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.”
“On the backdrop of rather complicated global economic and financial processes, Russia confidently started 2012. The first two months of the year saw positive dynamics in practically all of the key areas and indicators.”
“We need to take stock of the existing buildings and improve them, because unfortunately, many of them do not meet modern seismic stability standards. Some of them are, in fact, so dilapidated that they pose a danger to people’s lives and health. This is a big problem, and it requires joint efforts of the federal government, regions, and local governments.”
“We agreed then that an interregional monitoring and emergency response centre needs to be set up in the Altai-Sayan Highland. It will rely on the operation of the modern seismic stations in the republics of Tyva, Khakassia and Altai. We need to complete, as soon as possible, the urgent warning system in all the high-risk areas in Russia.”
“I would like to remind you that 25% of Russia’s territory is a high risk zone due to its seismic activity – Siberia as well as several regions in the Far East and in the south of Russia – in all, 27 regions including 550 cities and towns which are home to about 2 million people. This is an important issue for Russia, and a serious problem that should always be at the centre of our attention.”
“I am asking the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development to work along with the other ministries, agencies and public organisations to determine what else should be done to enhance the effectiveness of our employment programmes for people with disabilities, including employment at federal and municipal agencies. I know from my own experience that when people with disabilities are offered decent jobs they sometimes work even more efficiently than people without any medical problems. They set a high value on their jobs.”
“First, we must provide incentives for those who would like to continue working after reaching the retirement age. <…> Our second basic goal is to further develop all the elements of the pension system, including pay-as-you-go, funded and voluntary contribution components, in order to guarantee the interests of current pensioners and those who are only working for a pension.”
“Our demographic policy is now at the stage where the greatest effect can be achieved through direct targeted measures in specific regions, taking into account regional specifics, traditions, and patterns of family life. In some constituent entities, this will mean providing plots of land to families with many children; in others, additional benefits; in still others, housing; and somewhere else – a combination of all these measures.”
“Our federal and regional programmes of support for families with children have proved to be highly effective; they must definitely be continued, though we also need to take additional steps in order to promote them still further. A particular focus has to be placed on the regions, where the demographic situation is still unstable.”
“We have achieved some significant results, but our main success story has been the positive demographic trends. <…> The natural decline in the population has fallen by 86.3% since 2000. Life expectancy in Russia has gone up by almost five years within a fairly short period of time – and this is a good indicator – it currently stands at just over 70 years (70.3). The birth rate has risen by almost 45%, while infant mortality rates have declined.”
“The priority goals for the coming years are to reduce poverty and expand the middle class. Of key significance are a new quality of employment and a fair evaluation of one’s contribution as social mobility mechanisms. We must plan a trajectory of personal success in which everyone will have an opportunity not only to work in one’s profession but also to make a good career by improving one’s qualifications.”
“We need to modernise all public and social services including hospitals, outpatient centres, preschools, schools and social welfare centres. They should comply with modern standards of comfort, design, energy efficiency, safety and accessibility, including for people with special needs.We need to look closely at both national and international experience and use the best practices as the basis for standard projects to be introduced across Russia.”
“Modern jobs, fair salaries and decent labour mean a new quality of life and the well-being of Russian families and our global competitiveness.”
“We must create harmonious conditions for the development of our human resources as the main guarantee of national success and progress. And one more point – our economic and social policy should be fair and should be in line with advance the interests of our entire society.”
“There’s one more issue concerning the approval of the document that will underlie the activities of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property. Allow me to emphasise that in addition to contractors hired under government R&D contracts, the service will supervise and oversee government customers in order to avoid a situation where funds intended for research and design activities are being disbursed just for the sake of being disbursed without much to show for it in terms of actual intellectual products.”
“Foreign organisations dealing with adoptions must inform the Russian authorities on the fates of adopted children and their adaptation to their new life. But, alas, such agencies are reluctant to cooperate more often than not. The most effective way to resolve this problem is to conclude legally binding interstate agreements. <…> In addition, would-be adoptive parents have to undergo social and psychological training and receive a relevant certificate. The living conditions in a new family will be strictly monitored. Adoptive parents will have to regularly report on the well-being and education of the adopted child.”
“The aforementioned international convention will allow us to clearly define parental rights and duties in marriages with foreigners, resolve the issues of guardianship and protect the rights of children to a decent and peaceful life and education.”
“We must do everything to protect the interests of children and guarantee the settlement of all these disputes and conflicts by legal means alone.”
“Today, we must take a decision on Russia's accession to the International Convention on Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children. We must improve the protection of rights and interests of children born in marriages with foreigners.”
“We must start making specific plans of action now, without any delay, and not only for us but also for the future government.”
“I'd like to remind you of our tasks in social sphere. Our first and most important task is to encourage the birth of a third child in families. I don't think this measure will cost too much. <…> One more important point is to bring stipends for students up to the subsistence level in the regions they live. This level will be around 5,000 roubles in the next calendar year.”
“We should be guided by the world’s best practices when a failure to submit returns or provide correct data involves criminal liability. The legislation in some countries with developed market economies includes such liability for officials. This discourages them from getting involved in illegal activities or circumventing state-imposed supervision.”
“We would like very much to see a substantial increase in our trade and economic ties with Japan. However recently we have made significant strides in energy, high technologies and the auto industry, which is especially gratifying. Several Japanese companies have launched production in Russia, and these are very modern, high technology facilities. I hope that our trade and economic ties will grow.”
“Today we are launching a special Internet portal which will act as a universal outlet where every Russian citizen can directly express his/her opinion on fundamental legislative initiatives that are important for them, their family, region or the whole country.”
“Today we must make decisions that are required in order to apply the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Russian Federation. <…> The ratification of that international document is long overdue and this is an important step. In this way we confirm our willingness to conform with the highest international standards in ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities.”
“In order for us to be able to use these opportunities to the fullest, we should adopt the best practices used by the WTO old-timers, learn to use all forms of support, both direct and indirect, provided to agrarian producers. <…>Our goal is to use them wisely in our development strategy and make them work toward the further promotion of our agro-industrial sector.”
“Last year grain harvest amounted to almost 94 million tonnes, which allowed us to replenish our reserves and not only to fully meet our domestic demand but also to export about 27-28 million tonnes. This is a good figure and we once again rank third place among the world’s top grain exporters. You’ve done an excellent job and we will continue supporting all those who work on land – there is no doubt about that.”
“We protect the agrarian business against abuses by monopoly operators, including infrastructure monopolies. <…> Retail and wholesale agricultural markets will continue to be overseen by the state. Our goal is to facilitate the sale of produce by farmers without the involvement of any middleman.”
“Agriculture has proven to be one of the most lucrative industries in the national economy. <…> The development of our agro-industrial sector has become an objective factor in ensuring the sustainable development of our economy as a whole, and improving the living standards of millions of people.”
“Russia has a chance not only to preserve its culture but to use it as a powerful force for progress in international markets. The Russian language is spoken in nearly all the former Soviet republics and in a significant part of Eastern Europe. This is not about empire, but rather cultural progress. Exporting education and culture will help promote Russian goods, services and ideas; guns and imposing political regimes will not.”
“China's economic growth is by no means a threat, but a challenge that carries colossal potential for business cooperation – a chance to catch the Chinese wind in the sails of our economy. We should seek to more actively form new cooperative ties, combining the technological and productive capabilities of our two countries and tapping China's potential – judiciously, of course – in order to develop the economy of Siberia and the Russian Far East.”
“Russia intends to continue promoting its security and protecting its national interest by actively and constructively engaging in global politics and in efforts to solve global and regional problems. We are ready for mutually beneficial cooperation and open dialogue with all our foreign partners. We aim to understand and take into account the interests of our partners, and we ask that our own interests be respected.”
“We will continue on our constructive course to enhance global security, renounce confrontation, and counter such challenges as the proliferation of nuclear weapons, regional conflict and crises, terrorism and drug trafficking. We will do everything we can to see that Russia enjoys the latest achievements in scientific and technical progress and to assist our entrepreneurs in occupying an appropriate place on the world market.”
“Russia is part of the greater world whether we are talking about the economy, media coverage or cultural development. We do not wish to and cannot isolate ourselves. We hope that our openness will result in a higher standard of living for Russia plus a more diverse culture and a general level of trust, something that is becoming increasingly scarce.”
“We intend to be consistent in proceeding from our own interests and goals rather than decisions dictated by someone else. Russia is only respected and considered when it is strong and stands firmly on its own feet. Russia has generally always enjoyed the privilege of conducting an independent foreign policy and this is what it will continue to do. In addition, I am convinced that global security can only be achieved in cooperation with Russia rather than by attempts to push it to the background, weaken its geopolitical position or compromise its defenses.”
“I don’t think we are seeing a cooling [with USA]. We have a constant dialogue – we dislike some of the things our colleagues are doing, they don’t like some things we’re doing. But in general we have built a partnership over the key issues on the international agenda.”
“The formation of powerful and effective armed forces is our absolute priority. This is an absolute priority for our state and our national task for many years ahead, at least a decade. In this respect, everything is important – new equipment, modern principles of recruiting and manning and decent social guarantees for army personnel.”
“Not only the defence industry, but the entire Russian economy should be engaged in retrofitting the Army and Navy. Significant resources allocated to state defence programmes should promote qualitative economic growth in our country, stimulate demand for innovations and create tens of thousands of new and modern jobs.”
“In the process of building our defence policy and modernising the Armed Forces, we should keep up with the latest trends in the military sphere. To fall behind these trends means becoming vulnerable and putting at risk our country and the lives of our soldiers and officers. We cannot afford repeating the tragedy of 1941, when a lack of readiness of the state and the Army for war led to the vast loss of human lives.”
“Our goal is to build an Army and a defence industry that will strengthen, not deplete, our national economy, and that is capable of securing Russia’s sovereignty, the respect of its partners and lasting peace.”
“The activities of defence industry enterprises should concentrate on the mass production of high-quality weapons with the highest performance characteristics to meet both current and projected defence challenges. Moreover, it is only the latest weapons and military equipment that will enable Russia to strengthen and expand its foothold in the world arms markets, where the winner is the one who can offer the most advanced designs.”
“In order to really improve this country’s defence capability, we need the world’s best state-of-the-art military equipment, not spending billions and trillions of roubles. It is unacceptable for the army to become a market for morale-sapping obsolescent weapons, technologies and research and development, especially if it is being paid for out of the public purse. That is why we have made our defence plants and design bureaus comply with stringent requirements, have been encouraging competition and investing heavily in the modernisation of the defence industry, advanced technologies and training of specialists.”
“The defence industry, our pride, boasts powerful intellectual and scientific capabilities. But we must also be honest in speaking about the problems that have built up. Russia’s defence research centres and production facilities have been slow to modernise over the last 30 years. In the coming decade, we need to close this gap. We must regain the technological lead in the entire spectrum of modern military technologies. I would like to stress once again that we will put the task of re-equipping the armed forces firmly in the hands of Russia's defence industry and scientific infrastructure.”
“Military Police will be introduced to oversee discipline among the personnel. Public, veteran, religious and human rights organisations should be actively involved in the education of the servicemen and the protection of their rights and interests and for forming a healthy moral environment.”
“Serious changes are planned for military strength acquisition. Currently, 220,000 officers and 186,000 soldiers and sergeants serve under contract. An annual increase of 50,000 service personnel is expected within the next five years. They will serve as sergeants, sergeant majors and military equipment specialists.”
“The rationale behind these changes clearly shows that our objective is to create a fully professional army. At the same time, we need to be aware of the fact that a professional army is expensive. If we continue manning the armed forces with contract personnel and conscripts, we will be compromising between this objective and our national capabilities.”
“The goal for the next decade will be to equip our armed forces with advanced armaments, which have better visibility, higher precision, and faster response times than similar systems used by any potential enemy.”
“We have begun a large-scale programme to re-equip the Army and Navy and other national security forces. Our number one priorities are nuclear forces, aerospace defence, military communications, intelligence and control, electronic warfare, drones, unmanned missile systems, modern transport aviation, individual combat protection gear, precision weapons and defence capabilities against such weapons.”
“We must restore the lost authority of our military institutions and integrate them into the system of military education, just as we are doing in the civilian sector of the economy. Military science must have a decisive influence on the formulation of the goals of the defence industry. Competent procurement mechanisms and the Defence Ministry departments responsible for military orders must ensure the efficient development of technical specifications for the design and production stages, as well as the specifications of weapons and military equipment.”
“Dilapidated and hazardous housing in earthquake-prone areas is a separate issue as we realise that it poses the greatest threat to people. We should develop a set of long-term measures. I mean the introduction of a control and continuous monitoring system in earthquake-prone regions – both at infrastructure facilities and in residential areas, towns and villages. At the same time, we need to create an emergency broadcast system. In this regard, I ask the Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief jointly with the Academy of Sciences to submit proposals on the establishment of an interregional Centre for the Forecast, Monitoring and Prompt Response to Emergencies on the Altai-Sayan Plateau.”
