Results of the Year with Vladimir Putin

Mr. President, the situation of the battlefront is changing day in and out. We know that you follow everything almost in real time, talking to our heroes, to our soldiers. But the situation is changing on a daily basis. Our soldiers are getting ahead audaciously and steadily. As commanding chief, what's your assessment of the current state of affairs? I've just listened to the report by the head of the General Staff. On the whole, I can tell you that right after our troops expelled the adversary from the Kursk region, the initiative, the strategic initiative to be more precise, is firmly in the hands of the Russian armed forces. What does it mean? It means that our forces are advancing along the whole line of contact. At some places they are moving ahead faster, sometimes slower, but everywhere along the line of contact the adversary is being pushed back. Most importantly, and we started with this: you said there, and I said that they were proposals to the Kyiv regime to withdraw their troops from those unrecognized back then. They were recognized republics who didn't want to leave under the yoke of the Kyiv nationalists. By then the Kyiv regime had been building fortified positions in the agglomeration of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka. This was the most fortified region. So let's start with what is currently unfolding over there. Just recently, the head of the General Staff, the head of the group of forces, as well as the local commanders, the head of the brigade that I received at my office, reported to me on having taken Selydove, which is an important settlement, and from there it's possible to move closer to one of the most fortified regions, to part of this agglomeration, which is Slavyansk, a little to the south from our armed forces active in the south Donetsk direction. The troops are in the city already. The battle is raging, and very soon it'll be taken. A huge percentage is under our control. But the advancement is going to continue. I said that Konstantinovka is part of this agglomeration, and the battle is already there. More than 50% of Konstantinovka is under Russian control. I have no doubt whatsoever that this settlement is going to be taken as well. There was an important development, namely the taking of Krasnoarmiysk, because from Krasnoarmiysk, the competent level of the armed forces will have to make a decision on which direction to take. But this is a very good bridge to continue offensive operations. And to the south, northeast, there is the city of Mirnograd, which is also an important bridge, and it is completely encircled. I think around 50% of the city will have been taken by our forces by now. The adversary did not get an order from the command to lay down arms. They're trying to break the encirclement, moving in small groups. They're undertaking attempts to take back at least parts of Krasnoarmiysk, in vain. So far, the adversary is sustaining significant losses and has seen no success. Another group of Russian armed forces, the East group, is making great headway across Zaporizhzhia region, liberating one settlement after another. As you know, currently the battle is taking place in Hulyaipole. The city is divided by a river into two parts. The biggest part is on the opposite side of the river. This barrier has been bridged, and the battle is raging inside the city. But an important part of the group of forces of Vostok is moving even further, liberating one settlement after another in Zaporizhzhia region. Moreover, safety and security zones are being set up in Sumy region, the city of Vovchansk, and Kharkiv region, as is well known. Currently, several weeks ago, Kupyansk was taken by the Russian forces. So far, our forces are not moving, but they are in control. The thing is, their most important task is to eliminate the group of forces of the adversary on the left bank of the Oskil River and to take another settlement, which is basically a transport hub, which is Kupyansk-Vuzlovy. There is a group of forces that is encircled there: 15 battalions, 3,500 soldiers who didn't get a command to withdraw either, and they have no chances whatsoever. They are heavily encircled by the Russian armed forces. And once it happens, once our units have completed their task, they will move further west. I'm confident that by the end of the year we will have seen new successes by our armed forces, by our soldiers, by our warriors at the line of contact.

You must have seen, you must have heard the briefing of the head of the General Staff, as well as the head of the group of forces, the group of armies, the commander, as well as the head of the brigade that is engaged in hostilities there. I asked him, 'What's your current take on the situation in Selydove? Are you firmly in control?' He said, 'Mr. President, we are moving even further west, 1.5 to 2 kilometers. My brigade has already made that movement west, and this movement is continuing.' You probably remember there was this briefing on Selydove, and we had a report of the assault group from the spot, from Selydove. If you remember, at the end I asked them to change their position as soon as possible once the report was over. And I think it was yesterday, because time is flying by. We had a meeting at the Ministry of Defense, and once the collegium was over, there was an award ceremony for our warriors. Was it yesterday or the day before yesterday? You know. Yeah, there was an award ceremony for those who participated in the liberation of Selydove. And once that was over, I went back to the Kremlin to my office, and I asked the head of the assault group to come by and see me, because I wanted to talk to him about the current agenda. I do that from time to time when an opportunity presents itself. And we also had a meeting on the preparations for today's event, and he came straight to the room of the Security Council, and I asked him to say a couple of words so that every colleague can hear what's the current state of affairs in Selydove, how it happened. And he started recounting, you know, just a couple of words, very briefly. And once he went, Kulik asked whether we could invite him to the Direct Line. I said, 'Well, you can ask him, but his leave is not that long.' So, you know, we phoned him, and he's here. He agreed. Alex, there he is. Narin, is that correct? Yes. Please be seated. Take your seat. Am I correct? Is this how this happened? Yes. If you've got any questions about what is happening in Selydove and how the liberation took place, you can ask him directly. I think it's going to be better. Let's give a round of applause to the Hero of Russia. Let's welcome him.

I can repeat my question. I said when he came to the room of the Security Council, what was the most difficult?

Well, I'm not following that, but you know, following what he's doing, but he's an artist and a talented one to boot, so there's nothing surprising about that. You know, they are saying that this obelisk looks completely different from what it used to, but be that as it may, the obelisk is one kilometer or so from the city. Well, why stay at the threshold? Do come in. If Kupyansk is under their control, why not go into the city itself? And you know, there were some women bloggers. They managed to get by. Luckily, nothing happened to them because, you know, the sky is swarming like with flies, but not with flies, with UAVs, both from the Ukrainian side and from the Russian side. It's impossible to approach that settlement so easily. The time will come once our soldiers have completed the elimination of the group of forces of Ukraine that is encircled in the east part, and then they will turn and go westward. It will be very soon. This is just a question of time, if there are no other problems. As for other fake stuff or attempts, or with any at any cost to return the lost positions, as it was, it is done now, and I would like to underline that it is done at any cost. The adversary has no success. The problem is that as a result of active and effective actions of our armed forces, the adversary has suffered really serious losses of strategic reserves, and they have almost nothing left. This is a meaningful component, and this should give an impetus to the Kyiv regime to solve all the disputes and to end this conflict peacefully. They almost have no reserves.

Well, as usual, I have brought a table with me like that. These are open data. What happened in our economy throughout the previous year? The GDP growth was 1%. But if we take the three previous years, this is also a correct indicator. The common growth was 9.7%. At the same time, the EU growth was 3.1%. As for the 1% growth this year, these were conscious actions of the government and the central bank and the whole government of our country regarding targeting inflation. We need to point out that in general we managed to solve this task. We had a goal to decrease inflation to 6%, but by the end of the year it will be less than 6%, 5.7% to 5.8%. But the decrease of the economic growth rate is the cost of preserving the quality of the economy and the macroeconomic indicators. Let's go forward. The industrial production increased by 1%, manufacturing industry increased by 3.1%. As for agricultural production, an increase of 3.3%. An important question is housing construction. Millions of square meters were constructed. Last year it was 107.8 million. This year the indicator is lower, but it is also good: 103 to 105 million square meters. We managed to preserve a very good indicator of real salaries. They're not as high as last year, but still I think the indicator is very good. The real salaries, without inflation, are going to grow by 4.5%. Unfortunately, we must be honest: throughout this period of time, the growth of labor productivity is going to be very modest, 1.1%, and we need to change that, of course, in order to increase labor productivity. As for unemployment level, last year I said it was a record low historically, 2.5%. This year it is even lower, 2.2%. In general, these are very good indicators. International reserves of the central bank are growing. I have just spoken to the governor of the central bank like just several days ago: 741.5 billion US dollars. As for the budget deficit of the federal budget, 2.6%. Next year we think that it's going to be 1.6%. As for the three-year period, it should be around 1.5%. This is a very good indicator. Regarding our state debt, it's one of the lowest among the developed countries. We have spoken with our colleagues. It is 7.7%. And in the next three years it will not be more than 20%. Well, these are the indicators. What is more important, the principle thing is that we have to thank the government for the hard work they have implemented. They managed to balance the budget. The quality of this balancing is at the level of 2021. This is a very important indicator of stability of the economy and financial system of our country. It means that we will be able to fully implement the issues regarding the social obligations to the population, also solve development issues regarding national projects, we will reach technological development goals, as well as, without any doubt, we will ensure the necessities of the armed forces. And all of this combined speaks about the stability of the economy and financial system, which is absolutely under the control of the government and the central bank.

Thank you for reminding about this. This is good news, which is very good for everyone participating in the process. This topic appeared during the Council on Science at the offices of the President of Russia, which was in 2019, 2018. The colleagues from the Siberian Institute of Science, the Institute of Nuclear Physics, spoke about the necessity of creating such an accelerator. Truly, we had some problems, slowdowns because of sanctions, but we managed to complete this work. This is great, and I would like to thank everyone who had to do anything with this project, and I would like to congratulate you on that. This is truly a success. Well, the same thing goes for the Kurchatov Institute here in Moscow, but this is the second stage facility. A lot has to be changed. We are planning to do that at the same time, in parallel. We are going to create the same facility in Vladivostok and in other cities as well. We are going to work on that. As for your facility, SKIF, this is a great success because it gives an opportunity not only to have investigation of a fundamental nature but also of an applied nature. This is truly important because this will give an opportunity to work in the field of pharmaceuticals and new materials, and so on and so forth. But how to keep young experts? We have a whole system that is functioning. But the main thing is that we need to create laboratories, because true scientists are truly talented ones and dedicated ones, and they also, but social aspects are also very important. The salaries, the conditions for living there, and all of this is what we're going to work on in the future. This is one of our goals. We have a grant system for this and mega grants. We know the scientists that are called mega grantees. These are the scientists receiving such mega grants. We have raised this issue at one of the meetings with them. So we need to create conditions so that young experts would keep working there. We need to create a horizon for them to be seen, the horizon of investigation not for two or three years but for five years or more. And we have already done this. And this allows us to prevent the outflow of staff. Many people come back. I have personally spoken to such scientists. These are young experts that used to work abroad, but they come back to Russia, the native land. And our so-called Western colleagues help us very much in this. Why do they come back? First of all, there are great laboratories, great opportunities, but one of the main causes is that they are really concerned about their kids, because it is impossible to send kids to the schools in those countries. Well, they have a protection of traditional values on their agenda, and together with the other conditions, they decide to come back to Russia, and there are more and more such people. Well, we'll keep working on all of these tracks. I'll try to come to visit.

You know, first of all, let's remember the participants of the Great Patriotic War. Those who were fighting on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War came back. They reached great results in culture, in science, and education. When I went to university, I had teachers who were participating in the Great Patriotic War. We respected them greatly. There were those who were gravely injured. I had a teacher who didn't have a leg and he had a prosthesis, but he was an excellent expert in his sphere. We all remember him with gratitude, and we remember the knowledge that he gave us. Let's remember Mr. Nikolin, and there are many, so many scientists who excelled in their spheres and truly influenced, gave effect, truly were very important for the development of our country. And the participants of the special military operation. Let's take Narin Alexich. I couldn't recognize him really because the hall is very big, but he was given a mic and there is a camera, people knowing what they're doing. But when he entered the Security Council in the Kremlin, he spoke there, and everyone was looking at him very carefully. There is great potential that the people, the guys from the special military operation have. But this is one thing to fight, and there is another thing to be a leader of a team or be ahead of a big company or a region or a ministry. You need a talent for that. For that, of course, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the special military operations zone. Everyone, not everyone wants to have such a civil career. But those who want and those who have potential, who have education, experience, or are ready to receive it, it means that the government must do everything to give such opportunities to these people that are truly ready to fight for the interests of their own country. I've already explained how this idea appeared. I met young people, students. I looked at them. I looked at how they were communicating their ideas, what were their goals, what are the promising goals for the country by their opinion. So when I listened to them, I had this idea. It's important to give opportunity to such people, young people, to stimulate them. Of course, we need to prepare them, to train them, without any doubt. That is why we started this program. I thank the heads of the regions of the Russian Federation for promoting this program regionally, and it is truly functioning, and I'm truly glad for the people who participated in the first stage and the second stage. Some of them have become governors, vice ministers. They work in our biggest companies. Several people work in the presidential administration, and they are truly successful. Of course, there are some difficulties. Some of them may try to work in some other sphere, but the program itself is functioning successfully.

Well, stealing is not really the correct definition for that. Stealing is when someone is doing it secretly, and they are doing it openly. This is a robbery. This is robbery. Why do they fail to do this? Why did they fail to implement this robbery? Because the consequences can be truly harsh for the robbers. Why is that? It's really hard to do that because they declare that they are not going to rob it, to take it. The idea is to make a credit using our assets. But you cannot just give out a loan. This will make consequences for the budget of a country and increase the budget debt of every country. If someone gives a loan, even secured by our foreign assets, it must be reflected in the budget of a country that does it. For example, in France, the public debt is 120%, and ours is at 17%. And our budget deficit is 2.6%. Next year it's going to be 1.6%. In France it is 6%, random. So now they will assume additional liabilities, and it'll be quite hard to pass such a budget. And all these are the reasons for the difficulty of taking decisions related to the robbery of someone else's assets. But there will be graver consequences for those who might endeavor this. This will not be a blow to their image, but this will subvert all the confidence in the Euro area. Actually, very many countries store their foreign reserves in the Euro zone. Many of those having spare money, like the oil-producing countries, if they have a look at what might be happening, they will have doubts, and they already have doubts and concerns. But what if this happens? You know, well begun, it can be further replicated. They might think: now some people dislike the conduct of the special military operation and the fight against neo-Nazism in Ukraine. And next, someone might not like the fight, the struggle with the LGBT movement, and Muslim countries have stringent laws in this respect, and this might be another pretext for the alleged expropriation of sovereign assets. Why not? And they might find other pretexts. So that will entail image-related losses and direct financial monetary losses related to the contemporary financial architecture. And the main thing is, no matter what, sooner or later they'll have to give it back. And most importantly, we will go to courts to protect our interests. We will do our utmost to find a jurisdiction that will be independent from the political context.

Well, thank you for the invitation. With respect to the road, I'm aware of this problem. Indeed, transferring all the segments of that trunk federal road to the federal level, as there is a task of raising all federal trunk roads to certain quality standards, and this is almost complete. And now we are tackling the regional roads quality. But it can be broken down into several sub-issues: the northern procurement and the safety, traffic and road safety. So, I cannot promise that we're going to start right away tomorrow, but I'll talk to the government, and we'll find a way to respond and react. But thank you for the invitation.

I'll start with your final point. The brigade of veterans deserves the highest assessments, and they are heroes. But it's not only about risking lives and going through a tube. The point is that they are meticulous and hairsplitting and responsible in preparing each operation of theirs. A lot of preparations were done with all the driveways and procurement and exit points and entry points. These are heroes, no doubt. And this brigade deserves the highest assessments and should be granted the name of a Guards Brigade. I agree with you. Secondly, the point that you started with, about control of drones. We are lacking heavy UAVs, and this is what the Defense Ministry and the defense industry are getting to grips with. The Defense Minister personally has been looking into the matter, and he has done a lot. Thanks to him, to a large extent, the situation with drones has considerably improved, and the guys on the contact line now feel that. We will keep supporting our contemporary inventors with a system of grants and support measures. And I'd like to thank our caring people and entrepreneurs. They have collected 83 billion rubles of donations, and that was spent on different things, but to a large extent on drones. I must say directly and frankly, one shouldn't shy away that we have become leaders. We still lack those heavy drones like the Baba type, but with respect to the number of drones, we are ahead of our adversary on all the segments from the front line. This is an obvious fact, a hard fact. Now with respect to the civil life application, in order to confirm this leadership, well, this can be confirmed only if those items used in fighting will be applied in civilian and peaceful life, and it will also be used in dual use of these items to improve the combat efficiency of our country. And all the delivery of mail and medicines and food will be conducted with the help of UAVs, like the airplane type or small copters, air-based ones. I'm speaking about the UAVs in general, airborne and seaborne, and we are making big headway in this respect, and this will have the support of the government in future. Now with respect to the fighters on the front line that want to continue doing what they have been doing. Well, this is a peculiar thing because the point is that we continue a good rate of manning, and now we have a lot of volunteers that want to volunteer to the front, conclude contracts to join the army, and they volunteer to defend their motherland and the interests of our people. We just mentioned how the Ukrainian military treat the civilians, and a person told me when we saw what they did to civilians, we just became impatient to move on and finish off this viper. They execute old people, elderly, and they use the copters to do that, to target civilians. Actually, he might be shy because it's the first time that he ends up in such an audience. More than 400,000, 446,000 people have enrolled, concluding a contract. And the number of people who want to do service in this new branch of the army, the unmanned aerial systems branch, is so big that the Defense Ministry has to open a call for that. There are students, young ones, who take an academic leave to sign a contract and join the army, and they participate, they are eager to participate in this competition, and they want to participate as drone operators. So I can understand the person that you spoke to, but actually even those who come on leave, come home on leave, they continue participating in the fighting because the remote technology allows that.

Christina, first of all, I want to apologize to you for this huge delay of the relevant services. In your case, it's going to be resolved quickly, but the problem is in existence. Not long ago, I had a meeting with Madame Tsivilova, Anna, who reported to me on the work of the Fatherland Defenders Fund, and she's Deputy Defense Minister now. She has told me that still proper interaction between the Defense Ministry and the welfare unit of the government is not properly established, and there is a lot of red tape. Documents are lost when being transferred from one agency to another, and decisions are delayed and postponed. But we will work on that to expedite the thing. I will definitely keep track of that personally. I'll look into this issue. We should be swifter and quicker so that we rid people of additional difficulties, like in your case when they have two kids left after the tragedy. But there is also another issue pending, which is obvious from some of the questions received via various channels. Mr. Peskov has handed me a file full of such questions and applications: the search for the missing servicemen. In the case of Christina, I hope the problem she's faced with is going to be resolved quite quickly without any procrastination. Now, as for the search for missing in action, this is a topic of particular relevance, and I have to tell you that the Ministry of Defense has taken several steps with a view to addressing this problem. To be more precise, a coordinated center has been set up which is charged with searching for the servicemen missing in action. Special units have been established in relevant units and groups. A special registry has been set up as well. And if we look at the beginning of the year and at how things stand today, we'll see that the number of those who were thought to be missing in action has decreased by 50% as compared to the beginning of the year. So there is a three-time difference. Of course, this work has to continue and it has to be improved. Rest assured, we'll do everything to make sure that the losses are brought down to a minimum.

Well, the instructions are there, and we're working together with the Ministry of Defense. Let's work with the audience. A couple of questions. Several questions from the room, from the audience. Third row of this section. I think the M TV company. Yes, the lady in red.

Yes, we've got some statistics. These measures have worked. They may have yielded some results, and I think a lot has and should be done to address this issue. The number of such crimes has decreased by 7%, as the Ministry of the Interior has briefed me, and the losses have decreased by 33%. On the whole, there are some positive results. But I would like to address the citizens of the country. Fraud is still very much an issue. The more sophisticated our devices are getting, the more sophisticated our life is becoming, fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their turn in the ways they use to defraud the citizens and to swindle them and take their money. So whoever talks to you, whoever is calling you, and you know, given the AI capabilities, if someone starts talking to you about money, about property, just put down the phone. Just put down the phone right away. If someone is talking to you about property or money, not a single word. If banks, you know, or there's someone you know personally, if you want to address an issue, just go in person, see someone from the bank. I would like to ask you not to talk about money or property on the phone.

Well, I didn't say that exactly like that, that I drive incognito, that I drive myself. I'm just saying that sometimes I drive without the accompanying police cars and all that, and you know, these views as it were are useful because from the car window it's very interesting to look not just at the road I usually take to get from my residence to the Kremlin and vice versa. It's very interesting to look at different neighborhoods of Moscow. It's interesting and curious to see what's happening around. As far as verified information I get is concerned, I think the most important thing that provides me with that information is an event like this. Just imagine, 2.5 million people have sent their messages and questions to the direct line. Of course, it's impossible to cover all of that and process all of that in the course of these several hours we've got, but you know, 2.5 million messages, there are about issues that people hold dear to their heart. This will be processed by AI for a year. This information will be processed by my loyal assistants from the Popular Front. This is the source of information about what people really need and what they're interested in. And of course, I get information from special services as well as from law enforcement agencies. And I'm trying to use that information not just in an aggregate form to personalize, but also I'd like to see the original documents and I would like to meet people personally, talk to them when I have working visits across the country. It's very important to talk directly to people because it gives a lease of fresh life to what we're doing. You see the needs of the people and of course polls by social studies agencies. Of course people take these polls differently but mostly these are of a professional nature and of course sometimes people are not happy with average numbers, with mean numbers, because these figures have nothing to do with what people are facing in real life. But these average data are important because they give us an understanding of what is happening in general across the country. So this is a variety of sources which provide me with a fairly objective picture of what is happening in the country.

We pursue a deliberate policy of supporting different languages and cultures and arts of different peoples living in the Russian Federation. We're doing that via school, via media, via literature. You've mentioned several avenues in Yakutia, and the people of Yakutia are very talented. It's no coincidence that a music school is being built there. You know, I once visited that and it's developing. Young people, young children from all across different settlements and towns and cities get together and they engage in creativity. Cinematography has taken off in Yakutia as well. Yakutia is developing very fast. Moreover, Yakutia is also providing us with servicemen which are unparalleled across the world, I suppose. And you've mentioned this film, this movie. We will certainly do everything to support that film once it's released and before, in the run-up to its release. And as far as this year of unity of Russian peoples is concerned, I think this is the right thing to do, especially amid the special military operation, because when a country is faced with such trials and tribulations, it rallies together. And as you aptly mentioned, people when they are under fire don't care what religion they profess, what ethnic group they belong to. You know, there is a joke in such situations: if there is a God, and I do not doubt there is a God, but you know people are divided in different churches. That may be so, but we all share common values, all peoples of the Russian Federation. And then the course of the special military operation is something that is getting increasingly to the forefront. We can see that it's apparent and evident. We see that very well. You know, I just remembered, we have just spoken the reports on the taking of the city of Svoe. You remember I had a commander of one of the brigades in my office during that report. Once the reports were over, the video link was shut down and I started to talk about the zone he was responsible for at the front line. We spoke about some daily matters and all of a sudden he tells me, 'You know, I don't feel comfortable because I'm here, whereas my comrade, head of the very same brigade that is fighting shoulder to shoulder, he is back there at the front line. You and I, we're talking about addressing some daily needs, whereas he is fighting, but he's just as good as I am.' And I tell him, 'Who is he?' And he said, 'He's from Dagestan. He is from a small ethnic group in Dagestan. He's a genuine warrior and Russian patriot, as well as a brilliant commander.' And I said, 'You know, it's impossible for everyone to be here. You are here because the commander of the group of armies has decided someone needs to stay at the front line. But let's try to give him a call.' I took up the phone and via military connection we managed to find that second commander of the brigade he had spoken about. He was at the command post on site. We spoke and then I passed the phone to the commander of the brigade who was with me in the office. And you know what's interesting? Among men, there's this 'cool' when they call one another, but you know when real officer says it, it's really something special. He says, 'Hi, brother.' Yes, men do call one another that, but you know when real military commanders say that, this is testimony to the unity of the peoples and nations of the Russian Federation. And we will do everything in our power to strengthen this process and to push it forward.

Yes, this is a very acute issue. We've been discussing it at the government and also at the president's administration. And as I said, the most honest way out is an increase of the VAT. Is that what you're asking about? Well, the goals, the objectives are very simple. Our task is to secure a well-balanced budget. On the whole, we've managed to accomplish that task, I've spoken about that, to a certain degree thanks to the decisions we've taken. As far as that is concerned, there is a number of issues to be addressed. The government needs to pay attention to that and we spoke about that on multiple occasions. When the tax burden goes up, a temptation arises to avoid paying that tax. In the past, this task was very much widespread. Right now, it's becoming increasingly relevant. We need to dismantle the shadow economy and make sure no one is trying to hide their income from tax. And when taxes go up, we have to make sure that this does not stay on paper. It has to translate into real increases for the budget revenues. I take your hint. Is that going to be forever? No, certainly not. The end goal is to decrease the tax burden in the future. And the government assumes that this is where we're going in the end. And this is what I'm looking forward to. There's a surge of issues from self-employed, from individual entrepreneurs because there are millions of those in Russia and tax changes are a source of concern for many. We have a question from Denis Maximov from Lyubertsy. Let's give him a call via video link. Denis, Vladimir, if you can hear us, please ask a question.

You know, price regulation is very dangerous because once we start doing that, the goods will start disappearing from the shelves in a market economy. This is the result you get very often. Yes, there are certain spheres where regulation is required, is needed. As far as essential medicines are concerned, there is a certain ceiling you cannot go beyond. But if these are regular goods, you know, it's tricky regulating the price on those goods. But you are correct in that fish on the table of Russian citizens is missing. There are certain norms and so far we are lagging behind those norms. But we have to go a different way about that. We need to improve the logistics. We have to make sure that the fish produce from the Russian Middle East can get as affordably as possible on the table of consumers in the European part of Russia. Transport capabilities have to be enhanced. We also have to address that via taxation. We have to create an environment to make sure that we continue building new fishing vessels. There are many issues that have to be addressed and that have to bring about the result we desire. Please, if you hear us, ask a question.

Hello.

Well, this is your bakery behind you?

Is it called Mashinka? Was it called in honor of someone?

What are you baking there? Is it delicious?

Well, Denis Vladimirovich, regarding the essence of your question. First of all, there was a form of benefits for the small enterprises what was registered by the government, what was done by the government, especially it regards the trade business and the individual entrepreneurship, small enterprises. The processes started mean that we use these instruments, these forms of business for uncontrolled input of uncontrolled black input, that is the problem. It doesn't mean that we should create problems for the production business. I'll pay attention to that and I'll make the government pay attention to that and the relevant governmental structures. As for the accounting, please do pay attention to the fact that it will not be necessarily compulsory to spend additional money for accounting. Big financial institutions provide different services, banking and accounting services. You could ask, for instance, Sberbank. They can help you with that. And this will not bring additional costs for your business. It will not bring any additional financial burden for you. But you are right that the production business with the transfer to the new taxation should not suffer, and I promise you that the government is going to face this issue. But anyway, I wish you success. Success to your Mashinka, to your daughter, and to your business that has such a beautiful name. Well, maybe you can send us something delicious.

On my side, I will work with the government regarding the support of your business and other businesses alike. Thank you. By the way, an important piece of news: the central bank reduced the key interest rate down to 16%. So, we are moving forward. You know, the central bank is always under pressure. There are many disputes about the key interest rate. The difference between the inflation rate by the end of the year, it will be less than 6%, 5.7, 5.8, maybe 5.6, the key interest rate is at the level of 16%. The experts expected a possible decrease by 1%, but by the law, the Bank of Russia is independent and I try not to interfere into the decisions that they're making. I try to make everything so that they were not influenced from other institutions, but the Bank of Russia does everything necessary and they're very responsible in their work. At the end of last year, the beginning of this year, we spoke to the governor of the central bank, to the government, to the economic block of the government. We said that it is necessary to target the inflation, to make the necessary decisions so that the macroeconomy of Russia would be healthy, would be solid, so that the economy of the country had a solid foundation. The difference between the real inflation and the key interest rate is one of the lines of criticism against the central bank. What is the problem? In reality, there are many problems. One of them is that as I have already said, I have mentioned it. If not, I will say it now. One of the problems of today is the reduction of the investment activity during the first three quarters of this year, minus 3.1%. But the Bank of Russia registers a little decrease, but the activity, serious continuity continues in the credit sphere. The number of credits that are being provided is almost not reducing, not significantly. This is the merit of the central bank. That is why it is necessary to be really careful and cautious, so as not to avoid the suppression of inflation, so it would not be necessary to take any steps backwards. So the worst thing is the fluctuations, and the Bank of Russia strives to reach stability in this sphere, which is of paramount importance, and we have to agree with that. Well, a decrease of half a percent or more, I'm not going to give any evaluations, at the expert level there are really good experts that will give their assessments. But the reaction of the real economy sector will be very well expected. Well, I know what could be. According to the official data, official inflation is one thing, but the real inflation is different. We receive many questions about this. We ourselves go to shops and we see how expensive everything is. Well, the average inflation is around 6%. Everything is getting more expensive and prices are growing very fast. Well, Maxim Chubay from Samara region asks why everything is so expensive. Even poultry increased. The price for poultry increased. 'I have a 50,000 ruble salary and I cannot satisfy the necessities of my family. I cannot feed them.' We received different questions from the Rostov region. For instance, a kid is asking a question. He's asking why the prices for bakery are increasing and the salaries of my parents are not. I've already mentioned when people see some average figures, average indicators, it causes questions because average figures generally do not coincide with what people see in real life. We see that we say that the inflation will go down, the prices will go down. Maybe it will be 5.7, 8% lower. But the food inflation for instance can be even higher, and it is higher, and it depends on the food basket that a person needs. If for instance these are protein products, poultry for instance, then it affects the budget of the family. It's nothing good about that. We also need to point out one more thing. Maybe last thing of the year, before that we were critical about the actions of our colleagues from the government when the prices for eggs have inflated, but now they have decreased by almost 10 or 16%. So these are important factors. Without any doubt, we need to follow closely what is happening in every segment, with every group of population. Regarding families with kids, everything should be centered around families with kids. Just saying that additional measures of support for families with kids will be introduced since the 1st of January next year, for instance, a 13% personal income tax for individuals, the families where they have modest income, less than 1.5 minimum wage for a person, of 13%, 7% most of it will return to the family. I hope there will be a real way to support families with children. And if the income of a family is less than 1.5, then they need additional benefit for every child in the family. Well, I'm not even speaking about other components of supporting families with children. Of course, it is not enough. We understand everything. We all understand that it is not everything. But what can we do? We will keep improving this system because the policy of the state on the federal and regional levels should focus on that. And of course, we'll try to increase the level of salaries so that the income, especially the income of families with children, would not decrease. When we see that when the labor income is increasing, government should keep their support measures. Well, it is a very well-known topic. When a family with children receives some kind of benefits support, then the labor income increases, but the state reduces the benefits that the family has been receiving. So when the income increases, the overall income with the benefits should not be reduced. I'm returning to this topic and I ask the government to pay close attention to this topic because it is senseless. The budget does not receive anything from that and cannot receive, and we are destimulating the labor activity of people.

Well, Christina, you said was your name. Well, what I'm going to say, but it should be strictly between us. This is secret information. This is our secret weapon, but we will use it only in a truly critical situation because we are against any weapons being placed or deployed in space. Our scientists know what is happening. This is a comet from another galaxy. That is why it behaves differently compared to the comets from our galaxy. It has a different surface. That is why when it is closer to the sun, there are different processes happening on it, as well as regarding the tail of this comet. It has a different appearance. It's quite big, from 2 to 6 kilometers. Well, let's see. The moon is from us at a distance of 300,000 kilometers. And this object is 100, hundreds of millions of kilometers away from us. So we will send it to Jupiter at the beginning of next year. This comet will go out of the solar system.

Oh no, no, no, no. Please, Belarus.

As for the term that you have mentioned, well, I was speaking to the military and I said it. I was not really meaning anyone specifically. I usually never say anything like that. I was speaking in general terms. I was speaking about a group of people, as legal people say. All of this appeared quite a long time ago. But the relations is what really matters, relations between our two countries. I watched live the speech of the president of Belarus at the old Belarus-Russian summit congress, and I have to congratulate him on that. His speech was very meaningful and excellent. I would like to express my gratitude for this assessment of the state of Russian-Belarusian relations. As for the security issues, we are solving them bilaterally as well as in the context of the CSTO. You have just now mentioned Oreshnik. Alexander Grigorovich spoke about the Russian tactical nuclear weapons that are being stationed on the territory of Belarus. We regularly have exercises of the groups of armed forces created by our ministries of defense. We are closely cooperating between each other. The security of the union state is in very reliable hands and it will be guaranteed without any doubt.

We do not consider ourselves responsible for the death of people. It wasn't us who started this war. This war began after the coup d'etat, the anti-constitutional armed coup d'etat that happened in 2014, and the start of fighting on the part of the Kiev regime heads against their own people in the southeast of Ukraine. On our part, we stopped short of recognizing the autonomy, independence of the then breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. And after we had been deceived and the Minsk arrangements had not been implemented, we had to resort to the armed forces to conclude that war that had been started by the Kiev regime with the support of the Western countries. And President Trump is taking serious efforts to conclude this conflict, put an end to this conflict. And I said on many occasions that he is quite sincere in this undertaking. And moreover, during the meeting with President Trump in Anchorage, we agreed upon and virtually approved the proposals of President Trump. So saying that we reject anything is inappropriate and has no grounds. At a preliminary meeting in Moscow, a proposal was made to us and we were asked to make certain accommodations. When I came to Anchorage, when I arrived in Anchorage, I said that those would be difficult decisions for us, but we still are in agreement with this trade-off proposed to us. So saying that we reject anything or turn anything down is inappropriate and groundless. So the ball is entirely in the court of our Western so-called opponents, the chiefs of the Kiev regime most importantly, and their European sponsors. We are ready for talks and we're ready to conclude the conflict by peaceful means.

Well, I'll finish with your final point. We will definitely work that through, and such matters crop up when we have to respond to emergencies like fires and floods, etc. Here things are even more dramatic. But such matters in that system and frame of reference when we struggle with the aftereffects of calamities and disasters can be resolved, and we will do that. And secondly, with respect to connectivity and services and the related issues of education, remote education, and diabetes sensors control. I gather that it's not a matter of the intake of certain drugs, but the control and timeliness of taking these drugs. When the internet is disconnected, it is hard to control the glucose level. I know what you're talking about. So, there are restrictions related to security matters because of the drone attacks, and you mentioned the services, and some of the components of those services are stationed abroad. In this case, it's easier to select targets for attacks for our adversaries. And here we have to switch to domestic software and our own domestic hardware. This is a way out to ensure the operation and functioning of many of these services. And secondly, we can also use the capability of the international manufacturers operating here, but they should transfer their services to Russian soil. Definitely, we will have to work on both of these matters that you have raised. Thank you.

Thank you for your question. We also would very much like to live in peace next year, getting rid of military conflicts. And I reiterate, we actually would very much like to resolve all contentious issues by way of talks, and I hope that you will be in agreement. We'll have to eradicate the root causes of the conflict so that it shouldn't happen in future for the sake of a lasting, durable, and just peace. With respect to prospective cooperation with NATO, we had it in the past, and we also discussed a membership, first of the USSR, then of Russia in NATO. But in both cases, we figured out that we were not welcome there. And the promises that had been given to us that NATO would not expand had been ignored, and we had been deceived. And there had been several waves of expansion of NATO, and that entailed moving military infrastructure closer to our border, which causes our legitimate concern. And in this context, a new security system or framework in Europe is very relevant, rather relevant. Even before the break-up of the USSR, some clever people in Europe, like the Social Democrats in Germany, proposed to establish a new security framework in Europe, not expanding NATO but establishing a new security framework with the participation of the US, Eastern Europe, and Russia, so that no one should be left behind or put in a difficult situation. Actually, now we don't require anything untoward or extraordinary. We're not saying that a country should not be able to select a way of protecting itself, but this should be a way that wouldn't threaten anyone, including us. We just insist on keeping the promises that were given to us by the Western partners. We were deceived, actually bamboozled, and now want a reliable system in Europe. Now with respect to NIS, it is a daunting task. You are right. That enterprise, that company, despite the desire to improve relations which is seen on the face, well, the sanctions pressure continues, and that also touches upon our Gazprom oil and gas company owning NIS. And Gazprom invested more than three billion USD into NIS, turning that enterprise into a state-of-the-art and efficient one, and this is the main taxpayer to the budget of Serbia. We know what the developments around this company are, and we have an intergovernmental agreement with Serbia on non-acceptance of any kind of restrictions towards this business entity. And we assume and presume that the leadership of Serbia, which is friendly to us, will act on its promises and obligations. Otherwise, no one would know how to invest money into an economy if even an intergovernmental agreement wouldn't be observed. But we have some thoughts of how to move forward together, and we've been pursuing dialogue with our Serbian friends on that, and I hope that we'll find a way out, a necessary proper way out.

Gulnara, actually I have touched upon this matter in general terms responding to previous questions of this sort. I fully share your view. You have mentioned the fact that you work a lot, and your income goes up, and at the same time the support you receive from the government goes down straight away. So when you earned less, you received more from the government. So it seems it's kind of destimulating. It's pointless to work more on the face of it. But I believe that this is a mistake, an erroneous policy on the part of the government, and I'm certain that the finance ministry and the government will heed us. Now it's not about economizing and trading on families with multiple children. It is immoral. I agree with you. I think that colleagues will see to that and this will be resolved. With respect to bills, housing bills and electricity and other bills, I just want to remind you and all people for whom such matters are of importance that well, the general procedure is as follows. If the spending on housing bills and utilities bills exceed the aggregate income of the family by 22%, the government is obliged to provide support. Everything on top of that 20% should be covered by the government. Are you in the know of that?

Well, Moscow is a relatively well-to-do region, and here from 10% of the spending increase in overrun and upwards is the amount that is covered by the regional budget. And with respect to supporting families with multiple children, this is the cornerstone of our welfare policies. And I reiterate that, and I would like the regional and federal authorities to remember that before you pursue any policy, just think twice how it's going to tell on the incomes of people and families with many children in particular. And the main point of yours was about the reduction of governmental support. If your income goes up, we'll do everything to resolve that. Also on the part of the working mothers, I hope that Gulnara is hearing us now. And here the child benefit is paid until the child turns 1.5 years of age. And many mothers say that at this age kids are not accepted to the nurseries or kindergartens. And very many of them are asked to extend this period to three years of age of a child. So the maternal leave lasts until a child turns three. And kindergartens accept children mostly when they cross the three years of age threshold, and you know, mothers will not be tolerated if they do not return to work, and very many mothers want the payout to support their kids to be extended until a baby turns three. Well, yes, until a child turns 18 months, the family gets the benefit. But you know, the answer is very simple, there are budget constraints. There is no justification other than this one. But the government will have to think of something on how to address this problem and similar problems. As far as kindergartens are concerned, crèche groups, and whether it's possible for a mother to go to work early, yes, this is one of the ways to address that. Not everything has been done to ensure that. A lot has been done, however, to renovate and rebuild schools. Right now, we're working on upgrading our kindergartens. I would like to ask my colleagues in the regions to listen very carefully when issues on renovating kindergartens are addressed. Probably it would be best to also set up crèche groups right away. This is the first part of the solution. Secondly, it might seem simple but still it requires additional attention as well as additional expenditure. We need namely to increase the number of hours spent by children in crèches and kindergartens, not just 18 hours, probably it has to be extended, but this in turn would require increasing the number of teachers and specialists looking after children, but that would involve increasing the staff. And the government needs to think on how to go about addressing this discrepancy, this gap between 18 months and 36 months. On the whole, however, we've got more or less a refined system for supporting motherhood as well as families with children. Just to cite an example, benefits are provided to women once they get pregnant and until their children turn 18. And sometimes these benefits can be extended until 23 years when students go to universities, if this is a full-fledged education, not just evening classes. As far as families with three and more children are concerned, we have to pay particular attention to this issue, this status of heroine mother, you know, it has been improved right now. It's tantamount to Hero of Labor. There are a number of benefits that come with that. There's another component. In the past, additional points were added to the pension, but only three children were taken into account when calculating the pensions. Whereas right now, a new decision has been taken when a pension is calculated. Not just the first three children, but the subsequent children are also going to be taken into account, and additional points will be added to the score which is used for calculating the pension. The government will continue improving and enhancing and fine-tuning the system of measures for supporting families with three and two and more children.

Good afternoon.

The thing is, the Islamic world is very varied, just as the Christian world is very diverse. We both know that, but I'm confident that the example of Tatarstan is positive in the highest degree. And many colleagues of mine from countries with the preponderant Islamic population keep that in mind. They follow closely the experience of Tatarstan, and that is a positive experience. That is a positive experience of coexistence of people of different religions and different ethnic groups, and Tatarstan is an exemplar in that regard. My congratulations to you on that. This has started with the first head of Tatarstan, and Rustam Minnikhanov has taken up the baton, and he's doing well. And I'm not surprised that Kazan has been selected as the venue for huge international events for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Incidentally, Russia is an observer in that organization, and I was the one who initiated that. I addressed my colleagues and asked them to accept Russia as a country with observer status, and to our pleasure, this was accepted by all of our colleagues from the Islamic world. I was following that with enthusiasm. I was very happy. I was very pleased that happened a long time ago. But this was the absolutely correct decision from us. More than 10% of the Russian population are Muslim. Well, I'm not going to cite what the patriarch has told me on the subject, but you know, Christianity, this is Oriental Christianity, Eastern Christianity. And as far as all of our core values are concerned, we share these values. They coincide. And Kazan is doing a lot in terms of spirituality, in terms of education, in terms of bringing up children. You know, a special academy has been set up in Tatarstan, which is of huge importance. We in Russia have to prepare and educate experts in Islam. And the same applies to Bashkortostan. And just as we used to do that in the past, we intend to support all traditional religions of the Russian Federation.

The thing is, we've distributed these events among colleagues. Usually I visit St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, whereas the chairman of the Russian government usually visits Sochi for a similar forum. You know, just to bring the very same people to all events, that's why we're trying to redistribute that among ourselves. That said, this is a very important forum and we'll keep supporting it, because this is yet another thread, another tie that brings us closer together with our friends and allies in the Arab world, in the Islamic world in general. And I think without exaggeration, I can say in our ties with the global south. You know, three questions in total. Let's have some respect for one another. Our friends from China, Xinhua, please, that sector. Yes.

Well, from the outset, I would like to say that I view President Xi as a reliable friend, as well as a stable partner, my reliable friend as well as a partner and an ally of Russia. We can count upon him, and probably this gives us the key to understanding the development of the ties between Russia and China. These relations are developing in a steady fashion. Of course, the agreements you've mentioned are important, namely the establishment of the strategic partnership, but most important is practice. What we're doing in our daily interactions across all avenues and all directions. We've cited some figures. The statistics from Russia and China vary a little bit, but on the whole it's around 240 to 250 billion US. That's less than the countries of the EU taken together, but on a country-by-country basis, Russia ranks first among China's trade partners. Yes, it's 240 to 250 billion between China and Russia. But with the EU, China has a 700 billion US dollars trade. But if you take individual countries, then of course Russia ranks first. Of course, China has very big trade with Japan, with the US, with South Korea. But if we look at Europe, then we'll see that Russia ranks first, and these relations are developing, entering into different spheres and domains. And what is a particularly source of joy for me, it covers high tech, education, humanitarian ties, exploration of outer space. We cooperate, and this is something that testifies to the high level of trust between our countries. We even cooperate in the military field, and we conduct joint drills on a regular basis. Our strategic aviation carries out patrols on a regular basis, and the same goes for our joint drills on the ground. And I think it would be fair for me to underscore once again that Russian-Chinese cooperation is a significant factor of stability across the world. Our defense ministries are in constant contact. They coordinate on the issues of the current agenda. So I'm hopeful that this is the vein in which we will keep continuing our ties with our Chinese friends for the near future and for the more distant future.