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.”
"We have competitive solutions in the aviation industry. The United Aircraft Corporation plans to triple its production of civil aircraft between 2011 and 2013, which marks a transition from producing to order to mass production. In order to implement these large-scale plans, we will have to modernise aircraft plants. We either have or are designing similar development projects in other industries as well."
"Since 2008, we've allocated 89 billion roubles for programmes to provide housing for veterans, allotting 34.5 billion roubles this year alone. However, to meet all commitments to the people that were put on a waiting list after March 1, 2005, we'll need to allocate an additional 81.2 billion roubles for these purposes by the end of this year. I repeat, a total of 89 billion roubles has been allocated for this programme since 2008, 34.5 billion roubles have already gone to it this year, and 81.2 billion roubles will be provided by the end of the year. It's quite a large amount, and much will need to be done. Please don't put this issue on the back burner; everything needs to be finished in a timely manner."
At the same time, it's necessary to increase our efforts in addressing the strategic objectives of the development of the labour market. I'm referring primarily to advanced training programmes. People have shown interest in training for new professions. State employment agencies should offer more such opportunities, organising internships for young professionals and helping people with disabilities find jobs.
"We will draft and adopt the Accessible Environment government programme. It will be distributed. Corresponding standards will be introduced in construction, architecture and so on. But I do not think this is sufficient. I think that the term Accessible Environment should include the training of everyone who works with the general public, with the community. All of them - doctors, teachers, and those who work in the social sector - should adapt and be trained to work with people with restricted movement or limited abilities. This is the extremely important, because it creates the corresponding mental attitude in society."
"Despite the global financial and economic crisis, we were able to retain positive trends in the economy with our Indian partners. Despite the crisis, trade between our countries grew 7.5% last year, and in the first four months of this year, it grew another 26%. We have many concrete large-scale projects, and they are all progressing well. I'm very glad to have the opportunity to meet with you and discuss our joint work."
“The global economic crisis that we all have encountered has clearly shown how dependent we are on each other. It has also shown that the irresponsible or selfish actions of one country or even one large bank may cause problems for the entire global financial system, as well as for themselves. Therefore, it is especially important that governments, financial authorities, and central banks of all countries synchronise their policies. … We are committed to coordinating our own steps with what's going on out there, with the decisions worked out by the G8 and G20 groups.”
“We intend to buy only new, state-of-the-art equipment and not what was designed twenty or even thirty years ago. For this purpose, we made a full inventory of the military industrial complex and specified basic requirements for military production. Of course, we should draft our rearmament plans with regard to the current economic situation and our budget. So, the Ministry of Defence and other state clients of the rearmament programme were asked to prepare detailed calculations and justification for the amount of necessary budget spending for 2011 and the following years.”
“Today geological exploration is a promising and attractive enterprise, where each rouble invested by the government attracts 10 roubles of private investment. In recent years proven reserves of strategic reserves, including oil, gas, gold and copper, have grown faster than the amount of these resources produced each year. This shows that we've resolved the problem we faced several years ago when we produced more than we developed, which caused certain problems and concerns. Today we can report that we have resolved the priority issues for exploration in this field.”
“I would like to express hope that all events being held during the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia will make it possible to reassess our past and our joint future and will enable the citizens of both countries to get to know each other better and to chart ways of effective work in the near future and in the long-term. It is hardly surprising that General Charles de Gaulle once assessed Russian-French relations and said the Russian-French alliance always became particularly important at all crucial stages of history. One could not say better.”
“The purchase of the Mistral is primarily a matter for the General Staff. We need answers to the following questions: How will the ship be used? Where will she be used? What components will be manufactured and where? I repeat, we want to know what components and in what volume will be manufactured at Russian enterprises. This matters a great deal to us. There are very many issues that have not yet been considered by experts. We should get this work underway, and then we will see. As we know, the Russian defence industry is sufficiently well developed. Russia is a major global arms manufacturer and a leading arms exporter. Just as in any other sector, experience, technology and production end-result exchanges are, of course, useful because this primarily concerns state-of-the-art technology.”
“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.”
