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
Vladimir Putin’s latest live phone-in programme when he answered questions from callers, SMS messages and questions sent through the Internet was true to form: every next session has lasted longer than the previous one. Vladimir Putin’s first TV live linkup in 2001 lasted two and half hours, the 2005 programme lasted 2 hours and 53 minutes.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin used his live phone-in television programme to tout the government’s economic achievements and did not rule out that he would take part in 2012 elections.
Journalists are no longer allowed to cover both the president and the prime minister.
At the previous live television broadcast, Roman Grebennikov, the mayor of Volgograd, complained that he did not have enough funds to complete the construction of the bypass, which the city badly needs.
Rosneft will save $6 billion through oil export tax exemptions.
Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, has visited Russia. He came to see the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics logo and make sure Sochi is ready to host the event.
Tomorrow at noon the Rossiya and Vesti television networks as well as radio stations Mayak and Radio Rossii will broadcast live the special programme “A conversation with Vladimir Putin Continued.” Experts and potential participants in the annual live broadcast think people expect Putin to give a signal to bureaucrats, compel them to do something or pound a fist on the table depending on how urgent a problem is.
The Russian armed forces will be restructured starting December 1.
The future of the Russian automotive sector may be decided in Paris.
Today, Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ and Renault will sign a partnership agreement during Vladimir Putin's visit to France, which will also see the French company EDF sign an agreement to join the South Stream project. These are agreements of intent and their details are not disclosed. Kommersant has learned that the parties are discussing an increase in Renault's share in AvtoVAZ in exchange for an equity stake in the French company being transferred to the Russian carmaker. While Russia could only acquire up to 1.5% of Renault's stock on a competitive basis, the value of the deal may increase, however, through a promise to give France access to Russian energy resources.
When Mikhail Gorbachev launched his reforms in the middle of the 1980s, he did not have any models to follow. No one before him had been faced with the task of overcoming an economic crisis in a country where free market and open society were non-existent for three generations. There was no one to learn from, and Gorbachev had to tread an unknown path.
During a visit to France, Prime Minister Putin will discuss a rescue plan for AvtoVAZ, a package of energy projects, including the South Stream pipeline, and the potential purchase of a Mistral amphibious assault ship.
After the United Russia Congress the president and the prime minister had lunch at a Petersburg restaurant.
The Primorye Territory is preparing to play host to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who will inspect the facilities being built for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2012 and launch the Sollers car assembly plant. Some experts in Primorye do not rule out the possibility that the Putin visit may cut the ground from beneath the feet of Primorye governor Sergey Darkin, who is seeking another term in office.
The state must jump over its own head to provide decent pensions while not burdening business with more tax. This is how Vladimir Putin commented on the changes in the social and tax systems planned for the next two years.
The Government is preparing a new administrative reform. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a Cabinet meeting yesterday that this reform is designed to curb the sway of the bureaucracy and make the work of the bureaucrats more transparent. Most importantly, the reform is meant to change the life of each and every one of us. The times when one had to take on a quest through countless offices to collect dozens of documents will soon become history. Intermediary firms attached to government agencies are banned as of today. To prevent administrative reform being quietly sabotaged, the proposals of the ad hoc commission on administrative reform will be the subject of a fast-track procedure that excludes cumbersome interagency approvals.
The coming month will see the second substantial increase of the pension within a year. It will benefit all pensioners. The basic state retirement pension will increase by more than 31%, bringing the average retirement pension to 6,617 roubles, while the average social pension will rise to 4,268 roubles, to be above the official subsistence minimum for the first time. The next pension increase is scheduled to take place a month later, on January 1, 2010. And there will be more increases next year. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stressed that this would eliminate poverty among pensioners.
Opening the annual Russian Pension Forum, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the government’s commitment to implementing pension reform. The prime minister admitted that the tax burden remains the main problem for business in the course of pension reform. “We must move towards easing the fiscal load, but do it carefully,” Putin said.
Vneshekonombank (VEB) has been rewarded for its bailout operations. Ever since the crisis erupted, the Government has been turning this bank, commonly referred to as the Russian Development Bank, into a universal instrument for delivering anti-crisis assistance, including targeted assistance. So universal has VEB become to date, that it has complained more than once that it does not have enough funds to develop (its core activity) and to put up bailout money.
Gazprom will invest 33 billion roubles in 2010 in a railway on the Yamal Peninsula, for which it will expect compensation from Russian Railways (RZhD). But the latter, in turn, expects Gazprom to pay for future losses on that railway branch.
