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From common home the union state and the threats that we're faced with today. The main media event is happening today and that is quite obvious by everybody and here we have international and domestic media people from the union state also we have American question divided into several sectors and here you are going to ask the question will be able to see I'm going to sector and here we have a very young journalist. I'm 13 years of age. Where are you from and what outlet do you represent? Where from Moscow represent children's house journalist at age 13 in the front row. What is your question? Our question is about how President Putin receives valuable input about what our information today. So we have piled up a huge array you know for without a doubt everybody help to attract presidents for his patience and to attract his patient I'm moving here the will be similar with impatience and this is a national symbol. Please introduce yourself. My name is
The red color relevant topic and we can see what is not true to ask the tariffs question. It is of critical importance because in the Arctic North behind those. The request was to reduce the size of those cards to have a signage and the city of Aster. So we want to talk about issue of people in their here. I can see I'm not sure where the stress falls have 360 and those boo have been a game changer for the St. Economic Forum becoming a symbol, a new symbol and we invented this chant in early 2025 and we merged them with the faces of our politicians the governor of central bank foreign minister and prime minister and this is an exclusive Donald Trump in the form of international I just want to President has a le with his face on it.
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Origin and the only media representative decorated with her Russia style. We have a lot of questions. Do you have any today? Yes, of course. I do. May I not disclose the entire thing, but I'll just say my question is irrelevant for hundreds of thousands of people across the country and in the front line. So, so raised has been talking about journalist about I'm Why back in 2018 for regional media? It was not so it's been a record set with me waving to us. President we have The interest is huge. Serious. itself. It's a question to be transferred to by the AI turned down. Here we have a young with a black card saying I want to get I know we're there president help you get married and why so far one another you and that and that girl who wants to also to get married to one another. You should sit next to one another. A few words ask about we've been together.
Dear friends, it's our pleasure minister and also in terms of the mission is a combined the press conference and the for the entire million years around 3 million question. We will alternate from please raise possible then you ask your question is questions will be able to cover and I would like to emphasize that the content of the press conference and direct line is analyzed and based on that some instructions from the presidents will be formed and this is going to happen this time as well. So um so we will continue working throughout the year in order to make sure that every question from every citizen is analyzed and the assistance is provided where we need federal or local powers would be involved. if I can ask you to put your phones on silent so that we're not interrupted. So in a few minutes time we will have the head of state with us and let's focus National Security issues. Vladimir, President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. Please welcome Please be seated. SMS contact messenger channel today. Now we have 2.5 million president just a couple of words. Many of that are both millions of people understandably and questions are peace and said Um we've got also some negotiations going on and um we know statements from Zilinsky that he is not prepared to discuss territory issues. At the moment we don't see their readiness. I'd like to remind where it all began. It began with the state cool in 2014 and with uh and with uh uh lies about the possibility of resolve all of this through peaceful means. And in 2022 when it all um came to the brink and when the when the K regime began uh uh the war in the east of Ukraine and we it's it's best it's best if you just uh leave these people alone to let them uh choose the way of life in that in that part of uh Ukraine. They didn't want to do that then and um as a result of stumble negotiations they have signed but then they refused to follow up on um on their agreements and now they also are refusing to end this conflict through peaceful means. But nevertheless, we know that there are signals, including signals from the KV regime, that they are prepared to conduct some sort of a dialogue. The only thing I want to say is that we've always said this. We are prepared and we want to end this conflict through peaceful means on the basis of principles that were described by me in June of last year and by the ministry of the foreign affairs of the Russian Federation to remove the initial reasons of this conflict. The situation in the front line is changing every day. We we've seen we know that you are holding your hand on the pulse. You are communicating with our commanders, but of course the situation is changing every day. Our soldiers are moving forward. As a chief commander, how do you evaluate the situation as of today? Just now we had a new report from the chief of staff and overall I would like to say that straight after Our military kicked out the enemy from Korsk region. The strategic initiative moved uh to the side of the Russian military. What does that mean? That means that our military um moving ahead forward across the whole contact line in all directions and in all directions the enemy is retreating. So that's the most important thing. We began with this when we talked about the fact that we offered Ukrainian regime to remove their military from the eastern republics and that didn't want to live under the nationalists. KF regime at that time. By then they had a 10y year uh history of creating uh reinforcements in Slavans, Krematsk and Constantinovka. So this was the most reinforced area. So quite recently, quite recently the head of um um chief of staff and commanders commanders of the brigades, they reported on capturing Serisk. And this is uh a very important point because that opens up the avenues to to the main reinforced area of Slavansk. A little bit to the south. We've also got effective actions by our detachments in South Leman. Also our military in the city. They're fighting within the city and we believe that this will be captured uh in the nearest future about 50% of the town is under our control and then um they'll be moving towards service but this a glamoration includes Constantineka. So the fighting is already taking place there. More than 50% of uh that town is under our control. I don't have any doubts that that our guys will take this u um town. Krasharmmes capturing of Kasarm was a very important event because that opens opportunities and the um the corresponding level of the military commandment will have to take decisions. But this is a great platform for further offensive actions. And a little bit to the south to the east uh to the north northeast Dimitrav it's a very important town very important platform and it's completely surrounded our military. I think right now 50% of the town is uh controlled by us. The enemy has not received any orders to surrender and they're trying to escape the encirclement in small groups. They've got attempts to recapture some of the crashes, but um these are unsuccessful. The enemy is incurring serious losses and they are not successful. Another group uh souththeast is at fast speed is moving through Zabaroski region and they are liberating one village after another. So now we've got fighting in Gapole. It's um um split by the river. The main the main parts are on the right uh bank of the river. So they cross the river. About 50% of the town is under our control. However, all uh all of this group is not engaged in this town. A significant part of that group is moving from the east to the west and they're liberating one village after another. Apart from that they're creating uh security zones in Sums Zum region Volchansk in uh in Kharkov region as you know we've got several Kansk has gone under our control several weeks ago our um military control the town and they're not moving further. further because they've got a very important um mission to liquidate Ukrainian forces on on the bank of Oscll River and also capture the railway station. However, the group the groupings of uh um Ukrainian forces is around 3.5,000 people Ukrainian forces. They have not received reinforcements or weapons. They don't have any chances. They are completely surrounded by our forces. But after that and that will of course happen our uh military will complete this task and then they will move west. So I've got confidence that until the end of this year we will we will be witnesses to new successes of our military of our fighters on the contact line. And what is the situation in Seusk and what was the difficulty in capturing that particular town? Maybe you've seen maybe you've heard reports from the head of chief of staff and commanders of of the army and commanders of the brigades that were involved. And I asked him at the time, how are you evaluating the situation, the current situation in Sever, are we securely controlling the town? He said, "Mr. President, we have moved 1.52 kilometers to the west already and that move is continuing." Maybe you remember the part of our work that is related to the reports on capturing Seisk. Right from the town, right from Severk, there were reports. So the assault group was reporting and I asked them at the end to quickly change their position. And literally yesterday, things are moving really fast, I think it was yesterday, at the meeting of uh the ministry of defense. After the meeting, we have uh given awards to the fighters to the soldiers. I think it was yesterday or day before yesterday which took part in liberating Seisk and then I came to Kremlin to work and I asked of for the commander of the assault group to come to Kremlin and I wanted to chat to him to discuss uh current issues. use this opportunity. And at that time, we were preparing for for this current meeting. And he walked in right into this meeting room of the security council and I said to him, "Please um tell us a few words about this situation in Serisk." And he started to tell us right without sitting down. He said a few words. And when he left the room, myself and my colleagues, we said, "Can we invite him to the direct line?" And I said, "Look, let's chat. Let's see if he can. He's got a very short leave." We called him up and he agreed and he is here. Let's uh applaud him. Naram, please take a seat. Please take a seat. Do I am I reporting it correctly? Yes. If you've got any questions relating to what's going on in Seusk right now and how the military operation is uh being conducted there, you can just ask him directly. Dear colleagues, let's uh welcome our hero of Russia. Naronich, we saw you in the on the direct line. You were wearing um protective gear. And where do you come from and where do you be where did you you begin? I'm from Kalikia and I began my path from Salidar Salidar and I went from a member of assault group to the head of an assault group. He is very um he is very modest. So now he is uh he's uh he is he is a hero of the Russian Federation and then he's got over 80 people under his command right now. not analyage. I think journalists have seen that uh uh direct link with uh President Putin and we had interrupted connections. Um now that we have this opportunity to talk to you directly, please tell us uh about the details of that brilliant operation of liberation of sever. We wanted to hear the um that please. How did you liberate the town? What happened? How were your soldiers behaving? If I can ask him the question that I asked him when he walked in, what was the most difficult part in capturing Serusk? The most difficult part was to come to Seusk undetected because there were open spaces and there was minimum availability of cover. We decided to move in small groups in stealth and we have accumulated just under the nose of our enemy and we were waiting for the command to start the assault in Crisisk. There are quite a few civilians. What is the attitude of the military Ukrainian military to the civilians? Civilians were under a constant they they lived in fear. Yes, they were they lived under pressure of the enemy and when we liberated our part of Sever, we started to talk to the peaceful uh to the civilians when Ukrainian military were retreating just like Nazis, they were shooting civilians. So people did not have any weapons and they were shot at just because they were remaining in town. Yes. And when our military entered, how were they greeted by the uh civilians? When we entered, people were exhausted physically, mentally, and when they saw us, they were very happy. and they were listening to the radio, Russian radio quietly and they were waiting for us and they were very happy to see us. You said that um when retreating Ukrainians were shooting civilians, but mostly they were shooting young people, especially young people from 30 to 40. They were just shooting them just like that. Yes. Right now, how are you? What what's your evaluation of the situation? It is stable as um as the president said, we have already moved ahead. uh listening to you and looking at you and again we would like to say that our uh fighters are real men, real people. And what is the morale of your people, of your soldiers? We are consistent. We are uh moving ahead and we are and we're going to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. How many people do you have under your control and what losses have you suffered if if I may ask? I have 157 people in my assault group and capturing capturing the town included 24 groups. We split into 24 groups and there were minimum losses because we split into the small groups. So we had four people loss out ofund 157 out of 84 who were directly involved in the assault. We had four losses. Again let's uh welcome our guest and let's thank him. After all of this, I would like to ask you about a week ago, Zilinski um allegedly filmed u a video near Kopansk Town uh sign, but many people doubted if this was an original video. Uh some people said that there were a few signs to say that this was a fake video. If this is a fake, yeah, I'm not following this. He is he is an actor and he is a talented actor without any irony and we we saw his movies you know in his time there's nothing unusual I think that things look quite different now but that's not that's not the point uh the sign is about uh the sign is about 1 kilometer away from town but Why do you film yourself in front of the sign? Why are you standing outside the house? Just enter the house if the house is yours. But then we see there are some girls, bloggers who slipped in. The sky there is like covered in in this flies in in this UAVs from our side and from Ukrainian side. It's impossible to just approach approach it just like that. There will be time when our guys will complete their task of destroying the surrounding group on the eastern side of the river. This will happen quite soon and they they'll take all of this over. This is just a question of time. But as for all these uh staged videos or attempts to to recapture the positions that they lost at any cost at any cost I would like to emphasize like it's being done in Krasar region the enemy is not successful there the problem for them is that as a result of active and effective actions of our military. It looks like the enemy suffered uh serious losses in strategic reserves and this is a very significant element which I hope will force Kiev regime to resolve all unresolved issues and and to to finish this conflict. through peaceful means. I think they have not got any reserves anymore. All of our viewers understand that that um that um war is a great burden on economy and as you call them little pigs, European little pigs continuing to um try to support and can we even think about uh growth of the economy? Are we growing in certain areas? Um and if if we are then what is as usual for these direct lines I've um uh brought this um data with me open source data what happened in our economy over the last year um our GDP growth was 1% however if you take the three years and that's also a correct estimation the overall growth is 9.7% in in Europe uh it was 3.1% growth as for 1% growth this year the pace of growth these are conscious actions of the government of the Russian Federation and the central bank and that's to do with targeting inflation We need to point out that overall that objective is um being resolved is being achieved because we had an objective to reduce uh inflation to 6%. And it looks like by the end of the year it's going to be less than 6% 5.7 5.8%. The slowing down of the economic growth is a conscious step. It's the payment for preserving the quality of the economy and macroeconomic uh figures. What's happening with uh industrial production also grew by 1% by processing industry 3.1%. Agricultural production grew by 3.3%. an important question. Um, housing construction, a million square meters. Last year we had 107. Um, and today uh this year is going to be 100 305 million square meters. We are managing to keep a good pace of increasing real wages and they're not as high as last year. Nevertheless, in my opinion, these are good figures. Real salary um with accounting for inflation is going to be 4.5%. However, we have to say that uh over the same period in terms of uh productivity is going to be 1.1%. So that ratio is something that we need to aim to increase in terms of productivity. Unemployment last year we said it was historic low 2.5%. This year it went even lower 2.2%. Overall this is these are good figures. So uh foreign reserves of the central bank also growing. So couple of days ago it was $741 billion. If we count this in dollar equivalent deficit of the budget $2.6% however for the next year we believe it's going to be 1.6%. And over the 3 years it's going to be no more than 1.5%. This is a good indicator taking into account that the um national debt is uh very low one of the lowest among economies world economies. So 77 17.7% and over the last over the next three years it's not going to exceed 20%. It should not exceed 20%. So these are figures. What is important to note here, the most important thing is that we have managed and we have to thank our government. They've done a lot of work for this. We've managed to balance our budget and the quality of that balancing is at the level of 2021. And this is an important indicator of stability of the economy and the financial system of the country. That means that we will be able to resolve or achieve all the objectives that we put in terms of the social obligations um to our people um economic development, technological development and also we'll be able to ensure the to satisfy the demand of the military. All of this together indicates the stability of the economy and the financial system which is completely under control of the government and the central bank. Please if you can ask your questions. So we've got u joint format. We've got a press conference and also direct line. So let's start with the questions from the journalists. So let's start with a central with uh Siberia. I see Siberia. That's Siberia. Let's start there. Hello, Mr. President. Novice um from the Novaisk radio. So we've got an academic town in Novisk and over the last years with your support we they started to build skiff which is the Siberian uh circle of uh photon accelerators. So we will be able to conduct new research. These scientists under sanctions and under uh very difficult economic conditions they were able to produce everything using purely Russian production manufacturing. My question is, is it possible and what do we need to do in order to to attract young scientists and retain young scientists? We wait we're waiting for you for for the opening of that uh research center next year. This is great news and this is pleasant to everyone who is involved in this. What do I mean by this? the in this topic came up in the scientific council under the president in 2018. We had that council and this is when the colleagues from Siberian Academy of Science Physics Department. They put that question forward of creating that skiff research center and there were some delays because of the sanctions but we managed to complete to to complete that work and uh this is great and everyone who was involved everyone who worked on this I would like to congratulate you on this. This is definitely a great success. Um so we had that research center in Moscow but uh it's of an old generation. Lots of things need to be changed and we're planning to do that and and we'll be creating similar system in Vladivasto and also in other towns other cities. As for the skiff research center, this is really a great success because it gives you the opportunity to conduct research not just of fundamental nature but also of uh uh technological nature because it allows you um allows you to do applied research and then apply it in pharmaceuticals in other areas. is and that system is established and it's working very well. The most important thing is to create we need to create laboratories in order to retain scientists people who are very involved in this. A good laboratory is uh is the most important thing but other things are also important level of uh salary, housing and conditions that people live in. So all of this and and and we have a whole system of grants, mega grants, we we call them mega grants are given to the scientists, prominent scientists, Russian scientists and foreign scientists. And this was one of the issues that was discussed at at the meetings. We said that we need to create the conditions in order for young scientists to stay to remain. We need to create a horizon for them, some perspectives so that they're not just staying there for two years, they're saying stay staying there for longer and that will that will uh stimulate them to to to remain and a lot of people do come back and I spoke to them personally young people who work who used to work abroad now they're coming back to Russia and our so-called western colleagues are helping thus helping us very actively. We asked them why do you come back? They said one of the main reasons is that we are worried about our children. We don't want to send them to local schools. It's with our beliefs with our values it becomes impossible to send them to the local schools. So people value this and together with many other things people make that decision they want to come back to Russia and there are many more people that make that decision and we will of course work on all these other uh areas of course thank you very much for your question um please other questions so we're not shouting so I've got uh one of the patriarchs of uh uh Please if we can uh pass the floor to Alexander. Alexander if you have a question. Yes of course we have a question. Thank you very much Alexander Gamov from Kamaskka Pravda. This year Kamaskka Pravda is uh celebrating 100 years you have awarded us uh with the order of uh respect and we'd like to thank you for this. I'd like to remind you that the first direct line was done at our newspaper on the 9th of February 2000. And my question is in the spirit of Kamoska Prada, I wanted to know what is the state of development of the program time of heroes that was initiated by yourself. Are you keeping an eye How how these people are managing at the high state positions that they were appointed to and how long is this program going to work and what other appointments um awaiting await are awaiting us in the future. First of all, I'd like to remember the participants of the Great Patriotic War. People who fought at the front line in the Great Patriotic War. They came back and they achieved great results in science, in in art, in education. You know, when I studied at the university, uh had teachers uh teachers were or professors were former um participants of the Great Patriotic War. And we respected them a lot and those who were injured who had wounds. So one of the teachers he had no leg but he was a great expert and we remember all of them and we remember them with gratitude. If we remember Nikolin in science, we have so many people who achieved great heights and contributed in to the development of science and and the current military they are as good. They're at the same level. So, you know, we've got a big audience here. We've got microphones. We've got the uh camera. I didn't even recognize him, our guest. And when he entered the security council in Kremlin, he he was speaking and everyone was very quiet. Here he is very he is very u modest. So, what I would like to emphasize is that there's a great potential. Of course, there were some doubts because people say one thing is to fight and another thing is to manage a company or lead um um a department or a ministry. You have to have some capability, some talent for this, of course, but we've got hundreds of thousands of people who are fighting there. And not everyone is uh aiming to to do this career in in civil service. But some of them have got education, some of them have got desire to to get this uh education and the government is ready to support them um because they have proven that they are prepared to fight for the interests of the country. And I maybe mentioned how we came up with this idea. When I met with young people, with students, I look at them and how they speak at what objectives they put forward and how they see perspectives for the country. And during that conversation, I came up with this idea. And of course we need to collect these people and we have to help them uh promote them because then it will be easy to pass on our country in their hands into their hands and that's why we've created this program. I'm grateful to the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation because they are because they are duplicating that program on the regional level and this works out very well and um so of course we follow the guys who who came through the first wave the second wave some of them became governors they've entered ministries they work in large companies some of them work in the administration of the president of the Russian Federation they are doing very well of Of course, they've got some difficulties somewhere, challenges maybe in some places. Maybe some some will want to go a different route. But overall, the program is working and is working very well if colleagues allow us. Uh an important news of this um from Brussels. So they failed to freeze all our assets. So they have not stolen it to the end. They're still trying. So theft is not uh the great um definition for this. Theft is a secret uh theft of of the of the assets here. It's done in the open. So it's burglary. Why are they not managing to to perpetrate this burglary? because the consequences are very serious for the burglars. So one of the ideas is to give a loan with the security using our assets as security. what is the loan that has got consequences for the budget of each country that is increasing the debt of the country. So if if someone is giving um a loan even if it's secured by our assets uh then it still needs to be registered in the budget of the country. So in the in France um in France the state debt is 120% our debt national debt is 17%. So, so if you introduce this additional burden in your budget, um that would be very difficult and all of that and all of that um adds to the difficulty of making that decision to burglar. But then it's got secret uh it's got serious consequences and it does not just influence the image affect the image it also undermines the trust because um many other countries are holding their reserves in the Euro zone not just Russia and those who have uh and those who have spare resources and first of all these are oil producing regions oil producing countries They will look at this. They already have some suspicion. They already have some doubts. And if that actually happens, but if you just begin, then you can use the same thing under different pretext. Now, this is done um for the because of the reason of the special military operation that they were fighting Nazism. Maybe later on they will not like some policies in um Muslim countries and maybe they will not like the maybe they will not like the laws that are protecting their national values. We don't have those laws but they have those laws and maybe they will find some other reason they'll have they'll find another pretext. So there might be because of this image damage there might be some direct damage to to to the established financial world order. So whichever way they ste steal it and however they arrange it, they'll have to pay it back. And of course we will find we will try to find a jurisdiction which will be independent in uh in its decisions. Let's uh so what about this uh way of life? Give him the microphone please. Mr. President, I'm from Ki Republic. you know that a significant part of Ki Republic and Nits um region is cut away from the main line from the main land the uh there's no further road to the northmar would be 8 800 so um it's a it's a road that covers more than 8,000 kilometers and about 800 km is in our republic. I would like to say that majority of that piece of road is in deplorable state and it is difficult to use the budget of the republic to repair to maintain the road that piece of federal road and in this regard I have a proposal. This is the only way. This is the only road of life that supports the the regions these regions. Can we ensure the connection to the center of Russia and that will also give an implas to the development of our regions? In 2029, we have 100 years of Ukta city. So, this is the largest center of oil and gas industry. And in 2030, Sikiffkar will celebrate 250 year anniversary. And if you manage to come to us, uh this would be a historic event for us. Thank you very much for the invitation. As for the road, this is well known and this problem is well known indeed. the we have to pass on all of these uh segments of the road to the federal level and we have to achieve certain standards on our federal roads. This objective is in practice achieved for the federal roads and now we are implementing it on the regional levels. But there are a few major questions. So safety on the road and also supply of the northern reg regions. So I can't promise that we'll start building tomorrow. We have to calculate the costs and we have to look at uh secondary roads as well in the system. But we we will speak about this in the government and we will definitely react to this. We will definitely take some steps. So, we'll have to because we've got a joint format, we've got quite a bit of interest from our journalist um channel one in uh row three, our military correspondent. Um I am from channel one, military correspondent. I've got three questions. First question from our soldiers on the front line, from our drone operators. They are grateful for the number of uh the attack drones um that they're being supplied there. But we do not have sufficient large hexacopters, large uh transportation drones in order to to move uh provision and um military equipment and ammunition to the front line. So we are short of them. And the second question also from the drone operators. We sat in the trenches with one of the guys and he said that I'm going to I'm going to go home and I said are you going to miss the front line? He said yes. He said he's going to miss directing the drones. So we've got a large number of operators of the drones and they wanted to also continue to use that in the civil unmanned aviation. Do you think their experience will be useful in civilian life? And my personal question from the first day we've been working with the group of veterans of Jinsk suja um they've got some underground operations that they've u achieved but that brigade is also referred to as volunteer group. If I can ask you to uh attribute uh um a a different name to this um to to this group. Um give them the honorable name of gods. Yes, of course their work is is highly valued. They are heroic people. But this is not just risking their lives going into a pipe. They have very um thoroughly responsibly prepared each of their operations. So this they have conducted great preparation work approaches exit entry supplies. So this was done at the highest professional level and they of course heroes that's obvious and of course this brigade deserves highest evaluation and of course they deserve uh that name gods. They'll be awarded that name. That's number one. As for what you began with in terms of UAVs, yes, this is well known that we are short of heavy drones and ministry of defense and industry are working on this and this will be resolved. I would like to point out the the role personal role of the minister of defense. He's been dealing with this personally and the situation has changed dramatically and this is also uh also noted by our soldiers on the front line and we will continue to support our our people. There's a whole system of grants and supports available. I'd like to thank our people, our citizens, our entrepreneurs. In addition to everything, people managed to gather 83 billion rubles. They spent this money on different um on on different uh purposes, but uh among among them was uh was uh buying drones. And we have become leaders in here. Of course, yes, we are short of large um baba type uh drones, but overall we we have a dominance uh on all front uh sections. Maybe there's some shortage of some specific things here and there, but overall we have uh dominance. But as for the civilian life, the leadership in civilian life, the leadership can be confirmed only if what you have to use, what you are forced to use in the in the military life can be then applied in the civilian life. And then in uh civilian life whatever is being developed it will then flow into reinforcing our military and this will be done. This will this work will be established. We're already doing it but they we'll continue this and you know this that supply of the drones using the drones um using using drones you know supply of medicine products food and we're not just talking about uh small um UAVs or super large UAVs we're talking about that industry as as such in in the sea in on land and we are developing that and we will continue to develop it in the future. As for the guys who fought and who want who want to continue to fight, I would like to share with you that this is a special situation. We continue to form our military to supply personnel and we have a stable stable supply of people and we've got real men who come voluntarily who sign contracts to serve in the military voluntarily go to protect the interests of the country and interests of the people. So we we talked about how Ukrainian military treat civilians. He said when we looked at what they did to the civilians, we we we had we wanted to to punish them when they saw what they do to the civilians and they they shoot old ladies using using drones and so on. and he told me everything. He's maybe not shy to talk about this in the big audience here, but um under the contract in the last year we had over 400,000 people 46 410,000 people join the army under the contract last year. But the number of people who want to serve in the new newly created type of uh of the military which is the unmanned aviation. uh the number of people who want to serve there is such that the ministry of defense has to create a competition and there are some young people students of universities who are taking academic leave from the university in order to sign a contract to go to the front line. And first of all, we we talk about them participating as drone operators. And I understand that that person that you spoke to, even those who go on leave, they continue to take part in in the military action using modern technology. Uh it's important to continue this topic about our soldiers. The support of our soldiers is not just a fashion. Support is uh is um is a duty to our state. And we see that the number of people who sent questions, you know, people who were in the front lines and and also members of their families. So, we've got lots of less problems. There are some problems that still remain. They've got uh some delays in terms of payments for those um uh so those who are missing, declared missing. And we had an example of somebody who was wounded but who could not get his payout of 3 million rubles. But then we we heard about the result of this that they they have uh looked into it and they he'll be paid uh this amount of money and so the son of of this lady um was killed and he was awarded um medal of hero of Russia but the actual medal has not arrived but then uh we've followed it up and they've just received the medal. Um so there were some delays but then we saw some people get involved and um all of this got resolved. Colleagues from the Ministry of Defense said that there are things we can work on. Um we are looking at the video message from Christina GBA from Nova. We know that the situation is being dealt with but we also know that there are many stories like this. Good evening. My name is Christina Gibba. I am a wife of a military who was killed in the special military operation. We live in Novvisib. We have two children six and four. And I've got a question. Currently we have not received the pension on the loss of uh of my husband. Um he he um died in January 2024. I received a certificate of death in December 2024. And now we've got the end of 2025. We still have not received the pension. question is can we speed up the my application and my type of applications and um get the certificate uh for a family of of a military who lost lost his life. First of all, I would like to apologize to you for the slow acting of the services that were supposed to to resolve this kind of issues. I apologize, but in your case, this will be done. This will be done quickly. But of course, the problem does exist. And quite recently I met with um the fund for uh fund of the defenders of the motherland and he the head of the fund is the deputy of the minister of uh defense and she told me that to this date they're not managing to establish the interaction between the ministry of defense and the social block of the government of and there's excessive bureaucracy paperwork is being lost and paperwork is being sent from one department to another. There is some delays in taking decisions but nevertheless we will of course work on this. We will continue working on this and uh I will personally take this under my control.
What needs to be done is clear. What needs to be improved is the speed of action and coordination, especially in cases like yours where we have two children. There's a different problem that's been discussed, and it's the problem that's obvious from the questions being sent through different channels. We have a large volume of these questions. I've looked through that. So, search for the missing persons. This is a big issue. I would need to say that in the case of Sergey, I hope that the issue she has will be resolved very quickly. But in terms of missing persons, that's especially important. I want to say that the Ministry of Defense did take some steps that are changing the situation for the better. They created a coordinating center devoted to the search for the missing fighters. Then they also created departments in the groupings, and locally they created a register. If we look at the beginning of the year and compare it to the current moment, we see that the number of persons who were still missing has dropped by 50%. Compared to the beginning of the year, the change is three-fold. This work will need to continue and be perfected so that the losses are minimal and brought to zero.
Mr. President, the topic of missing persons is very current, and I know that there are some relatives of our journalists here who took part in the special military operations, and they have some firsthand experience of this. If you are a journalist and you collect this information, please bring it forward so we could resolve this. Yes, instructions have been given. Also, I would like to say that the Ministry of Defense is working on this directly. There are a few questions, Mr. President. Row three in that sector, MI TV company Mir, a lady in red.
Thank you. Dear Mr. President, dear colleagues, the problem of telephone fraudsters is very current. Have the measures had any effect, and do you have any figures in terms of number of crimes reducing?
Yes, the measures did have an effect. However, we still need to do a lot, and a lot can be done. The number of crimes of this type has reduced by 7%. According to the reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the overall losses decreased by 30%. But I would like to address the citizens of the country: fraud has not disappeared. As the opportunities to use some technical means increase, fraudsters will continue to perfect their methods and make efforts to defraud people. So, whoever it is on the phone, whichever voice they're using, take into account current capabilities. As soon as they start talking about property or money, just put the phone down. You don't have to say a word to them about any of this. You've got banks, you've got people you know personally. When you visit the bank, resolve all the issues there. Please do not discuss anything with anyone relating to money or property on the phone.
Again, we continue with the questions from the audience. So, we've got this children's editorial.
Mr. President, my name is Maxim Zakarf. I am from Children's Media. Recently you said that sometimes you drive incognito around Moscow. Also, when you speak at the meetings, right now you've got a lot of information. My question is: how do you get this valuable information about what is needed by people in real life?
Well, no. I didn't say that I drive on my own incognito around Moscow. That also happens, but very rarely. Sometimes I drive around without being accompanied by the road police. These are useful trips, and it's useful to see outside the window, not just the road that I use from Moscow to my residence. It's also useful to drive to different regions of Moscow. It's good to see what's happening there. But as for up-to-date information about what's happening in the country, the best picture is presented by this current event or such events. 2.5 million people sent their questions through the direct line. Of course, it is impossible to go through all of this in this current time, but taking into account that these 2.5 million questions relate to the current issues of people, this will all be processed using artificial intelligence. For the next year, my assistance from the People's Front will work on this. We will be able to see the whole range of issues being raised by people. Of course, there are special government bodies that forward me information, law enforcement, and I'm trying to use this not as generalized information but also using direct sources. I talk to people from the front. I do work trips around the country. I speak to people. That's very important. You start to feel the mood of the people and their demands and needs. Of course, you need to look at surveys. There are different attitudes towards surveys, but you need to understand that these generalized figures are sometimes irritating because they do not reflect what people face in real life. Nevertheless, they are important to understand what's going on in the country. Different sources overall create quite an objective picture.
Let's take a couple more questions from the audience. Yakutia.
Mr. President, hello from the Sakha region. We are the coldest point in the world. Our current temperature is minus 50. In harsh climatic conditions, what is especially valued is unity and warmth. 2026 is announced as the year of unifying the peoples of the Russian Federation. As a military correspondent, I know that our fighters are fighting shoulder to shoulder irrespective of their ethnic origin. There's a saying: 'Russians and God is with us.' What chevron would you wear for the year of the unity of the people? We also have a unique Arctic center, and we are building a music school on your instruction. We would like to invite you to the opening. Also, we are making a film about a hero of Russia called Toutin, and we will invite you to the screening. We would like to ask for some support for that film.
As for support of different peoples, we have direct support. We are supporting languages of the people of Russia, culture, through media, through literature, in schools. You mentioned various areas of activities in Yakutia. Yakutia is a very talented part of the country. You mentioned a music school, and we have small children who came from different parts of the republic and are involved in cinematography. Yakutia is developing very well, very actively. They are also supplying fighters to the front line that are the best in the world. The film you mentioned, of course, we will support the screening of it. As for this year, the year of unification of the peoples of Russia, I think this is the right thing, especially in the context of the special military operation. When the country faces such challenges, it comes together. You said it precisely, and that's true. It doesn't matter to people when they're under bullets. It doesn't matter what religion I follow. They say, you know, they joke that if God is there, he doesn't know that people divided themselves into different religions. So we have common values of the peoples of the Russian Federation. In the context of the special military operation, that becomes especially important. This becomes very clear and understandable. Just now we talked about the reports on capturing Siversk. You remember in my office I had the commander of one of the brigades. When the reports finished, when the video was switched on and off, I started to talk about his area of responsibility. We talked about current issues, and he said suddenly, 'I feel uncomfortable.' I said, 'Why?' He said, 'I'm here, and my colleague, commander of another brigade, is on the front line right now. We talked to you about current issues, but my colleague is as good as me.' I said, 'Who is he?' He said, 'He's from Dagestan, a representative of a small minority in Dagestan, but he is a real patriot of Russia and a wonderful commander.' I said, 'Look, it's impossible to bring everyone here. You are here today, and the commander of the group decided to send you here, but somebody has to remain on the front line. Let's try to call him now.' I took the phone line, and through the military connection, we found that other commander of the brigade right in his command point. I spoke to him, then passed the line to the brigade commander who was in my office. This is what happened among men. There is this common way to address each other, but when it comes from somebody who is fighting on the front line, he said hello. In this situation, that's worth a lot. This is where we have the manifestation of that unity of the peoples of the Russian Federation. We will do everything to strengthen it and continue this process. Thank you very much for your question.
Maybe another question from the audience before we come back to our presenters. Yes, please. Wearing the blue jacket.
Vladimir Marcil, RBK. The next year is bringing a lot of tax changes, and of course the main objective is to bring more money to the budget. What is the effect you are expecting, and after the effect has been achieved, are you planning to relax the rules?
Yes, this is a current issue that had been discussed in the government for a long time, in the president's administration, and the decision was made that the most honest, transparent way of achieving the goals we have is to increase the VAT. The objectives are simple. I talked about this at the beginning. The objective is to achieve a balanced budget, and overall this has been achieved, among other things due to that decision. Of course, within that, there are a number of issues, and the government has to work on this. We talked about this for a while. We said that as soon as the tax is increased, there is temptation to avoid paying the tax. This objective was in the past, and we have that objective currently. We have to get rid of that shadow economy. We have to prevent people moving into the gray area to avoid paying tax. That's the main objective. So that when tax is increased, it's not just on paper, so that it results in actual income increase in the budget. I understand your question: is it going to be permanent? Of course not. The ultimate objective is to reduce the tax burden in the future, and the government is acting on the basis that this will be the ultimate goal.
This year there's a surge of questions from self-employed entrepreneurs, and the tax changes affect a large number of people. So we have a question from Maximov from Lipetsk. If we have the technical capability, maybe we can connect to him on video. Denis Vladimirovich, if you are hearing us...
Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Maximov Denis from the Lipetsk region. We have a small bakery, a family business. Over the last eight years, we've been using a very convenient tax system. Starting from the new year, we will have to pay VAT and additional tax. We'll have to hire an accountant, and it will be very difficult for us. We understand the country is in a difficult situation, we have to increase budget income, but I think it would be much easier if you increased the cost of the license we're buying rather than increasing the tax burden. Now we see that we're losing optimism, and lots of our colleagues will close down. How do you see this in these conditions of sharp changes in taxation?
Is this your bakery? Oh, this is named after your daughter. Is it tasty what you are baking? I'm hoping it is. So, on the essence of your question, what this relates to is that at the time we took some decisions to support small business and provide benefits to small business. What happened over the last year, especially relating to retail business and self-employed, there are some processes we're witnessing where these forms of business are being used for gray import. This is where the problem began. But this does not mean that some problems have to be created for the manufacturing business. I will bring the attention of the government and relevant bodies to this. As for accounting, I don't think you have to incur additional costs to hire an accountant. Large financial bodies are providing different services, banking services and accounting services. Maybe you can ask, and they can organize this for you without incurring much additional cost. However, where you are correct is that manufacturing business, when it goes into the new taxation system, should not suffer under any conditions. We will put this forward to the government. In any case, I wish you great success, success to your business and to your daughter, whose name you chose for your business. I hope you can send us some of your products, some of your bakery, and from my side, I will work with the government to support businesses like yours.
This is important news from the central bank. The central bank reduced the base interest rate to 16%.
You know, the central bank is under constant pressure, and we've got a lot of issues which are contentious, like the base rate. We see inflation rate going below 6%, 5.7, 5.8, 5.6, possibly, but the key rate is maintained at 16%. We were expecting a reduction in the base rate, maybe 1%. According to the law, the Bank of Russia is working independently, and I'm trying not to intervene in their decisions and prevent any external influence on them. Overall, the Bank of Russia is managing and doing their work responsibly. At the end of last year, at the beginning of this year, we spoke to the chairman of the central bank and the head of the financial block of the government. We said we have to take measures to curb inflation. We need to take all steps to ensure the macroeconomy of Russia is stable, that it has a very firm base. The difference between real inflation and the base rate is one of the lines subject to criticism. What is the problem? There are some issues. One of the current issues is the reduction of investment activity over the first three quarters of this year. It dropped by 3%, but the bank is recording continued serious activity in the credit area. The volume of loans being issued remains the same or at least not reducing. We have to act very carefully here to avoid a surge in inflation, so that we do not have to take steps to reverse this. Fluctuations are the most dangerous thing. The Bank of Russia is aiming to ensure stability in this area, and we have to agree with this. I don't know whether a half percent reduction is enough for this, but we've got lots of good experts, and people will conduct assessments and the reaction from the real sector of the economy. I'm guessing what reaction will follow, but I hope it will be constructive. The official data on inflation is one thing, but perceived inflation is different. We see things becoming more expensive in shops. It's like the average temperature in a hospital, the inflation rate. People say prices grow. Maxim is saying, 'Why is everything so expensive?' The price of chicken has gone twofold. Another example from the Rostov region: 'I've got a child under 18. Why are prices and the cost of buns in my canteen continuing to grow, while my parents' salary remains the same?' Of course, we are talking about average figures, and that raises questions because average figures as a rule do not correspond to what a person faces in real life. We say inflation will reduce, and that means prices will be at the level of 5.7, 5.8% inflation. But inflation in consumer goods or food products would be higher. The ratio of food products in the basket could be higher for a person. If chicken is part of that basket, then that directly affects the family budget. I would like to point your attention to the fact that last year or maybe the year before, we were very critical about the actions of our colleagues in the government where the price of eggs shot up, but now prices are reduced by about 16% in terms of eggs. These are all contributing factors, but undoubtedly we have to look at what is happening in every segment and with all groups of people. As for families with children, all of it has to be structured around families with children. I would like to bring your attention to the fact that additional measures to support families with children are being introduced this year. For example, the 13% tax on income of individuals where income is low. For low-income families, we see that 7% will be returned to consumers, to families. We hope this will become a real instrument for support. By the way, if income is below a certain threshold, there is additional support for every child in the family. I'm not even mentioning other elements of support for families with children. But of course, that is insufficient. We all understand that this is insufficient. We will continue to perfect this system of support. The policy of the government on the local and regional level has to follow that. We have to increase the level of salaries and aim for prevention of reduction in income of families with children. The government should not reduce the level of support for working families. Unfortunately, that is what is happening. This is a well-known issue where a family is getting some benefits, and then their labor income goes up, and the government starts to reduce the benefits. When labor income increases, overall support from the government should not reduce. I would like to bring the attention of the government to that issue. It doesn't make sense because the budget is not gaining anything from that, and we are just demotivating people from working.
Let's go back into the audience. We've got this sector. Let's give the floor to them.
Christina Smirnova from Tyumen. I've got a question about an unusual facility, 'Three-Eye Atlas,' an unusual object moving towards us. It's either a comet or a vessel with an engine. My question is: what are the intelligence services saying to you? Is there any evidence that this is a man-made structure approaching us in Tyumen? We've got the thermal capital of Russia, and we are welcoming any guests, but it would be good to get prepared. People are saying, if you can just wink with your left eye if you believe these are aliens, Christina.
I can't tell you, but it has to be between us. It's top secret information, and this is our top secret weapons, and we will be using it only in extreme circumstances. We are against any weapons in space. But seriously speaking, this is a comet. Our scientists know what's going on. This is a comet from a different galaxy, and that's why it behaves not in a way that comets from our galaxy behave. It has a shell, and by going closer to the sun, it affects some processes. Something is happening to the tail, but it's quite large, I think up to 10 km. But the moon is 400,000 km away from us, and the object you are talking about is 100 million kilometers away. I don't think it threatens us in any way. It will send it to Jupiter, and at the beginning of next year, the comet will leave the solar system. I will wink at you.
Thank you very much, Mr. President, for this opportunity. Victoria Sinkevich, Channel One. We synchronized in such a way in Belarus that we've got the People's Council this year, and the Belarusian president says that the people of Russia and Belarus have to be together. Let's create that bridge. We are counting on Russia's force. Oreshnik is being deployed in Belarus, and tactical nuclear weapons are being returned to Belarus. But some people do not like that union. They're trying to steal our assets, as you say. They're trying to conduct military exercises, close the borders. Thank you for that new term, 'the European little pigs.' What do you think about the defense of our western borders of our union state?
As for that new term that came up, I did not mean anyone specifically, and I never move to personalities. This just came up in the context of discussion with our military, and I used that term generally. What's important is our relationships between our countries. I watched the address of the Belarusian president live yesterday at the council, and I would like to congratulate him. This was very emotional, very bright, rich presentation. I would like to thank him for the high estimation of the level of the relationship between our countries. All these issues are being resolved bilaterally and within our defense union. You talked about Oreshnik and tactical nuclear weapons. We regularly conduct drills, and we have very close cooperation between our militaries. The security of the Union State is firmly in the hands of our military and will be ensured.
So now maybe we can invite our colleagues from NBC. Do you ask a question?
We do not believe that we are responsible for the death of people because we did not start this war. This war began as a result of the anti-constitutional military coup in 2014 and the commencement of military action against its own citizens in the southeast of Ukraine. From our side, we did not recognize for a long time the independence of those unrecognized Lugansk and Donetsk regions. After we were deceived and the Minsk agreements were not implemented, we were forced to use military force to finish the war that began by the Kyiv regime with the support of Western powers. President Trump is taking efforts to finish this military conflict, and as I mentioned before, he is doing it absolutely sincerely, I believe. In Anchorage, we agreed with Trump, and in practical terms, we agreed to the proposed terms by President Trump. That's why what you are saying is incorrect and does not have any basis. At our preliminary meetings in Moscow, they made some offers and invited us to certain compromises. In Anchorage, I said that this would be difficult decisions for us, but we agree to the compromises being proposed. So it's incorrect to say that we are refusing something. That's completely incorrect. The ball is totally on the side of our Western opponents, the head of the Kyiv regime, and its European sponsors. We are prepared both for negotiations and for finishing the conflict in a peaceful way.
Mr. President, Belgorod. We'll be happy to welcome you if you can come to our town. In the frontline Belgorod region, like in any other frontline region, communication is the most important thing. Notifications on attacks, remote education, and remote monitoring of glucose in the blood by parents. This is part of state services for diabetics, and this service should be maintained even when communications are down. Thanks to your decision, there were compensations paid to people who suffered from bombing from the Ukrainian side. Second question: people had secondary residential property, and when it was damaged by bombing, this was compensated before, but now it's not being compensated. We invite you to help us get that compensation.
I'll start with the last thing. Of course, we will work on this issue. These are questions that constantly arise when we react to extreme situations, such as fires, floods, and so on. Here the situation is even more dramatic. But in principle, issues of this type, when we deal with the consequences of these extreme situations, need to be worked on and can be resolved. As for the services, for children studying, control of their senses for diabetics, I understand this question is not about taking specific medicine. It's about whether the medicine is being taken timely. Yes, I understand. When the internet is down, it's difficult for parents to control what's happening with a child's glucose level. We understand that this limitation is due to the need to ensure safety and security to prevent drone strikes. The services and components are located abroad. Unfortunately, the enemy finds it easier to select targets. There are two ways of resolving this issue. First, move to local software and domestic hardware, because many services continue to operate using foreign assets. Second, we can continue to operate using foreign operators, but then we have to agree with them so that they move to Russian software and hardware. We have to work on both solutions.
You don't have any placard, but you're also very modest, so I'd like to honor that.
My name is Jacosine from Politika Serbia. Thank you for the opportunity to ask you a question. I don't speak Russian very well. I hope you understand me. So, we get sanctions that affect Russian companies located in Serbia. Can you give us some comments? What can people of Serbia expect in this regard? When you met with Trump in Alaska, you talked to him about a new organization of security. You said that there was a proposal from the Soviet Union to cooperate with NATO when Clinton came to power. You also offered cooperation with NATO. But in the future, can we expect any cooperation so that we live together without any war? I hope that next year we'll be talking about peace and not war.
Thank you for the question. We also would like to be able to live in peace next year without any military conflicts. I would like to reiterate, we would very much like to resolve all issues through peaceful negotiations. Of course, you would agree with this. I'm sure we need to remove the initial reasons for the conflict to prevent any similar situations in the future, so that peace is permanent and stable. As for cooperation with NATO, we did have cooperation with NATO. We did not talk about cooperation; we talked about direct membership of the Soviet Union and then of the Russian Federation. In both cases, we understood that they were not waiting for us there, and the promises given to us for non-expansion were false. We were deceived, and there were several waves of NATO expansion. This is an obvious move of military infrastructure towards our borders. This caused our concern in the past and causes concern now. The agreement on a new security infrastructure in Europe is very current. This was raised before in the Soviet Union. There were some smart people in Europe, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Egon Bahr, who talked about a new system of security in Europe without expanding NATO, creating a new security system taking into account the US, Eastern European countries, and Russia, so that nobody is excluded from that process and nobody is put in difficult conditions. We're not asking for anything unusual. We're not saying that any particular country has no right to choose a way of defending itself. But it has to be a way that does not threaten anyone, including us. We are simply insisting on promises being fulfilled, promises that were given to us. We want to find ourselves in a situation where there is a permanent security system in Europe. Despite the desire to establish relationships, sanction pressure is part of the politics of force. Sanctions continue and affect our companies. Our company Gazprom, which is the owner of these companies in Serbia, invested a lot of money, over $3 billion, and turned it into a modern, effective company. This is the main taxpayer to the budget of Serbia. We are aware of what is going on around it. We have an agreement with Serbia on terms of non-application of any restrictions. Of course, we are counting on the friendly government of Serbia to follow through and support this. Otherwise, there is a question of how we can continue to work on this, but we have some ideas on how we could move together. We are establishing and continuing this dialogue with Serbia, and we hope to find a suitable solution.
I would like to come back to the question that you raised in many regards. There is a question about the fairness of distribution of benefits for children when families do not qualify when they exceed the threshold by maybe 100 rubles, then they lose the benefit. I'd like to call Gulnara by video because she sent a similar question to us. If you hear us, please ask a question.
Good afternoon, dear Mr. President. Happy New Year. I'm an assistant in a kindergarten, and my husband is a driver. We participate in all events. We are a very active family. We achieve great results. I have a mother with many children. Last month, we exceeded the threshold by 100 rubles. In November, we exceeded by 259 rubles, and now we lost all the benefits for a family with many children. We don't get anything now. We have six children, and we work a lot together with my husband. We even do additional jobs and hold some chickens. We wanted to ask for some more help from the government.
I touched upon this issue overall when I answered the previous question. You just said that when you work, your labor income increases, and that reduces the support from the government. When your labor income was lower, you were receiving greater benefit from the government, and that demotivates people from work. I believe this is a mistake on behalf of the government. I'm confident that the Ministry of Finance will hear this conversation. There is no saving for the government, and getting additional income at the expense of a family with many children is just immoral. I'm hoping this issue will be resolved. As for utilities payments, I would like to remind you and everyone else who has a similar question that if utilities costs are 22% higher than the overall income of the family, then the government has to support the family. Are you aware of this benefit? Yes, I'm aware of all the benefits. In some regions, like Moscow, which is relatively rich, even if utilities costs increase to 10% of the family's income, the government steps in to support. Everyone has to think about this at the local and federal level. As for benefits for children, our whole policy is built around this. I would like to remind our regional colleagues that before taking any action, we have to always think how it will affect the lives and income of families with children. Your most important question about reduction of benefits when labor income grows: I will do everything to resolve this problem. Working mothers, maybe Gulnara hears us as well. In our country, the benefit is paid up to the age of 1 year and a half, 18 months. But we know that kindergartens are not able to accept children at that age. A lot of people want that benefit to go on until 3 years. If the mother is... they say kindergartens accept children at the age of three, and that means the employer is not going to finance a mother until the child is three. These questions are correct and justified. The benefit is being paid until 18 months, not after that. I think it's just the limitations of the budget. There's no other justification. But the government has to think how to resolve this issue overall. As for kindergartens and nurseries, if there's an opportunity for the mother to join the workforce, that's one way of resolving this. Not everything is resolved here. A lot of effort is being applied to renovate schools, kindergartens, and nurseries. I would like to address this to my colleagues in the regions. When you decide on renovating a kindergarten, you can also create nursery groups. This requires additional costs. You have to increase the number of hours the child spends in nursery or kindergarten, but that will also require hiring more teachers and carers, which needs additional salaries. I think this is the way that needs to be taken. The government also needs to think about how to resolve this gap between a child of 18 months and 3 years, where benefits are not paid. Overall, our system of support for children is quite well structured. The benefit is paid from pregnancy up to the age of 18, and in cases where an adult is studying full-time, that support continues to the age of 23. We have to pay special attention to this. For instance, the status of 'hero mother' is now equal to the hero of labor. Before, we used to have some points counted towards a pension for women when only three children were taken into account. Now there's a decision implemented that points will be counted not just for the first three children but for any number that follows. This is great. The government has to continue to prepare and implement the system of support and improve it.
So we have worked for two hours now. Kazan, maybe let's give Kazan the floor. Something about Islam.
Mr. President, good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to ask you a question. In 2026, as you probably know, the cultural capital of the Islamic world is going to be Kazan. This decision was taken at the council of Muslim countries. You know that we are improving our relationships with the Islamic world and the Global South. Tatarstan is also promoting this agenda together with the Foreign Ministry of Russia and the Islamic world. My question is: what should we focus on in terms of our relationships with the Islamic world? Muslims of the whole world are looking at Tatarstan, at Kazan, at Russia, and maybe they are accepting this as a model of modern Islam. The Islamic world is very diverse, just like the Christian world. The example of Tatarstan is a positive example. Many of my colleagues from countries of the Islamic world really take note of this and take that positive experience of coexistence of people of different religions and ethnic origins in Tatarstan into account. I would like to congratulate you because this all began with the first head of Tatarstan, and now Minnikhanov supports that tendency. It's not by chance that Tatarstan is now chosen as the center of important events. Russia is an observer, and I addressed my colleagues and asked for us to be included as observers. With great pleasure, this was done by all our friends and colleagues in Islamic countries. I watched how it happened with great joy. This was a long time ago now, but this is absolutely correct.
Thank you. I think you've covered the main points. The example of Tatarstan is indeed a positive model of interfaith and interethnic harmony. We will continue to support this and strengthen our ties with the Islamic world.
But over 10% of people follow Islam. I'm not going to go into details. So we've got Christianity, which is Eastern Christianity, and according to all of our basic values, they're the same. And everything that is being done in Tatarstan, what is being done in terms of spirituality and children's education, there's a decision to create an academy. It's a very important decision, and we have to create experts in Islam. And in Bashkortostan also, we have that development, and we've supported that in the past, and we will continue to support this. We will continue to support all traditional religions of the Russian Federation.
One more question if that's okay. We've got the Kazan forum, an annual forum, and the platform is growing every year. I wanted to ask you whether you're planning to attend the Kazan forum.
You know, we have distributed among our colleagues. I visit the Far Eastern forum or St. Petersburg forum, Sochi forum, so that we're not bringing the same people participating in all the forums. Nevertheless, the forum is very important, and of course we will continue to support it because this is another thread that connects us to our friends and our allies in the Arab world and the Islamic world overall. And without any exaggeration, we can say that it connects us to the global south. So as a result, you ask two or three questions. So let's ask Xinhua, let's give them the floor. Our guests from China.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. You've mentioned many times that China-Russia relations are at the highest level over the whole history. President Xi and yourself met twice over the last year. It's 30 years since the establishment of the partnership relationship between Russia and China, and 25 years since signing the friendship and cooperation agreement. How do you see it? What's your opinion of the achievement of the relationship between China and Russia over the last 30 years, and your perspective for the next 30 years?
First, I would like to say first of all, I see Chairman Xi as a great friend and a stable partner, my great friend and stable partner and ally of Russia. And this is the most important basis for development of Russia-China relationships. The world is developing in stages. Of course, agreements are important and strategic partnership is important, but what's most important is practice. What's being implemented in practice in all areas? We talked about the figures. We said there's a difference between Russian and Chinese statistics, but it's about 240, 250 billion, our trade volume. That's less than the EU in total, but in terms of country by country, China and Russia are in the first place among European countries. So overall, 270 billion with the EU overall, it's about 270, but in terms of country by country, we are above or ahead of any European country. Of course, there's a great volume with Korea, with Europe, but in terms of country, we've got in Europe the highest level of trade volume. And that's moving in different areas. And what brings me specific joy is cooperation in high technology, in education, space research. We cooperate, and that's an indicator of the level of trust between our countries. We cooperate in the military. We conduct joint drills, joint patrolling in the sea, on land, strategic aviation. And that just tells us that our relationships, Russia-China relationships, are a significant factor of stability in the world. And on the international arena, our foreign ministries are in constant contact and they're coordinating their agendas. So I'm hoping that this will be the theme for our further development of cooperation with our Chinese colleagues.
One more question from the floor. Lady in blue.
Radio Moscow. My question is about demographics. Overall, we talked about the fact that the birth rate is reducing in the country, and there are measures, benefits, payments. However, there is a small number of women in that fertile window. And with this, young people, young men are interested in creating, establishing their career, earning money. There are two questions here. What are the measures of material or financial stimulation that you see that can be introduced in order to motivate young people to create families and have children? And secondly, maybe we can talk to young people now so that they do not delay having children in their lives. Thank you.
This is a question that all post-industrial countries are worried about. Practically all large economies see the same thing happening, and in some states the situation is quite dramatic. Japan, for example, the ratio is 0.8. South Korea, 0.7. So that's the number of children per one woman in childbearing age. Now our ratio is 1.4, and we need to achieve about two, and that's a very difficult task. Of course, a lot has to do with the financial situation of a family. And of course, the family should not feel that their level of well-being is reduced when their child comes into the family. And I'm not going to go through all of these measures that we spoke about earlier. I said that when a woman is pregnant, she gets benefits until the child is 18. Then we have provided additional support in the region of 75 billion rubles to the areas where birth rate needs specific attention. And I mentioned that we've raised the status of mother hero, and then family mortgages. We need to work on this more at 6%. We did and will continue to do everything to support the mood of young people to create families as early as possible and have children. But this is a very subtle process. Of course, everyone knows that young people, a woman wants to get an education first, and then raise the level of education, maybe take some steps in her career, and then around 30 they have the first child, and then maybe sometimes they don't have energy for the second child. And of course, that needs to become fashionable again. People should understand what happiness is. Happiness of fatherhood or motherhood. So Naran Aleksich has been fighting for the last four years. He's got four children. And everyone learns from their own experience. And we always say, 'Oh, but you need to learn from somebody else's experience.' But in any case, people learn on their own experience. When they face something very specific, then they do something and then they understand something. Then they understand, 'Oh, I should have done it this way or that way.' I spoke about this before, I think publicly, at the last meeting with families with many children. And one of the women who has, I think, nine or 10 children, she said one thing that was wonderful. She said, she's got 10 children, and she said, as soon as the new child came in, we always thought, 'How did we live without you so far?' So this statement, that observation of the state of your soul, that understanding of your own happiness of motherhood or fatherhood, that needs to be conveyed to people, but that's a difficult task. So I'm addressing your audience, your colleagues, your colleagues in the media, people in the field of culture. People are very talented. They produce films and plays and plots. Please always think about it. Please convey everything that you write, that you film. Please always promote the idea of parenthood. The financial element has to be there. That's important. But the state of the soul has to be there. The understanding of simple happiness needs to be there. So we had a lady who came to us, and she's a student, a medical student, and she wants to use her age for career growth, but also she doesn't want to miss on having children. And she's got that video address, and there are many video addresses of that type. But just if I apologize, when you asked the question, I noted something down. In 25 regions of the Russian Federation, there is a positive demographic trend. And that tells us that our colleagues in the field, in the regions, wherever they put their attention on it, it works out. Including such a complex and difficult area as demographics. 25 regions of the Russian Federation are demonstrating a positive trend in demographics. So if we can see the video address from Camera.
Dear Mr. President. I am a student, year five of the medical university, and I'm prepared to work in my region after graduation. But I understand that the contract falls onto 27 to 32, and that is the best time to create a family. And the salary of a young expert is not great, and that does not allow you to create a family properly. So how do you resolve this issue of wanting to create a career of a doctor and also having children? So we are losing young experts who are moving away from the region, or we are losing out on creating a family.
As for support of young families with children, we've come back to that many times, and there's a whole range of measures of support of families. But when you talk about the fact that you are on year five of the medical university and you will have to work on that contract that follows, that's quite clear. But what is clear is that the person is then going to higher education. Then from March of next year, there is an order that comes into place that says that if the person is following a state-funded higher education program, then they'll have to work in the region for a certain number of years. And it looks different in different areas of the country. In cities, it's a longer period of time. In rural areas, a shorter period of time. But that's a choice for a person. They can sign a contract on state-funded education, and then that obligation arises because they have gained education at the expense of the state. Then if they don't want to do anything, then they don't have to sign the contract, and then they can study on the paid basis. They pay for the education themselves, and they can get a student loan which they can repay after the end of their education during their work career. As for education, medical students, we're not talking about compulsory work obligations working in a specific region. No, we're talking about only the fact that a person who graduated from a medical university has to work in accordance with their profession. So in a medical institution that works according to MHI rules. So we can't call this requirement an excessive requirement. But as for children and family, that's of course the choice for each specific person. You have to evaluate your overall situation in life. But as I mentioned before, getting additional education or start of your career, getting to the level of significant income, that should not be the basis for postponing getting married or having children. So this is attestation for the degree of doctor. Yes. When the person finishes their higher education, they are not being sent to some remote areas. Just the person needs to work according to their specialization, according to their profession. So in a medical institution where the MHI system is operational, like in Soviet times, there was a compulsory direction so you had to work wherever you were sent, but that does not exist today. So the decisions that were taken are now of a very soft nature. But of course, it would probably be better if we come to a situation where even that will not be necessary. And of course, the lady asked the question, what do we have to do? Of course, we have to improve the conditions of life for people, improve the housing situation, and of course the government is trying to do this. And there are certain schemes for support, like for teachers in rural areas or for GPs in rural areas. So everyone was scared by that decision. So that does not affect the students of pedagogical universities. So that obligation to work on contract in a particular area after you've graduated.
So we've got our Hero of Russia, our military correspondent.
Mr. President, I've got a question that I think affects many people and affects people in regions which are frontal regions. So Donbas, the question of water supply is very current there and has been discussed for years. And now the situation is such that not just in DPR but also in Gorlovka, Debaltsevo, practically in all cities of Donbas, the supply of water is not regular. It's once every three or four days. The quality is not great. People who live at higher levels, like sixth floor or above, they might not see water at all because there's no pressure. And that water blockade is man-made. And we know this. The main reason is the actions of our enemy. But residents of Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics live with this issue, and they will continue to live with it, and it can't be resolved in principle for the moment.
You know what the roots of this problem are. The main system of water supply is beyond Slavyansk, and that territory is still controlled by the enemy. And it can be resolved fundamentally when that territory is under control of our military. But not only that, there is also a solution to create water supply lines, drilling of water wells. There's one water supply line that's been built. There's now a consideration for another water supply line. One of the key problems, legacy problems, is losses of water. Losses of water in existing pipelines until recent past was at the level of 60%. Up to 60%. Now the rate of loss is less, but still in the region of 50%. I did discuss this with members of the parliament, government, and with regional authorities. But it turns out that resolving this issue of water loss means that you have to bring the whole system of water supply up to date. And that has not been done for decades, and everything kind of deteriorated there. So in order to bring that system into the normative state, you have to spend as much money, as I'm being reported, as the construction of a new water line. But I want people to know that we are aware of this problem. And that's a very current problem, and we'll do everything possible in order to resolve this. Thank you.
Thank you. BBC, United Kingdom. Your question, please.
Steve Rosenberg, BBC News. I recognize you. Oh, where are you? Where are you? I can't see you directly. Okay. Excellent. Please, it doesn't mean that you have to take away his microphone if I can't see him. Steve Rosenberg from BBC. Question about the future. Future Russia. What is the future you are planning and you are building for your country and for your people in this future? Is it going to be like today? Any public disagreement? Is it going to be punished like today? Is it going to be strengthened? Are you going to strengthen the search for enemies inside and outside the country? And in that search for enemies, are you going to switch off mobile internet throughout the country? Or is Russia going to take another route? I remember you said that our future is in our hands. But in practice, all power in Russia is in your hands. That means that mainly the future is also in your hands. So what future is it going to be? Is it going to be a continuation of what's going on now?
So look, what is going to be the future of Russia? Are you going to punish by law, as you said, the actions and people who disagree with the actions of their government? You probably mean our law that is being criticized on foreign agents. Dear colleague, I would like to bring your attention to the fact that it's not our invention. This law was passed in a number of Western states, and in the US it was passed in the 30s of last century. And in all these countries, this law is much stricter. It includes criminal liability and imprisonment when you finance somebody from when the foreign agent finances somebody. We do not have anything similar to this. All we require is that you need to claim, you need to announce the source of your financing. We do not have any repressions. We do not have any persecution. Moreover, if people stop getting involved in political activity or if they stop being financed, then they are removed from the list. And there are so many examples of this. There's a question about BBC and the claim from President Trump for a few billion. But these are family affairs. I don't want to get involved in this. I don't want to touch this topic. But then of course that's a problem. So falsification of information, and I think that Trump is correct in this, but it doesn't matter. You said, are there going to be new special military operations? There won't be any special military operations if you treat us with respect and if you respect our interests. Just like we try to respect your interests all the time. If you're not going to deceive us like with the expansion of NATO to the east. You said that there won't be an inch of expansion of NATO to the east. This is a direct quote. And what happened? They say you just deceived us. You have ignored our security interests. Not you personally, of course. Western political leaders created the current situation with their hands, and they are making that situation worse. They are constantly talking about the fact that they're preparing for a war with Russia. As far as I'm aware, you've lived here for a number of years. You understand. And those who talk about the war with Russia, I think they understand. What am I? Are we going to attack Europe? This is nonsense. And this is being done based on their internal political motivation in order to create an image of enemy. They are creating an image of enemy. They're creating an enemy out of Russia in order to cover mistakes that were systematically committed by leaders in economy, in social policy. Where is this green agenda when they reopen the coal mines and power plants? This is just one mistake after another, and they are trying to cover this up with evil Russia. They are redirecting the attention of their population to external issues. So your question is just another attempt at this. You said that all power is in my hands. Yes, there is power that is concentrated in the hands of the president of the Russian Federation, and the boundaries of that power are strictly outlined in the constitution of the Russian Federation, in the main law of our country. And when decisions are being taken, and legal decisions are being taken, I sign them according to the law of my country. They are signed as new laws. But in terms of percentage, I can't really tell you, but in the majority of cases, the laws are initiated by the upper chamber of the parliament of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council. They initiate it. Of course, the Russian president has great powers, but I believe that in our country, the presidential form of governance is justified. But I would like to end on something else. We are prepared to work with you, with the United Kingdom, with Europe in general, with the United States, but as equals, with a respectful attitude to each other. By the way, if ultimately we come to this, then everyone will win from this. I brought this up in one of the conversations where I was present, and Mr., former Chancellor of Germany, in 1993. He said that the future of Europe, if it wants to preserve itself as an independent center of civilization, it has to be together with Russia. We naturally complement each other. We can work together and we can develop. If this does not happen, Europe will gradually disappear. Look, Russia, to this day, despite the fact that in the course of fighting inflation we have reduced the pace of economic growth to 1%, nevertheless we are in fourth place in terms of purchasing power parity. After China, the US, and India, then is Russia. And I would like to bring your attention to this. Then we've got Japan and Germany. The United Kingdom, that you represent, is currently eighth, seventh or eighth or ninth place. I think it's seventh or eighth. And if we were to join our efforts with European countries, Russia and European countries, our joint GDP would be higher than the United States. Of course, this is all theoretical, but it is quite obvious. The fact is quite obvious that unifying and complementing our abilities will thrive instead of fighting each other like you are doing. We are not fighting you. You are fighting us through the hands of Ukrainian nationalists. And we are prepared to stop this. And by being ready to stop this military action, we would ensure peaceful cooperation and stability in this region. We've seen so many actions, so many statements of European politicians that just do not fit any reasoning. They're not interested in human rights. They're not interested in European values. It is just support, naked support of the Ukrainian military forces and their readiness to even go into a conflict with President Trump. So I was trying to explain why that policy is being conducted. I was trying to explain it to the colleague, and I said that they are trying to cover their mistakes in politics, in economy, and so on. And a second thing here is that they are just on a certain track and they can't move left or right. As for their readiness to go into conflict with the president of the United States, there's nothing unexpected here. Everything is clear to me. I think that any observer, even a non-specialized observer, is clear on this. European elites. They've been supporting democratic forces in the US. They were supporting Kamala Harris, and they were interfering and they were trying to help. But no, there was no proof of any political involvement of Russia in the political area in that process. But European forces were directly involved in influencing that process. And now I think they're counting on the midterm elections, and they hope that the situation will change in the US and their traditional allies will come back to power and they will continue their pressure on President Trump. So they behave themselves in such a way in their expectation of change of political mood in the US, in the Congress. But as for single examples of politicians in Europe, they behave in an outlandish way and quite aggressively. As for aggressive statements, I look at them and I also am amazed. For example, I personally know Mr. Rutte, General Secretary of NATO. He is the former prime minister of the Netherlands, and I used to go there and we spoke with him. He is a very clever person, smart person, systematic person, and very efficient. He was a very efficient prime minister. So the economy of the Netherlands is in good shape, and that's part of his efforts. And sometimes I just want to ask him, what are you talking about? War with Russia? They want to prepare for a war with Russia. Can you read? Can you even read the new strategy of the national security strategy of the US? The key player, the US, is the key sponsor of NATO. All main financing is coming from US money and technology, military technology, and the ammunition and military equipment. That's the basis. In the new strategy of national security of the United States, Russia is not mentioned as the enemy, as the goal, as the target. And the General Secretary of NATO is preparing for a war with us. What is this? Can you even read? How are you aiming NATO at war with Russia when the main founder of NATO is not believing Russia to be the enemy? So you have to be more diligent. You have to look around. And that's not just relating to the General Secretary of NATO, but also to many other Western leaders. We've been working for three hours and we've got three million questions. So you want to cover three million all at once.
A lot of questions relate to the housing issues. They talk about the opportunity to use the family mortgage to buy secondary housing. So there is precedent, and that includes 900 cities. But then there are some limitations, and those limitations are critical for families with many children. And I would like to show you the address from Yagina.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. We are a family with many children. We've got three children and would like to use that program of family mortgage. But in our region, there is no newly built housing. The housing that is built in the region is over 20 years old. And we would like to ask you to expand the family mortgage program to families like ours and to cities like ours.
So this is from the Tomsk region. What's the name? What's the name of the city? This is the Tomsk region. This is the oil and gas region. So that decision has been taken, and in these regions where new housing is not being built or not enough housing is being built, it is allowed to use family mortgage to buy housing from the secondary market. There are a number of questions, a number of issues, and that all depends on the quality of construction. While you pay the mortgage, the actual housing can come into disrepair and would not be fit for living there. Of course, you have to do due diligence. You mentioned 900 cities. There's in any case over 800 cities or towns included in that list for that program. And if your town is not included, then we can include it in that list. I spoke with my colleagues from the government who deal with housing construction and support for families with children. And I understood that of course these measures that were taken were aimed at support of families and also aimed at the construction sector. It should also include the secondary market. So the primary market, the newly built, that's all clear. That mortgage is supporting the construction sector. But even there, where you are allowed to buy from the secondary market, there's still a number of issues relating to the fact that this measure of support is aimed not so much at supporting the construction sector but at supporting families. So as for your particular town, if your town is not included in the list, we will include it. In the last direct lines, we had this repeated question of fraud with newly built properties, and there was an introduction of escrow accounts. Now we have an interesting situation where developers receive the money from the escrow but are not giving the keys to the properties to those who invested. So in the Leningrad region, we financed the construction of a flat, but I have not received my flat because the developer keeps postponing the commissioning. And I was informed that December 2025 would be the date for commissioning. And then in August, the escrow account was emptied. And today I've got this information that there is no heating supply and there is no indication that any construction work is being done. And now I'm being informed that the building will be commissioned in April. I think this is fraud. So one of the ways of trying to influence a developer is to force the developer to pay the penalty. But then during COVID times, some moratorium on these penalties was introduced, and it has not been lifted. So that means that you can't apply that measure against a builder. Yes, this is a well-known issue. This was done to support the housing developers during that time, during COVID, and there was a moratorium. And I will ask the government not to extend this moratorium beyond the end of this year. There is, of course, some explanation as to why construction has been delayed and the commissioning of the building is delayed. In this case, you've got the problem of not connecting to utilities, as I understand it. The story with that moratorium for penalties against developers has to be lifted. So that moratorium has to be lifted. So people have to have the right to claim compensation from the developers. So we introduced escrow accounts in order to protect the rights of people, and we have to come back to it. Another issue we want to highlight is long-term construction, but relating to sports facilities. So now there's a story in Russia where the construction of an ice rink was delayed and then frozen over a number of years. When we work in the government on balancing the budget, and this is very complex work, we talk about the same thing. We say you need to, if there are certain facilities that are not finished, then you can't start new ones. You have to complete what began. So please pass on the information about it, and we'll deal with this.
So I would like to ask that a person who is holding the placard. I want to get married. Mr. President, Kyl Bajanov, Channel 4. You're already dressed and you're already ready for the act of getting married.
Yes, indeed. What it says here on this placard is not just in vain. I know that my girlfriend is watching this. Olga, please, will you marry me? And because it's all happening here, I will be very happy to see you as a guest, Mr. President, at our wedding. But now, going to the question. So it's not just a placard. I'm not going to ask about utilities. I'm going to ask about measures for support for young families. So I've been together with my girlfriend for eight years, and I was born in a family of a priest, and we both want children. And I understand that I cannot afford this because now if I get a mortgage for a one-bedroom flat, I will be paying 50,000 rubles every month for the next 30 years. Is there any opportunity to help young people so that this money is not going to the banks but is being invested in the future of our children? And myself as a young person of 23, this would be the best stimulus to encourage demography.
I'd like to point out that you've been with your girlfriend for eight years and you're 23 years now. So you started when you were 15. In the Caucasus, they get their children married quite young, and that's the right thing. So we need to use them as examples. I know that Ramzan Kadyrov has a large family. He's got many children, and they get married at a young age. He said this is our tradition in the Caucasus. I said, okay, that's great. In your case, I said already that there's a whole system of support for families with children, and that affects student families and so on. I'm not going to go through the whole range of this because this is going to take a lot of time. But this was also mentioned: to wait indefinitely that there would be a better financial situation or that you would get your education, other things. You can wait indefinitely, but it's best not to postpone having children. This is part of our life, and we have to go through this life. We have to continue our lineage. And especially you are a Christian person, and this is a divine mission of a human being. And so we continue measures of support, and despite some tensions, you know, there are certain areas where that mortgage is not 6%, it's 2%. You can get a mortgage in those areas. And this is not going to be just a tent. They say you could be happy with a loved one in a tent, but there will not be a tent. It will be a proper flat. But you can get a mortgage at 2% in those areas. So you need, I think if you look at all the range of support for young people, then you can manage. What is your girlfriend doing? She is on year three at Moscow State University, psychology. And I said that, and I'm mostly a student, and I said that there is a whole range of support for student families. But of course, I understand that when a young person thinks, 'I need to buy this and that, I have to live somewhere,' of course there are many problems. But it's best not to postpone these fundamental decisions like creating a family and having children.
Good afternoon. TV channel Zvezda. You talked about the attempts to destroy the Russian economy, but I have to ask about unmanned aircraft attacks on sea and on land, critical infrastructure in Russia being attacked, and the points of supply. And I've got this neighbor here from Rostov, Nadezhda. And in the port of Rostov, two members of the crew died as a result of the attack on the vessel. And four tankers in the Black Sea were attacked. Is there an answer that Russia can give to this? Is there also a question about the blockade of the Kaliningrad region? I hope that this is not going to happen.
If there are any threats of such nature, these threats will be destroyed. And everyone has to understand and everyone has to take account of this: that such actions will just lead to unseen escalation of the conflict, and it will bring this conflict to a new level and will expand it to a large-scale international conflict. Everyone has to understand this. As for attacks on our civil infrastructure, as a response to this, as a military correspondent, you know that our military regularly respond to this. They reply with much stronger strikes against the Kyiv regime. But everything that harms civil infrastructure, everything that harms non-combatants, these have to be responded to. Just now in the Mediterranean, one of our tankers had been attacked. This is just a very practical purpose that just leads to increased insurance premiums. That is not going to disrupt any supply. That is not going to. That's just going to create additional threats, and a response will follow from our side.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to ask you a question. I would like to send you greetings from our part of the country and to Pavlodar as well. Now in Tajikistan, there's a Russian-Tajik industrial park that's been created, and Bashkiria is one of the regions that is closely involved in this. What other regions are going to be involved in this? Where are other similar projects going to be developed?
We have been involved in a similar structure in Egypt, in the Nile region. And the Ministry of Industry is using this platform, and our colleagues in Egypt are paying special attention to this. This should lead, in my opinion, to serious economic results for both Russia and Egypt. Similar projects are being considered in other partner states, and of course your experience will be used there. I don't know what state that project is in at this moment in Tajikistan, but I'm confident. I have no doubts that Bashkortostan, with its developed technological base, industrial base, will play the needed role and will achieve all the goals that they've been set. And I ask the federal government to assist if there's any need. Just a request. If we start shouting, then there will be chaos. So we won't be able to function and communicate with each other, please.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. I'm very nervous. We've got a young man with a sign 'Kokoshnik'. Yeah. So, ladies first, Mr. President. It's a continuation of my 13-year-old colleague in row one, and it's to do with the fact that you drive around Moscow without any flashlights or any escort. Have you noticed that Moscow became better? We've opened many roads with you and so on. Do you think there's less congestion? And what is going to help? What is going to happen with the cars? Do you think that we're going to move on to domestic cars? I wanted to buy a foreign car. I've been saving for five years, but now I'm not able to buy it because they are too expensive. So, you were at the wheel of a Lada. Maybe there's a Moskvich, another domestically produced car.
I'll start with the recycling fee. The recycling fee increases the cost of vehicles, and that increases the price of vehicles with power over 160 horsepower. And the government understands this, that it affects people with higher income in larger cities. And I need to say directly that this is to do with the attempt of the Ministry of Finance to gain additional income in order to achieve a deserving objective, which is technological support, and that in part supports domestic car manufacturing. Of course, I have to advise you to buy something from the range of domestic manufacturers. It would be strange if I told you to buy a foreign-made car. But I hope that this measure is not going to stay forever, and the choice of our citizens will be broad. And this will go together with the growth of income and also maybe reduction of that recycling fee. The next question is about Moscow. Moscow, everyone is proud of Moscow. Sobyanin has done a lot of work. 12 million people live there, plus 3 million people who come to work in Moscow. So about 15 million people are in Moscow on a daily basis. And the question of transportation links, all of this is being resolved systematically. And that's to do with public transport, metro, road building, junctions, flyovers. And that's the resolution of that task altogether. Of course, there are still many issues. And when I drive around Moscow, I'm not saying that I'm driving without flashlights. I'm flashing lights. I'm just saying I'm driving without the police escort sometimes. So it happens sometimes after work at the end of the working day. But you can see that the traffic flow is very busy, and that tells us that you can't rest on what you have already achieved. You have to constantly pay attention to this.
Mr. President, we talked about the problems affecting diabetics. There's a specific application for people with diabetes. But then there's another aspect to it, and that's to do with medication for diabetics. And I would like to invite Dmitry from the Smolensk region.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. In Krasninsky of the Smolensk region, they stopped giving out medication which was prescribed to people after certain operations. And they explain it by financing that has stopped. And I'm asking you to help the officials of the Smolensk region to find the lost finance in order to provide that medication to people.
Dmitry, there are many requests of that nature, and I read them yesterday, the day before yesterday. I spoke to representatives of the ministry, and they assured me that everything that is at the federal level of responsibility, all the funds have been directed to the regions. There's not a single case of any delay with financing.
So these issues have been raised in the questions that have been submitted. They are to do with the proper organization or structuring of this work in the regions. It's to do with distribution of contracts and distribution of these medications in the pharmacy network. I promise that we will look carefully at what's going on in your region and we will resolve this issue. But overall, in the papers that I read, there's also concern that state pharmacies are closing down and in relation to this, some medication that is given as benefit also disappears. But even here I would like to point you to the fact that even in private pharmacies, the covered medications have to be provided at fixed prices. So that's under the authority of the Ministry of Healthcare. Also we need to pay attention to developing the network of pharmacies, also mobile pharmacies, and that is being done in some regions and that's being used. There are some other areas where you can sell medication and we talked about this. We can develop this in the system of Russian Post. How that problem can be resolved is another issue and there are many avenues of resolving this and we hope that in your particular case the problem will be resolved very quickly.
So that sign, please. USSR TF1 first of all and then TF1.
Good afternoon, Mr. President. Can I give you a gift first and then a couple of questions? Maybe if you can explain what it is and then we'll take it later. This is the Heart of Asia, a book. 126 Russian poets that write about Tajikistan and Persia and it's addressed to you. Starting from Mayakovsky to this time, it's an anthology of the best poets of the Russian poets that praised Persia and Tajikistan. I know that you like this very much. I have a question, Mr. President. You value Omar Khayyam poetry and we, of course, we are from the same ethnic group. Is it possible to put a monument to this great poet and scholar?
