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.”
“I will say that the Government is preparing a series of moves, which are as follows: first, we will substantially increase federal budget support, raising it to 10.5 billion roubles; then, additional funds will be allocated by Vneshekonombank - 30 billion roubles; we will also preserve all former types of support for small and mid-sized businesses.”
“As for agriculture, it posted record-high growth over the past few years, 8.8%. We have gathered in a record-large harvest, including over 100 million metric tons of grain, which is the highest in many years.”
“First, we are trying to limit red meat, namely, pork, beef, and even poultry, imports. We cannot stop such imports or bring them down to critical levels because, frankly speaking, our agricultural sector is still unable to fully meet the demand of large cities. We must heed the interests of agricultural producers and consumers, especially those in large cities, so that our actions in the customs-tariffs sphere do not cause sharp and unjustified food price hikes.”
“I can tell you that we have allocated over 30 billion roubles, I think it is 34 billion roubles, to the Agriculture Ministry from the budget for this purpose. We have purchased 2.5 million tonnes of grain at a price that is above the market price, at 5,000 roubles, and at 6,000 roubles in the Urals and Siberia. I repeat, we have purchased 2.5 million and the Ministry is now buying 5,000 tonnes per week. We will keep up the pace until we use up all of the allocations.”
“We hear that the relations with Russia should be built with respect for our interests. If these are not just words, and if they are translated into practical policies, then of course we will react in kind and our American partners will immediately feel it.”
“You know that we have signed mutual assistance treaties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This is the best guarantee of the fact that Russia does not plan to leave this region. Given the desire of these states' citizens, we will be ready to provide any aid even at this difficult time of the global financial crisis.”
“I will start with the last part. I think that the trade unions have started carrying out a natural function in this country, which is very important for them. I mean defending the interests of working people. They have stopped being some school of communism, or something else. This is an entirely different sphere of activities. They have stopped being a political appendage of some party, but have begun fulfilling an independent function. Responsible conduct of trade unions is very important, very much in demand.”
“We will continue improving the work of this public organisation, which, in my view, is becoming increasingly significant, as well as strengthening the country's multi-party system. I believe party pluralism is an important element of democratic institutions in present-day Russia.”
“The main thing is to ensure stable revenues for the pension system for the long term, which is why we plan to reform it. In 2010, we will reassess the pension rights of those Russian citizens who retired in the Soviet period. They will get a 10% increase plus a 1% increase per each working year since 1991.”
“In short, we will do our best, and I am confident that we will ensure sufficient pensions for those Russians who attain the retirement age in 2010. We will ensure that their pensions will be equivalent to 40% of the reference wage. This is fully in keeping with global and European standards as stipulated by the International Labour Organisation.”
“Prices and tariffs are growing too, but when I said pensions would grow 12% next year, I meant growth minus inflation. Of course, our pensions are not sufficient, they are small, but they are still growing faster than inflation. We will try to keep up the pace.”
“Therefore, we will take additional measures next year to raise pensions. They will be raised three times - the basic pension twice and the non-funded pension once. If inflation grows too fast, we will increase the non-funded pension twice. On the whole, we plan to raise pensions by approximately 34% next year.”
“I believe that the use of maternity capital in the amounts planned to begin on January 1, 2010 may be moved to early 2009 in view of the financial problems in the world and in this country, so as to allow the families and mothers to use this money to pay off their mortgages.”
“I believe people should react accordingly because, under current legislation, the mayors of municipal entities, including such cities as Nizhny Novgorod, are elected through universal suffrage by secret ballot. Such elections involve the populations of their territories. Municipal leaders would feel the people's reaction during subsequent elections, unless they respond to their concerns.”
“We admitted a number of European companies - Finnish, Italian and German - to our energy sector; they acquired the biggest blocks of shares with our power companies, invested literally billions of dollars and euros. We invite such investments. We admitted them to participate in the development of hydrocarbons - both oil and gas.”
“I have to do justice to our European partners. For their part, they ventured the construction of new routes for our energy resource supplies to Europe. An excellent example is the constructing of the North Stream gas pipeline and our plans for the South Stream, as well as some other projects. Europeans have also admitted us to their energy transport system, namely the trunk pipeline. These are very good examples of integration in a crucial economic sphere: energy.”
“When oil prices were high, we took most of oil companies' windfall profits away from them and into the budget - through export and customs duties and taxes, as much as 80% and sometimes even 90%. It was thanks to these revenues that we formed most of the country's gold and hard currency reserves, which today, as I said earlier, are the third largest in the world - $450 billion. They are our "safety cushion" and allow us to make things easier during the crisis for millions of people.”
“What is particularly important for us is the results of our efforts in the social sphere. The increase in take-home wages will be approximately 12.6% and pensions slightly more than 12% - 25% in nominal figures. Industrial production growth will be nearly 5% (4.8%).”
“We have problems with inflation. The target figure was slightly above 12%, but annual inflation is likely to be 13%, because of the global crisis and because the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry had to inject a huge amount of liquidity into the economy.”
