VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“Support from Russian citizens has always helped us, and I’m confident that the government’s future line-up will rely on the people. We must never forget about the needs of ordinary people. We must always remember how government-level decisions influence the lives of all ordinary Russian citizens.”
“In recent years, we have substantially increased funding for science as well as secondary and higher education. We have launched a national project in this area, and we have already spent 180 billion roubles on it. For example, new equipment and the introduction of modern programmes have allowed us to improve conditions at 30,000 schools with a total of nine million students. Overall, federal budget appropriations for education have almost doubled since 2006 - from 212 billion to 400 billion roubles.”
“There are problems, but I do not want to get into their causes now. European leaders have spoken about this at length, convincingly, and I think correctly. [Financial] discipline must be strengthened and the budget deficit must be closely monitored. Overall, there is much to be done, such as changing the currency laws, which should be the same, or at least as close as possible, in all EU countries. On the whole, the foundations of the European economy are sufficiently strong. There are clear leaders in terms of economic stability, such as Germany and France. And nobody wants to destroy the European Union. I think that Ms. Merkel was correct when she said that there would be no EU without the euro, even if the organisation would still be called the European Union.”
“I would like to draw your attention to some important considerations in the social sphere such as the income level of military pensioners. We need to think about improving the system, especially considering the upcoming reform in the military pay system. It is evident that civil pension increases created a misbalance in the pension provision for military pensioners. I believe it's necessary to immediately increase the bonus payments for military pensioners. Currently the payments are 240 roubles. These need to be increased to at least 1000 roubles. We have assigned 7.9 billion roubles for this purpose.”
“Democracy cannot be separated from legality. And legality cannot exist outside democratic society. Laws must be passed by a legally elected parliament representing the interests of society as a whole. This is a complex and sophisticated mechanism. And I want to stress once more: it does not mean that we have everything organised ideally, we see where the problem lies, including in the media. I do not want to say that everything is perfect. You know that all over the world, wherever you point a finger, authorities always try to put a better face on things and to curb the media to some extent. But in any country with a well-developed civil society these attempts, as a rule, do not succeed. Where society is immature or weak, authorities find it easier to manipulate it. In this sense, our goal is for our civil society to mature, grow, gain in strength and understand its own strength.”
“That being said, this increase in the federal funding should by no means encourage regions to reduce their own spending on healthcare. I hope that regional leaders will heed this. Let me be clear. If some regions have already started repairing hospitals and have promised to buy equipment, they must keep their word, carry out their plans, and not shift the financial burden over to the federal budget. They must complete all the projects that they have begun and pay for all of their commitments in full.”
“We suggest that in their cooperation, regional institutions should focus on developing trade and economic ties and the infrastructure as well as on promoting integration and economic projects all with a view to ensuring the prosperity of the Eurasian nations. I believe it is time we initiated serious efforts to organise our common economic space, to modernise our economies, our industrial and cross-border cooperation, and establish new transport routes, high-tech clusters and energy hubs.”
“As far as Nabucco is concerned, I have repeatedly said and will continue to say that if someone completes an economic feasibility study of this project, and if this study can form the foundation of this project, then Godspeed, let the project move forward. But we realise that Azerbaijani gas will not be enough to fill the Nabucco pipeline to capacity.”
“We had an ambitious proposal and a great desire to host the Olympic Games, but perhaps that was all Sochi had. Now Olympic venues are springing up right before our eyes. And this does not just apply to Olympic venues: the infrastructure of Sochi and the south of the country is also expanding. I'd like to emphasise once again that the Olympic venues and the related infrastructure account for a mere 20% of the cost for the entire project. We are building roads, an airport, a port, tunnels, flyovers, a natural gas pipeline, a thermal power station, eight substations and sewage and water supply systems. This is a huge effort to develop the south of Russia.”
“Several years ago we set ourselves the goal of ensuring that quality and affordable domestically produced food is available in Russia. We adopted a state development programme for agribusiness and allocated over 300 billion roubles from the federal budget for its implementation in 2008 and 2009. Allocations totalling 107 billion roubles have been approved for 2010. We can say with confidence that this investment and other measures designed to support agriculture have produced the desired result.”
