
“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.”
"We should demand results from scientific research and should slightly change the structure of funding. Look at how the developed economies finance science. Business is paying two thirds of the funding, and only one third comes from the state. The latter is mostly funding fundamental science. Why? This is so because research is more precise. It is better adjusted to the interests of the economy and the social sphere. This is also a two-fold task."
"Ours is a big country. <…> We have places where ungraded educational establishments, ungraded schools should be preserved despite the high costs, although we all understand<…> that an ungraded school costs the state several times more than an enlarged educational centre. Not only does it cost more, its educational services are worse. Regrettably, this is so, but let me repeat again that despite all this, some of them should be supported."
"However, I have studied the experience of some regions and can tell you that if we guarantee safe and comfortable transfer of children into larger educational centres, we will upgrade the quality of education. This is certainly so, and probably only in this case can we ensure equal access to high-end education, and enable children from the provinces to study in the country's best colleges and universities."
"In the last few years, much money was spent on the repair of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres. Initially, this funding was supposed to be reduced, but we decided to preserve it. Starting in 2009, we will finance many cultural monuments, primarily, those on a special list, and not only in Moscow and St Petersburg but also in the rest of Russia."
"Now we are facing new tasks. It is necessary to develop children's healthcare and pre-school education. The birth rate has gone up, and we do not have enough kindergartens. We should introduce new, higher standards for the production of food, and consider methods for protecting the younger generation from smoking, alcoholism, and drug addiction."
"We have agreed to help the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending by increasing its authorised capital by 60 billion roubles. We should do this anyway, whether there are problems in the global economy or not; we need to develop the mortgage system, and the Agency has long asked us to increase its authorised capital. We should do this along with appropriating the planned 250 billion roubles to make market operation more effective."
"The Russian Government and the Central Bank of Russia have adopted a block of measures to ensure Russia's economic stability. Considerable funds have been allocated to stabilise Russia's financial institutions, and a package of tax innovations has been formulated to continue to stimulate the economy."
"Mr Fillon and I discussed at length preparations for and the presentation of the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia. We expressed confidence that this meaningful project will enrich our dialogue and strengthen direct personal contacts between the citizens of the two countries".
"One of the power houses of our economic cooperation is energy. Our French colleagues have confirmed Total's interest in all phases of development of the Shtokman deposit. We see in this evidence of major French companies associating its long-term and strategic plans with Russia.”
