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.”
“State inspectors can now suspend operations and dismiss the heads of mining companies for severe violations before a court’s decision has taken effect. I’d like to note that in 2010 over 81,000 violations were uncovered in this industry, and over 8,000 companies and their staffs were fined.”
“As you know, five years ago we began implementing a national project in Russia’s agroindustrial sector and then used this project as the basis for a government programme to support the sector. We have invested over 440 billion roubles from the federal budget within this framework. In total, taking into account regional allocations, 700 billion roubles have been put to support agriculture over the past years. And experience has shown that we have been making the right decisions – these investments are now paying off.”
“Children in rural areas should have access to quality education and modern learning tools on a par with their peers in cities and towns. The national programme for education has played a significant role in making that happen. Now almost all of Russia’s rural schools are connected to the internet. More than 1,000 sets of teacher's aids in subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, and geography have been sent to schools located in out-of-the-way areas. As for small rural schools, we’ll continue to support those that belong to communities with an objective need.”
“I’d like to make is that teachers who live and work in rural areas now have the right to apply for reimbursements on their utility bills. A resolution to the effect was adopted late last year. And, of course, we should do more to promote culture and sport in the countryside and to support rural libraries.”
“Over the past eight years, over 217,000 young specialists and young families have benefited from our housing programmes. Many young professionals based in rural areas have been able to improve their families’ living conditions, with more than 14 million square metres of residential space being provided for their housing needs. An additional 2.5 million square metres will become available in 2011-2013. Moreover, I believe that we should allow farmers to build their houses on farmlands.”
“To be truly competitive, our agro-industrial sector needs high-tech equipment. Today old tractors and combines that have exhausted their service life account for 70%-80% of those in use. According to available estimates, farmers are spending billions of roubles on repairs instead of using these funds to develop their farms. The technical fleet must be reequipped and the scrap must be disposed, all the more so since our mechanical engineers are starting to produce new models and foreign firms are also arriving. Incidentally, we could think about a special programme here, as we have in car making, to encourage the production of modern equipment on our territory.”
“The share of small businesses in Russia’s agroindustrial sector is steadily rising. We now have more than 200,000 farm holdings and over 100,000 individual farmers. The production rate in rural small businesses is growing between three and four times faster than the industry average – I noted this when preparing for this meeting. <…> We have every reason to say that farming has established itself in Russia as a powerful economic and social entity, as a bulwark of the country, and as an important source of development for Russia and for reviving its rural communities and their rich traditions.”
“This country will benefit from the development of the farming sector and from the success of those who want to improve their standard of living in the process. Cultivating land should become a source of pride and of prosperity.”
“Regional and municipal authorities should provide vacant agricultural land to those who want to engage in agricultural production and become farmers on a priority basis. I request that our representatives and supporters in the local authorities be guided by this approach. We cannot allow profiteers and resellers to get ahold of these plots in order to resell them and cash in simply because the land was undervalued on the market. This land should go to those who will cultivate it, for whom agriculture is a livelihood and a source of prosperity.”
