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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Regional Development Minister Dmitry Kozak

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Vladimir Putin: 

Good afternoon, colleagues,

Yesterday we discussed again the problems related to the global economy and its effect on Russia. At yesterday's meeting, with the Vnesheconombank management, we discussed applying regulatory tools and touched on the necessity to pay more attention to the real economy today. I am referring to the measures that could foster settling social issues, first of all. No doubt, construction is one such issue. We have worked out a number of mechanisms to be introduced. We have also designed tools supported with significant funds. I'm referring to the Housing and Utilities Fund and the programme for providing the military with housing.

As far as the Housing and Utilities Fund is concerned, it has been set up to achieve several objectives, the key of them is resettling people from dilapidating houses. I consider it possible to accelerate the allocation of additional subsidies to Russia's regions so that local authorities could provide new housing for those who live in dilapidated houses. It is important for us to urgently allocate these funds, two-years limit, totaling 50 billion roubles.

Now I would like to focus on providing housing for the military. This year we plan to allocate 65 billion roubles for this purpose. The rest of the funds - over five billion roubles - could be used to purchase housing. I also think it's possible to distribute at least another ten billion roubles in 2008, which were scheduled for 2009. We can and must use the extra resources of the Mortgage Crediting Agency, and involve the banking system as well. In this way we will help banks serve their customers (this implies the construction sector primarily). These steps, in my opinion, will also support future property owners, who invested in the construction of their housing and can encounter problems now when the construction is either completed or pending. All these measures will not only allow us to support the Russian building sector, they will also help address the acute social challenge of providing Russian citizens with proper housing.