modernization of municipal infrastructure – these areas will be included in national projects in the new cycle. Calculate the level of co-financing for national projects based on the current RBO and fix it for three years, and, accordingly, fix a new one in three years.

Finally, on the distribution of additional amounts of infrastructure budget loans for 2025-2030, as well as on the reinvestment of IBCs returned by the regions in previous years, also in accordance with your decision. Mr President, we also thank you very much for this decision. This is an important financial resource for achieving national goals.

Here, first of all, in terms of the distribution of IBC volumes, we propose to define limits for the regions for six years, so that the regions can plan expenditures, make design estimates and continue to select funds as these projects are protected according to the current procedure.

We said that the amount of funds under the limits should be within 50-70 percent of the total amount, and the rest should be contests or your direct instructions. Accordingly, 50 percent of the IBC limits defined for regions should be allocated to housing and utilities projects, and the remaining 50 percent should be allocated to other projects, including those in key localities. We believe that together all these mechanisms and approaches will allow us to provide financing for the implementation of national development goals.

Please support us.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Colleagues, who needs to say something, speak out?

Alexander Chibis: Mr President, may I? Lapwing.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, please.

A. Chibis : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich,

I would like to highlight and perhaps sharpen the issue of the Arctic territories. Those national development goals – in order to ensure the preservation of the population in our regions and increase it, of course, taking into account the deterioration of infrastructure, the cost of repairs and construction-they require, in our opinion, prioritization in the framework of national projects.

I told you: Last year, for the first time in 33 years, in the Murmansk Region, we achieved that more people came to us than left, and we managed to reduce the rate of population decline by seven times. But it is clear that the fight for people is now the most important thing. If we do not ensure that our national projects in the Arctic are carried out in advance, it will be impossible to maintain this level.

We discussed this topic at a working group of the State Council with the participation of Alexey Olegovich Chekunkov, and we discussed it with Yuri Petrovich Trutnev. I would very much like you to make a decision similar to the Far East, where it is successfully working, that the Arctic territories, those projects that are provided within the framework of national development goals, including through master plans, should have a certain limit and priority funding. This also applies to the topic of healthcare, emergency housing, and major repairs, taking into account the infrastructure, frankly speaking. In many settlements, the people we have are simply not served.

The second topic that I would like to outline – it was not mentioned here, but colleagues are working on it – it is very important that the Northern Sea Route and everything related to its development, including the strategically important project that you support, Mr Putin, the Murmansk Transport Route, should be clearly identified as a core priority in terms of transport infrastructure: The hub and other transport infrastructure that is necessary for the development of the Northern Sea Route.

And the third topic that I would like to draw your attention to. Tatyana Alekseevna said absolutely the right things about monitoring the Decree on large families. But due to a number of sanctions issues, we have, for example, a drop in taxes for the first quarter, as I also reported to you. For example, in order to implement it, we also want to fully implement all the measures in the Decree, but this is an additional 700 million rubles, and we have already lost almost five billion rubles in the past few months alone.

We would also ask for appropriate support here, so that our large families, and their number is growing, who live in very difficult climatic conditions, would not be worse in terms of support measures than others. But for this purpose, taking into account the points I mentioned, additional funding is needed, and we would ask the Ministry of Finance to support us here.

Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Well, thank you.

Who else? Mikhail Vladimirovich, please.

Mikhail Mishustin: Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

I will briefly inform you about the preparation of new national projects for the period up to 2030 and for the future of 2036.

Accordingly, this work is organized in accordance with the Presidential Decree on National development Goals. We have identified the curators of national projects, and I would just like to name them now. This is still a project, but it is already, let's say, being filled up. We have two months before the relevant events are formed, before the stratsession is held. But today it looks like this.

The first is a long and active life, the second is a family, the third is modern technologies for saving health, the fourth is personnel - Golikova Tatyana Alekseevna.

Fifth – youth and children, sixth-tourism and hospitality-Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Infrastructure for living-Khusnullin Marat Shakirzyanovich.

Efficient transport system, unmanned aerial systems-Vitaly G. Savelyev.

An efficient and competitive economy, new energy technologies, including nuclear technologies-this is Alexander Novak.

Environmental well-being, food security – Dmitry Nikolaevich Patrushev.

Data Economy – Dmitry Grigorenko.

Means of production and automation, new materials and chemicals, transport mobility, promising space technologies and export-this is Denis Manturov.

By May 29, the decision of the project curators to determine the heads of national projects, you know, must be completed – this is all practically prepared. Until May 30, we will approve the schedule of our strategic sessions for the preparation of national projects.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite all participants of the State Council to attend these strategic sessions. All information will be provided in the near future, after which, by September 1, we will develop and submit for consideration at the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and National Projects drafts and passports of national projects and federal programs included in them.

Then, accordingly, all the necessary limits of budget obligations will be provided for in the budget cycle. In November-December, we will bring project passports in line with the federal law on the budget for the next financial and planning period. In December, we will finally approve the national projects at the meeting of the Council's Presidium.

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Dear colleagues!

First of all, I would like to thank you for the work done and for your detailed reports, and I ask the Government to record the initiatives that were voiced today by the heads of the regions, the chairmen of the relevant commissions of the State Council, as well as the proposals that were prepared the day before during the seminar.

As I said in my opening speech, it is necessary to take them into account when preparing national projects during the summer. To do this, I propose to slightly adjust the work of the State Council commissions, namely, to expand the powers of their chairmen, who will be included in the project committees for national projects as deputy heads.

Within the next two months, I ask the Government to submit the prepared national projects to the State Council commissions, where they will be analyzed by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Third – it is necessary to bring the budget limits that they will receive under national projects and budget loans to the regions in the near future. This is important, of course, as we all understand – so that the regions of the Russian Federation can start their budget cycle as early as possible and draw up the necessary plans.

By September 1, we must have national projects fully coordinated with the regions and the State Council, which will then be submitted to the Strategic Development Council for consideration.

What can I add in this regard? As I have already said, a large demand for technologies, equipment, materials, works and services is being formed within the framework of national projects. It is very important that this works as a benefit for our producers: industry, the construction sector, and other industries, and becomes a powerful incentive for their long-term development. I have said this many times, and I want to repeat it, and I ask the Government and all departments to pay the most serious and careful attention to this.

And of course, in the course of national projects, we need to actively support structural changes in all areas. For example, this was also discussed just now, such as planning major repairs to schools, so that the new educational environment, new look and equipment of classrooms would improve the quality of education, and allow the use of advanced technologies in teaching schoolchildren.

And in conclusion… Listen, I don't want to escalate anything, but I ask you to pay attention to this: we all understand, in any case, everyone should understand, what time we live in and what historical stage Russia is going through. And if we understand this, then everyone should work as if on the front line, everyone should feel mobilized, and only in this way will we achieve the goals that we set for ourselves.

In modern conditions, it is impossible to work in any other way. It is necessary to establish close cooperation between all authorities and national project implementers. The effectiveness of our work will depend on this, and only then will we achieve the goals that we set for ourselves, as I have already said, and that the country needs.

Once again, I thank you all for the work you have done, and I hope that we will continue to work in this mode in the coming months and years to come.

Thank you very much. [My Emphasis]

Wow! and that was the culmination of a series of planning meetings and seminars. Putin said it twice—perform like you’re a soldier on the front line. And the goal is to benefit all Russians. And to get it done in the context of our/their times. IMO, Russia appears to have some very capable people and not just at the leader position. I have nothing more to add. As an informed observer, I’m very impressed.

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