RUSSIA's latest:Direct Line with Vladimir Putin-Answers to journalists’ questions ..

Direct Line with Vladimir Putin


The annual special Direct Line with Vladimir Putin was broadcast live by Channel One, Rossiya 1, Rossiya 24, NTV, Public Television of Russia (OTR) and Mir TV channels, and Mayak, Vesti FM and Radio Rossii radio stations.
June 20, 2019
16:20
Moscow






Direct Line with Vladimir Putin.

Tatyana Remezova: Good afternoon.

As of now, we have received some 1.5 million questions from the public. Actually, the figure exceeded 1.5 million this morning. The most popular form of address is a telephone call. We have received nearly one million of them. Each call is recorded and processed by operators and is presented in a special inquiry form.

We have received nearly 400,000 text and MMS messages. However, this year the people are very actively using the website moskva-putinu.ru to ask their questions. It is very simple and easy to use. People can make video calls, talk with an operator, send a text message or record a video message. This is very simple to do. Just click on the Record button. The only condition is that your message must not exceed one minute. Now click on the Send button. Your address will be processed by our staff. It means that your message has reached us.

The benefit of sending a video message is that you can tell us about your problem and also let us see it. It can be a bumpy road, a rubbish heap or a leaking roof. We will be broadcasting live the messages about the most acute problems.

The OK Live service is another high-tech means of reaching us. This service will connect you directly to us in this studio; we will try and do this during this programme. Not a single call will remain unanswered. Every call will be processed, and, as I have already said, summed up in a special form that includes your contact information. The most important part is that work on your calls will also continue after Direct Line.

Pavel Zarubin: Good afternoon. Mr President, shall we begin?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Of course, let us proceed.

Pavel Zarubin: Over the past few days we saw for the first time how you prepare for Direct Line. We saw you sitting over a heap of questions and reading other messages on your laptop. What looked like the most important to you? What are the most acute problems?

Vladimir Putin: In fact, it is clear that I should always be informed and aware of what is going on in reality. In the course of the current work it is more or less clear what people are concerned about. But during the preparations for Direct Line, of course, we find out some things that are the most pressing and important at that particular point. At the moment, and it is not a secret or a revelation, people are most concerned about the quality of life, incomes and healthcare. These issues are followed by waste treatment; this is what I heard just now. So, these are the most pressing issues. Housing and utilities.

Pavel Zarubin: It is true, we have received great many questions regarding these issues, but there is something else. As I understand, these problems should be solved by national projects. Everyone talks about them; officials at all levels talk about national projects. But, judging by the questions, it seems that people do not quite understand what these national projects are and what they are supposed to achieve. Will they be useful in the end?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, of course, and I am grateful that you chose to begin with this issue because all of our work revolves around it today. In fact, the work revolves around people, but in order to achieve the best results for our people, for our citizens, for the development of the economy, we created these so-called national projects. The ultimate goal of national projects is to put the economy on new track, make it tech-intensive and improve labour productivity, thus improving the quality of life and our country’s long-term security. Therefore, we divided the areas of activity, not by the level of importance, but in a certain order in accordance with the distribution of resources.

It was a challenging job. First of all, we needed to decide how we would attain the result set and where to find the funds for the measures the state is supposed to finance.

Regrettably, one of the Government’s decisions was to increase VAT from 18 to 20 percent. In part, it was done, as I have already said, to replenish the budget and to start working on one of the state’s obligations, that is, on infrastructure development.

For example, who will build railway lines, bridges, motorways or electricity lines? None of this, as well as some other structural jobs, can be done without the involvement of the state.

And then we coordinated the decision, calculating how much we need in order to boost the development of certain sectors and to increase people’s incomes to a new level.

I would like to say once again that, regrettably, we had to take some unpleasant measures – let us put it this way. But we believed from the very start that the relatively negative effects of these measures could and would be very short-lived. Overall, the Government and the Central Bank turned out to be right, alas – inflation increased for a period of six months.

What does this “inflation increased” mean? It means that the Central Bank raised the key interest rate, it means that production fell a little, and so on.

We can see now that production is on the rise again, that inflation is declining – I believe it fell to below 5 percent as of the day before yesterday, and that incomes started growing…

We will talk about this in more detail later, of course, but it is true that incomes have started growing again. In other words, our plans and the methods of implementing them appear to be effective, at least so far.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, let us continue.

You have mentioned a decline in incomes. We all see it too. There are a lot of questions. I will read just a few very short ones, they are from different regions.

“Could you please tell us when life will get better, at least a little bit? It is very difficult to raise children with a salary of 10,000.” This is from Vladimir Nenashev, Samara Region.

Perm Territory: “Why are single-industry towns dying? We have two plants, but there is no work, young people either leave or take to drink. ”

Very, very many questions. I know that shortly before we went on air, a video question was sent in, so I am giving the floor to our call centre.

Natalya Yuryeva: Thank you. We really have a lot of questions about low wages, which are simply impossible to live on. People cannot even afford essentials: food, clothes for themselves and their children. And, most often, the problems hit the ones that our lives depend on – teachers and doctors.

For example, a teacher of the highest category from Orel wrote to us that she makes 10,764 rubles a month; another teacher, also the highest category from the Tver Region, 15,000; and a doctor from Murmansk, about 20,000.

Stanislav Taukachiskas, a firefighter from the Kaliningrad Region, makes even less than that, as it turns out. We simply cannot help but show the video message that he sent to Direct Line.

Stanislav Taukachiskas: Hello, Mr President,

My name is Stanislav Taukachiskas, I am from Svetly in the Kaliningrad Region. I work here at Fire Station No.31.

Could you tell me, please, when will they raise my salary? At the moment, the salary of a firefighter is 12,000–13,000 rubles; as the squad leader, I make 16,000.

It is impossible to live on that, not with the current prices: we are forced to find two or three jobs and are hardly ever at home. Families are falling apart because of this.

Moreover, fire brigades are understaffed – two or three people on guard. You see what is happening now in the country: fields are burning, summer cottages, larger structures. When will this be sorted out?

Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: First of all, we should check what you said about the 10,000 ruble wages. We must know what is really going on. Why? Because we have recently decided to increase the minimum wage and raise it to the subsistence level, which is 11,280 rubles.

Those who work full time must not be paid less than the subsistence wage. I cannot understand why they only receive 10,000 rubles.

Yelena Vinnik: They write that their salary is 10,000 rubles and that whatever they get above that, they receive as a bonus.

Pavel Zarubin: People write that the minimum wage has been reduced in some regions by regional authorities.

Vladimir Putin: In this case, it is a matter for the regulatory authorities to check up on. Or these people are working part-time. Each particular case must be examined individually. This is the first thing I wanted to say.

Now to the problem at hand. Frankly, it is true that the situation at the Emergencies Ministry is far from positive. Because the wages of some of the Ministry’s uniformed personnel are small, just as this person has said. I do not know if he is a military man, because a military man doing his job would have earned some 43,000 rubles a month, while civilian personnel only receive between 13,000 and 16,000 rubles.

Over the past few months, I discussed this matter several times with [Emergencies] Minister [Yevgeny] Zinichev, who constantly raised this question with the Government.

A decision has been taken: this year we will allocate 4.3 billion rubles to the Emergencies Ministry so as to raise the wages of the ministry staff, such as the man who has written to us, to some 24,000 rubles.

Next year, we plan to allocate 4 billion rubles every six months, or 8 billion altogether, so that this man’s salary should increase to some 32,000 rubles.

Yelena Vinnik: Let us ask if our call centre has received any new calls.

Natalya Yuryeva: Yes, we are swamped with calls; there are more than 1.5 million of them. There is an incoming call from a pensioner. Where from? Moscow. And that caller has not yet given a name.

Colleagues, we have an incoming video call. We will read out the question as soon as the caller formulates it.

Yelena Vinnik: Yes, Natalya.

Let me get back to the decline in incomes. Over this time, we have received thousands of messages saying that people are earning less. Everyone writes that: those who have good wages, those who belong to the middle class and those who are not embarrassed to call themselves poor. And what is probably important here is not the numbers as such but the way people feel. People write that life has become more difficult. When will it get easier?

Vladimir Putin: This is true. This is why I consider this issue to be one of the most relevant and important.

Let me remind you that several years ago we faced several shocks. These are not just the external shocks from the so-called sanctions or the current restrictions, but the situation on the market of our traditional goods such as oil, oil products, gas, hydrocarbons in general, metals, chemical fertilisers, chemistry in general and some other products as well.

This is why we can see this unpleasant element in the economy and the social sphere. It is true that real incomes have been declining for several years. The biggest decline took place in 2016, I believe.

Now incomes are gradually rising again. We should distinguish between two notions: people’s real disposable incomes and wages.

Real disposable income, which, according to statistics, have been decreasing, is made up of many markers, including income and expenses. Today, payments on loans is one of these markers, and banks provide loans that amount to 40 percent of the wages, so to speak, which, of course, may have consequences.

Remark: It is risky.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I agree, it is risky. The Central Bank must pay attention to it, because we do not need these bubbles in our economy. Nevertheless, people take out loans, and then they have to repay them, which has a negative effect on real incomes.

About 100,000 self-employed individuals have registered officially, the shadow market has decreased, and this also affects real incomes. There are other factors as well; I will not list them all here.

Speaking of wages, we can see that wages continue to increase both in nominal and real terms. In nominal terms, it looks like this: in 2017, gross wage in the economy was slightly over 39,000 (39,200) rubles, while this year, it is nearly 45,700, with the figure for the last month standing at 48,500.

I would like to make a reservation straight away, so that Internet users and television audience watching us now don’t get angry that they don’t get such wages. This is natural, I am talking about average figures.

Why do we have to use these average figures? This is because the situation differs greatly, depending on the specific sector or region. The people who are getting paid in Tyva are one thing, and those in Moscow, Tyumen or Ingushetia are another matter.

Speaking of various sectors, the oil industry, the financial sphere and the transport sector pay different wages. But the format of our meeting makes it impossible to discuss each sector and each region separately for three or five hours.

Therefore I and some other colleagues have to use average figures that, nevertheless, show the overall trend. What is this trend like? In the past, gross wages were just 33,000 rubles, and now the total is almost 45,000.

Real wages are calculated depending on specific growth rates. In 2018, we saw 8.5 percent growth rates, and two percent growth rates were posted in early 2019. The May 2019 growth rates are estimated at 2.8 percent.

Why did we see such growth rates last year? First, I believe this was due to economic recovery. Second, all levels of government tried to fulfil the 2012 executive orders, and even in late 2018 they were adding and adding and adding.

By the way, some of the provisions of the May 2012 executive orders may not have been fulfilled. But if it were not for these documents, we would fail to achieve such results because the executive orders force all levels of government to work and achieve results, no matter what. This is the second thing.

Third, as I have already said, we have raised minimum wages to the minimum subsistence level.

By the way, initial wage increases covered 44 million people. One way or another, 44 million people received large or small wage rises.

Increasing minimum wages covered an additional 3.7 million people. This year, we will index the pay grades of service personnel.

There will certainly be questions about pensions today, but I’ll say right now, because ensuring that retired citizens get a sufficient income is one of the state’s priorities, of course, and we will certainly keep an eye on it. This year, the indexation of the insurance old-age pensions was 7.05 percent, with last year’s inflation at 4.3 percent. This is the first point.

Secondly, starting from April 1, we raised state pensions and social pensions by 2 percent following the increase of the subsistence minimum for pensioners. From October 1, retired military’s pensions will be increased by 4.3 percent.

As I already said, this will be done along with the increase in military compensations. On the whole, we are moving forward – we can see this problem and will certainly deal with it and will focus on it.

Yelena Vinnik: Will life get easier, in general?

Vladimir Putin: You see, this is what all the national projects that I mentioned are aimed at. Actually, the general solution to this problem is not government funds injected into industry or something else.

The general way is to increase labour productivity, to develop the economy, and on this basis increase and improve the standard of living of the citizens – on the basis of growth. Everything else is auxiliary, because where do you think the government gets the money from? Also from the way the economy works.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, let’s continue.

Another topic is healthcare, with a lot of questions.

On the one hand, everyone is talking about progress, which is obvious; new medical centres are opening, including high-tech ones. On the other hand, outpatient clinics are closing, and the quality of medical care does not always correspond to what the patients expect.

These are common problems for the whole country. Therefore, our camera crews went to three places from where people called Direct Line.

We have three regions with us via videoconference: the Chelyabinsk Region, the Pskov and Smolensk regions.

Mikhail Akinchenko: Mikhail Akinchenko, Roslavl, Smolensk Region. We are standing in front of a children’s clinic.

Anton Vernitsky: I am Anton Vernitsky, and I am together with the camera crew in the Pskov Regional Oncological Centre.

Dmitry Shchugorev: Dmitry Shchugorev here, in a paramedic centre in Mauk, Chelyabinsk Region.

Vladimir Putin: Go ahead, colleagues.

Mikhail Akinchenko: Good afternoon, once again.

As I said, we are here in Roslavl, in front of the children’s clinic. First of all, a few words about this town. It is an administrative centre of the district with a population of around 50,000 people. There is a hospital and two clinics: one for adults, one for children. We received a complaint for Direct Line from a young mother, Svetlana Vekshina, who is here next to me. Three and a half months ago she gave birth to a child, a boy. By the way, we missed that point, what is the name of your son, Svetlana?

Svetlana Vekshina: Maxim.

Mikhail Akinchenko: A great name. So, Maxim is quiet and does not speak but his mother has something to say.

Svetlana, could you tell us, please, about the problems you encountered when you moved here from Moscow?

Svetlana Vekshina: Hello,

During the initial examination in Moscow we were given a list of medical specialists that my son had to see on a stage-by-stage basis, as well as a list of examinations that we had to go through once a month or once every two or three months.

We moved here and the first thing we faced, regardless whether I had made an appointment to see a doctor, was the queues, and children having to wait, sometimes for more than two hours. The first time we went for our appointment, we had to wait for over two hours. And the second thing is the absence of specialists, which is the most important thing as far as I see it. So we could not make appointments, as per the list we were given, to see doctors and go through the examinations from that list. The list of available examinations is very limited.

Mikhail Akinchenko: And where do you go to see specialists, if you need to?

Svetlana Vekshina: Nowhere, so far. Well, maybe there is an option to go to Smolensk. But Smolensk is a regional city and it takes two and a half hours to get there by coach. First you need to get to the coach, then travel there by coach, and with a small child this is a very tiresome trip.

Mikhail Akinchenko: On the whole, the situation is clear but we would probably like to hear the alternative point of view as well. We have come here and are right by the children’s clinic. Since we have come, although without any warning, let us hear what the doctors have to say. By the way, it is Thursday today and on Thursdays, the clinic issues appointment slips to see pediatric specialists. Today, there was a queue of people waiting for these slips here, at the front desk. But now it is afternoon and there is no queue. We do not see anyone but, theoretically, we should be able to get a slip today. Let us ask the staff at the front desk. There is such a wonderful woman here.

Hello. Direct Line with Vladimir Putin here. We are now on the air. Could you tell us please whether there really are problems with doctors? Could you tell us which specialists people are queuing to see? What is your name? Could you please introduce yourself?

Remark: Marina.

Mikhail Akinchenko: Marina, are there queues to see pediatric specialists? Could you tell us?

Remark: No, but people can arrange to see a doctor in person, by telephone and via the government services website.

Mikhail Akinchenko: And when is it possible to get an appointment, with a pediatric surgeon for instance?

Remark: One moment. Today, people made appointments with a surgeon. He will receive them.

Mikhail Akinchenko: On what day?

Remark: Thursday, June 20.

Mikhail Akinchenko: So, today it is possible to get an appointment for today? So if I made this appointment, I could see the surgeon immediately?

Remark: Yes.

Mikhail Akinchenko: And what about a neurologist or an ENT specialist?

Remark: The ENT specialist will also receive patients today.

Mikhail Akinchenko: In other words, you do not see a problem with specialists, you have enough doctors. Is that right? You do not have queues, do you?

Remark: Well, certain problems occur from time to time but we resolve them as they happen. Doctors receive everyone.

Mikhail Akinchenko: I see. Thank you very much.

Let us try to see the head of the clinic. The point is that this clinic is located on the ground floor of a five-storey residential building. Its layout is fairly standard. We were here yesterday and found her office. It is very close to here, office #15, Natalya Mochalova. Let us see whether she is in her office now.

Good afternoon. Ms Mochalova?

Natalya Mochalova: Yes?

Mikhail Akinchenko: I am Mikhail Akinchenko, and this is Direct Line with Vladimir Putin.

Ms Mochalova, the people complain that there is a shortage of doctors. Is this true? Can you update us on the situation? How many doctors do you have, and how many should you have?

Natalya Mochalova: Yes, we do have problems with the number of medical staff. This year we expect two new doctors to join us, two district paediatricians. As of now, we are short four district doctors.

Mikhail Akinchenko: How many people do you have on the staff now?

Natalya Mochalova: I cannot give you the exact figure. We have 13 doctors now, but we need four more.

Mikhail Akinchenko: That is, you are short one-third of the required staff. What are the highest and lowest wages doctors receive? Are they enough to attract doctors?

Natalya Mochalova: Every region has its own level of wages. I believe our local government knows the answer to this question.

Mikhail Akinchenko: Don’t you know it?

Natalya Mochalova: The average wage of a young professional upon graduation ranges between 20,000 and 25,000 rubles.

Mikhail Akinchenko: I can tell you that we looked for information on private clinics on job vacancy websites. For example, such clinics in Roslavl offer 60,000 rubles at the least, which means the wage gap between the public and the private sector is huge.

Ms Mochalova, you can take your problem up with the President. What would you like to ask him about the shortage of specialists?

Natalya Mochalova: I would rather address my question to the federal authorities. I am not sure, but graduates should probably be assigned to the regions after they graduate. Probably, this is the only solution to this problem.

Mikhail Akinchenko: Well, this is the issue we wanted to raise. I hope its essence is more or less clear.

This was Roslavl.

Anton Vernitsky: The Pskov Regional Oncology Centre is a state-of-the-art healthcare facility that was renovated completely just three years ago. In 2016, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was shown this centre’s equipment. You see, it received the so-called heavy-duty equipment, including CT scans, a computerised linear accelerator and gamma radiation systems. The state invested almost 1.5 billion rubles in the centre’s reconstruction. This is an expensive centre with expensive equipment. Mr President, three years have passed and people from Pskov are complaining to Direct Line that it is very hard to get an appointment with an oncologist, many people waiting in corridors, there are always queues, and people come here at 5am to get their names on the waiting list.

Let’s ask the front desk.

Hello. I understand that you did not expect us to come. Could you please tell me if you have a lot of people who come here to get an appointment? How many people came today?

Remark: People come by appointment.

Anton Vernitsky: And you do not have any problems with the appointments.

Remark: As you can see, it is not crowded here.

Anton Vernitsky: The thing is that we did not bring any cameras the other day, and we saw a lot of people queuing in the corridors. Let’s try and make a brief tour of the centre. Indeed, this is a modern centre. It was not just renovated; it features state-of-the-art equipment. Unfortunately, Russia still has few such centres so far.

The doctors are now saying that they can show us their equipment. But we don’t want to see the equipment. We just want to talk to the people who have appointments.

Could you please tell me how long it took you to get an appointment to see a doctor? Are there any problems with this?

Remark: No, there aren’t.

Anton Vernitsky: Can you get an appointment straight away?

Remark: Not straight away, but …

Anton Vernitsky: No, or it could take some time?

Remark: Of course. I, for example, had to be on a waiting list at a district outpatient clinic.

Anton Vernitsky: Did this take you a long time?

Remark: Of course.

Anton Vernitsky: How long did it take you?

Remark: Three weeks.

Anton Vernitsky: Are there not enough specialists?

Remark: That’s right.

Anton Vernitsky: You are now speaking live with President Vladimir Putin, who can hear you. So, are there not enough specialists?

Remark: There are not enough specialists. All doctors leave us. They are probably not paid enough. I don’t know.

Anton Vernitsky: The local governor mentioned this too when congratulating medics on Medical Worker Day this past Sunday. Actually, he said that 43 percent of vacancies in the region remain vacant.

The problem of this state-of-the-art centre has to be resolved. Anyone who can do so leaves for clinics in St Petersburg and Moscow, although this centre has modern equipment. It has excellent equipment and good doctors, but their number is small. How can we help?

Pavel Zarubin: Let us go over to the third city straight away.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Dmitry Shchugorev: We are in the village of Mauk, Chelyabinsk Region, at the local paramedic centre. As you can see, they have a dentist’s chair now, which is an incredible thing in itself. Because you can rarely find a paramedic centre in a rural area, not to mention a dentist’s chair. This has become a sort of a symbol of rebirth: the paramedic centre reopened here in February; it had been closed for three years because there was a lack of funds and because the specialists who worked here were made redundant.

The centre used to have four employees, and now there are only two. Nevertheless, just the fact that they have access to a paramedic and a nurse, that a dentist comes once a month, is a huge support for local residents. Now pensioners, for example, do not need to travel 25 kilometres to the nearest town of Kasli, which is a very long way for them.

However, some negative aspects remain, because, for example, physiotherapy is still not available because the equipment is too old. The biggest problem, ultimately, is staff, the fact that young professionals do not come here, despite the fact that the Rural Doctor programme has been launched. Svetlana is a paramedic, her shift ended two hours ago, but she kindly agreed to talk with us.

Svetlana, could you please tell us do you agree that the village needs young specialists like doctors and paramedics? Why they do not come here?

Svetlana Katashova: Good afternoon. I believe that the main problem here is the shortage of housing in the village. There is no decent housing. When specialists come here, they like our village, the nature here.

Dmitry Shchugorev: So, they came?

Svetlana Katashova: They did, yes. But they have one question: where will we live? And there is no decent housing, they do not agree to live in such conditions and so they go back. And we live here, we were born here.

Dmitry Shchugorev: There are two people working here: you and your assistant, the nurse, who works part time. How do you cope? Is it hard for just the two of you?

Svetlana Katashova: It gets hard sometimes, especially during the autumn and winter period, when infection outbreaks start, like colds and flu. Of course, it can get very hard.

Dmitry Shchugorev: Thank you. It is an obvious and objective problem for many rural paramedic centres in Russia. We know that the regional government plans to increase the number of such centres by 100 within three years. Of course, such problems must be taken into account because they affect very many towns, especially small ones.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, you can see the effect of Direct Line. Problems end as soon as Direct Line starts. But the shortage of personnel is a very real problem.

Vladimir Putin: It is.

Pavel Zarubin: If you consider it necessary, we have Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova with us today.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I see her. I will give her the floor later.

But first I would like to say the following. When we speak about healthcare, we should remember that this sector is improving, by and large, although it does have its problems, many problems, just as any other sector that is directly concerned with the people, works with and helps the people.

What are the main problems we must settle, and which problems should we focus on as a priority?

First, the availability of primary medical care. You have mentioned rural paramedic centres here. I will speak about this later.

Second, specialists and the shortage of certain specialists.

And third, the provision of medicine. These are the three main problems. There are more problems, but I consider these the most important ones.

First, regarding the situation with the availability of primary medical care. It is true that we see the curtailment of the outpatient part of this service in some regions. The number of rural paramedic centres has decreased by 2 percent, while the number of outpatient departments has increased by 26 across the country. However, the share of primary medical care, or more precisely the number of outpatient departments, has decreased dramatically in some regions, in 15 to 18 regions. Some of them are quite prosperous regions with experienced and effective management staff.

In the Krasnodar Territory, primary care has been reduced by 25 percent across the region, the same as in the Chechen Republic; the Kirov Region has also seen a significant reduction, although not by as much as 25 percent. And all these regions are led by very competent and effective people. There are 15 other regions like that, 18 in total. I am asking the Healthcare Minister to pay attention to this when talking to her colleagues in the regions, and the leaders of these regions should also pay attention to this. This is the first point.

Secondly, we are talking about these rural paramedic centres, they are very important, and should be supported of course. In the near future, 390 new centres are expected to be built and 1,200 existing ones overhauled, but they require major repair work.

Furthermore, in small towns, a mobile medical care system is being developed. I suppose as many as 3,800 mobile units have been created, and over a period of the next few years, say in the next three years maybe, about 1,200 more are expected to be launched. Equipment must be procured for them, and teams need to be formed, and so on. This will all be done towards ensuring the availability of primary healthcare.

It is definitely necessary to develop a system for district GPs, or village paramedics, so we pay, respectively, a million or 500,000 rubles, to those who want to go there and work as a county doctor or a county paramedic.

A doctor from one of the regions has just outlined one of the major problems – housing. This problem needs to be dealt with. The federal government pays them a lump sum of 1 million or 500,000 [as a relocation allowance], but the matter of housing should be handled by the regional and local authorities. We talked about this many times. And they should earmark funds in their budgets for these purposes; otherwise, of course, people will leave.

The next problem is personnel. Indeed, there is still a shortage of staff – 25,000 doctors and 130,000 nurses. One of the key aspects here, of course, is raising their wages. Again, I just heard now that the wages are low. They are growing across the country; with doctors, this year’s growth has brought their average monthly pay close to 77,000. This is for the whole country, and Moscow and St Petersburg, there are high salaries there. But there are regions where there are very low salaries, and we certainly need to level this out. The same applies to nursing staff; there has been, I think, a growth of 3.5 percent, to about 35,000, Ms Skvortsova can correct me, maybe around 39,000 is the average pay. Again, I repeat – this is the average for the entire country. And for junior staff, growth was 2.2 percent, to 35,000, also an average. We need to bear this in mind.

And medicine provision – this is, of course, an extremely important thing, especially for life-saving medicines.

Yelena Vinnik: Very many questions concern subsidised medicines. The people cannot receive vital and essential medicines, for some reason, for conditions such as diabetes or other diseases. We will likely redirect this question to the Healthcare Minister.

Vladimir Putin: I will give the floor to Ms Skvortsova, but first of all I would like the people, especially in the regions, to listen to me, because there is a difference between what the Minister says and what I say.

What is it all about? Medicines are provided to people from two sources: the federal centre and the regions.

The federal funds allocated for this purpose were transferred to the regions in full back in February, yet we see problems with the supply of some medicine. Besides, the situation differs depending on the illness, such as cancer or diabetes.

Yelena Vinnik: There is also high blood pressure.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, the third ailment is high blood pressure. The funds were transferred in full as well.

What do we see? We see that many regions take too long to organise the purchasing procedure, delay tenders and do not have a smooth information system even within the boundaries of one region.

Take the Smolensk Region. Ms Skvortsova can tell you about it – she updated me barely two days ago. Was it the Smolensk Region or not? I could be wrong; she knows better. No, it was not Smolensk.

Well, we sent an inspection team there. And what was discovered? The warehouses are filled up with medicine, which is not reaching the people. Why? Because the distribution system has no information about what is available in the warehouses. We need to streamline the information sector and adopt new methods of working with the people.

Now for the Thrifty Outpatient Clinic project. I have seen how it works in some regions, and it does help to seriously improve the quality of the medical service. By the way, the number of patients in such clinics has greatly increased. This idea has a huge potential.

As for the regions, part of the vital and essential medicine is purchased in the regions. Regrettably, only seven regions buy the full list of medicine like this. In the rest of the regions the list of these vital medicines that people need is made shorter, the necessary medication is not purchased.

There may be many reasons for this, but I would like to point out that the regional authorities must be aware of their priorities. It is one thing to launch a construction project, giving construction companies an opportunity to make money and to create new jobs. But the life and health of the people are another matter altogether. They are an unquestionable priority and something the authorities must take care of.

Ms Skvortsova, please go ahead.

Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova: Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, I would like to comment on several points.

Of course, Mr President, we are very proactive in developing the outpatient and ambulatory care structure. Starting in 2014, we have seen an outpatient care revival both in rural areas and urban localities.

The rural infrastructure’s supply level is already now 22 percent higher. Each year, we build between 300 and 500 rural paramedic centres. This year, at least 350 such centres will be built. The outpatient/ambulatory units are considerably better now too.

At the same time, as you said, we have regions – 17 of them out of 85 – that have somewhat reduced the potential of the outpatient/ambulatory institutions. We are working with these regions and are in direct contact with the governors and the ministers.

If we speak about ambulatory pediatric clinics, over a period of the last four years we saw the number of district pediatricians rise by more than two thousand and the ratio of those holding more than one job declined. Today, it amounts to just 1.1 percent, which means that the situation is getting better. In 2016, we introduced primary certification, and this is a great help.

Yelena Vinnik: Ms Skvortsova, please tell us, what is happening with subsidised medicine in the regions? Could you comment? Why is subsidised medicine not always available in the regions?

Veronika Skvortsova: As Mr President said, we have considerably increased the amount of federal budget subsidies for this category of medicine. Today’s figure is 156 billion rubles. The first instalment was sent to the regions on January 17 and the rest arrived before February 7.

Over the past few months of this year, we have monitored the situation in all the regions. In 30 regions, we have discovered serious organisational and logistic shortcomings. I am referring to purchase rescheduling, wrong purchasing procedures, and, on top of this, inability to manage commodity stocks.

As a rule, these are the regions, where there is no normal digital system of subsidised medicine provision and where healthcare organisers do not know what storage facilities or which medical organisations have a surplus. A case in point mentioned by the President is the Saratov Region.

Pavel Zarubin: Thank you. We hope that these problems will be ironed out. We have very many other questions from a whole lot of different regions.

Vladimir Putin: Just a minute…

After all, you were telling me about a region, where recently…

Veronika Skvortsova: This was the Saratov Region.

Vladimir Putin: The Saratov Region, right. There’s a lot of medicine on the warehouse shelves, but not in the pharmacy chain.

As for the funds, I can say that there has been a considerable rise, especially for cancer. We have doubled the financing of cancer medicine purchases. For example, there was 80 billion [rubles] for chemotherapy, and now 150 [billion rubles].

Veronika Skvortsova: Quite right!

Vladimir Putin: Cancer has been made a separate focus area within the Healthcare national project.

Pavel Zarubin: We are moving to the call centre now. There are very many calls.

Natalya Yuryeva, take over.

Natalya Yuryeva: Thank you, Pavel.

We are being swamped with questions. Right now we have an incoming video call. I will ask the operator to broadcast it now.

This year we have very many questions about national projects, for obvious reasons. Some people are upset that they cannot take part in them because they do not meet the requirements, while others wonder if we need them at all. The incoming video call has to do with this subject.

Good afternoon. You are on the air. Please introduce yourself and ask your question.

Valentina Volodina: Good afternoon. My name is Valentina Volodina, and I am from Moscow.

Good afternoon, Mr President.

I have a question about national projects. People talk a lot about them, and here is what I would like to ask you: what results can you report so far, and what other results can we expect in the near future? Can these projects be accomplished, and who can do this?

Vladimir Putin: Actually, this is what we began with today, but I would like to thank you for raising this topic again. I consider it to be an extremely important and even a priority topic.

In general, we could have decided not to focus our resources and efforts, both administrative and financial, in specific areas, going with the stream instead and dealing with the current requirements and problems as they appeared.

But there is a different way to organise our work. I believe that we can and should pinpoint the main sphere where we must achieve breakthrough development, as well as the main goals in terms of global trends, and we must decide what we must do and what we must strive for to improve the standard of living for our people.

I would like to repeat that this is the key element of all our national projects, and this is what they are intended to attain. The main thing is, as I have already said and will probably say it several times more today, the main thing is to restructure our economy, to create a high-tech digital economy with elements of artificial intelligence, develop unmanned vehicles, develop infrastructure.

What is our goal? The goal is to boost labour productivity as the basis for ensuring the growth in prosperity for the people. This job has been split up into several areas, with the required financing for each of them, including roads (we have calculated that we need 6.5 trillion rubles until 2024 for that), healthcare, education, science and so on.

There are indicators we must strive for in each area. Of course, we will also assess the results of our efforts. I will gauge the work of my colleagues by our progress towards this goal.

We will do so this year, next year and every year until 2024. Our job will not be finished after that, of course, but we must have check points and adjust our work accordingly. In principle, I believe that everyone has been working hard.

Pavel Zarubin: When will the people feel the first results of national projects?

Vladimir Putin: This is not the case… In the Soviet era, they used to say that today’s generation of Soviet people will live under communism. Nobody could understand what “today’s generation” meant. Later it was said that the 1980 Olympic Games were held in Moscow instead of communism.

We should feel the results now, this year, next year and so on. This must be reflected in the level of incomes and wages. We can see that there are problems, but I am showing that there are positive trends as well. This is the first point.

Secondly, about the issues we were discussing just now, healthcare, and we have not spoken about science and education yet; money must be invested and is being invested there.

And as I have said, at the first stage we knowingly allowed some negative external factors, but this made it possible for us to concentrate our resources, allocate them where we need them, and achieve results and breakthroughs in the end. This is the idea of the work done within national projects.

Pavel Zarubin: When you recently had a meeting with the Cabinet on the subject of national projects, many ministers looked dejected.

This is why I would like to read out a message from Tatyana Pinchuk: “Are the ministers personally responsible for failure to implement the national projects they supervise?”

Vladimir Putin: I do not think they were dejected. Let’s say they were concentrating and thinking about how to fulfil their tasks. Speaking about personal responsibility, yes, I have said this before – but I do not remember if the cameras were on and if it were in the media or not – but everybody, all of my colleagues know that personal responsibility is essential, and everyone who supervises one area or another is responsible for it.

Pavel Zarubin: One more flashpoint, the so-called trash reform: rates, landfill sites and processing.

Tatyana Remezova, go ahead please.

Tatyana Remezova: Thank you, colleagues. This year trash-related issues have literally skyrocketed into the top three most frequently asked questions. I will now ask our director to show on the big screen several photos that were sent by viewers. Some photos came from the village of Pokrovskoye in the Rostov Region. Kseniya Bobyatinskaya writes: “What is happening with the trash reform? We are drowning in trash. Nobody takes it away from the streets for weeks.” Yes, you have just seen these photos.

Alexander Repin from the Nizhny Novgorod Region: “The trash reform has been going on for over five months but people have hardly noticed any changes for the better: containers are the same, full of holes, and trash pickup is irregular.”

Verkhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Region: “The trash reform is not working. This is what a clean city district has turned into in six months.” It is clear from the questionaries that all these photos were sent by young people under 35.

Blogger Katya Adushkina has just got through to us. We will try to connect her. She is a popular instablogger and has run her blog since she was 10. She is 15 now and has over 8 million followers. Here is Katya. Apart from her vlog, Katya records musical clips and has tens of thousands of clicks across various internet platforms. Hello, Katya, we are listening to you. Your question, please.

Yekaterina Adushkina: Good afternoon, Mr President. My name is Katya Adushkina. I am 15 and a video blogger. I am also a fan of music and dance. Like all school kids in the world I am very concerned that the environmental problems are getting worse.

Now containers for separating trash have started to appear in Russia but people complain online that ultimately all the trash goes into one heap. How will you deal with this problem and do you have any plans to solve it?

Vladimir Putin: This is a huge problem for us. It did not emerge yesterday We have spoken about it and returned to it many times. By the way, we started discussing and dealing with it literally two or three years ago. Strange as it may seem, it was all sparked by Direct Line one year. I recall people from Balashikha complained about their predicament. After that I sent a signal to my colleagues in the regions and the Government. They began talking about it and made it a subject of discussion and attention for all levels of government. It became clear that trash, waste products, had been piling up for decades and nobody ever tackled this problem seriously.

I want to point out (experts know this, but ordinary people may not) that we generate 70 million tonnes of waste each year, 70 million. There is, in fact, no industrial recycling of this waste. This is a huge problem, considering that landfill sites have been growing since the Soviet era.

The situation is complicated by the fact that our society has largely become a society of consumption, despite the fact that real wages had been going down in the past years but are rising now. Nevertheless, our society is based on consumption, generally speaking. New packaging is used now; in addition to paper and cardboard, a lot of plastic is used for packaging, too. There are entire islands of trash as big as an average European country in the Pacific Ocean. The lens effect is already impacting the climate of the entire planet. It is a big problem for us, and this is why we will work on this, of course.

What was shown just now is horrible. We must see in which districts or Russian regions this is happening.

Trash pickup tariffs are growing. As you noted, yesterday, I looked through the questions for today’s Direct Line. There are many questions about growing tariffs. Perhaps it is inevitable to some extent, because at least some starter money is necessary to carry out system-wide work. Of course, people should see results, and this is not a case where we must wait for 20 years. These are the results people should feel right now.

Recently we made a decision; I have agreed to let governors choose who will work at these container yards: managing companies in charge of a corresponding residential building or neighbourhood, or so-called regional operators. Some people believe that regional operators will not be able to reach these yards, and others think it would be better to place all the responsibility in one set of hands.

To tell the truth, it makes no difference to me, but many governors believe that it would be better to use regional operators. They are free to. Of course, we must examine these pictures and find out where they came from. There are many things like this. I hope that we will manage to do this and clean up there soon. And of course, I will keep an eye on this, even if trash is not exactly the most glamorous topic.

Pavel Zarubin: Tatyana, another call please.

Tatyana Remezova: Mr President, you mentioned tariffs, so let us talk about it in more detail, because we have a lot of questions on this particular topic.

Retired people especially have been completely bewildered by the bills they began receiving after January 1. Let us now listen to a video message from Roman Dmitriyev from Omsk.

Roman Dmitriyev: Trash reform has begun, but there has been no progress in areas with single-family homes like the ​​Old Kirovsk neighbourhood we live in.

These are my bills, I am holding them in my hand. For March – that is, before the trash reform – we paid 90.27 rubles per month. It went like this: once a month, on the 20th, they brought a large container to my street, for all the people who live on this street to dump the trash they have been accumulating in their courtyards.

After the start of the trash reform, the process did not change in any way, but the bill did change: in April, they charged us 133 rubles, and the one we got the day before yesterday was 266 rubles! Why is this reform proceeding on paper, when there is no real progress?

Vladimir Putin: I cannot but agree with Roman that this not only raises questions and eyebrows, but also inspires protest. And, of course, it goes without saying that it should not be like this.

On the other hand, there are some things we need to note. For example, in the past, no one had ever thought of how much trash removal costs. This is the first point.

Secondly, today nobody wants to have any landfills near where they live, which means trash has to be transported far away, and this also means money, the cost of transport, the fuel that must be used, drivers’ pay, and so on and so forth.

This is to say that trash removal may indeed be more expensive now, but what Roman said, of course, requires additional verification and careful analysis.

And again, the most important thing is to find the responsible party: it’s either the managing company or the regional operator. This certainly needs to be done. In this case, we need to check. I will definitely ask the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to deal with this.

Yelena Vinnik: People do not want to have a landfill site near their place. We have had a lot of messages from the regions, and we are left with a vicious circle: on the one hand, people do not want landfills near where they live; on the other hand, we cannot do without landfills, not when the problem has been snowballing for decades. Is there any long-term waste recycling programme in our country? Will there be one?

Vladimir Putin: We have a programme planned for the next few years, which envisages the construction of 200 waste processing plants. The total amount of funding is slightly above 300 billion rubles, with about one third of the amount coming from the federal budget, and the remaining funds need to be raised from businesses. The government part has been budgeted, and we will duly provide the financing.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, important decisions to support large families have been adopted this year. I am a mother of four children, so I follow closely…

Vladimir Putin: Here: “Can child benefit payments be extended up to three years?”

Yelena Vinnik: Yes, this must be done, and tangible support has been approved.

But we also have proposals coming from large families: For instance: “Can the programme of state support of mortgage lending for large families with a 6 percent interest rate be extended to include the secondary housing market? Because currently the programme covers only the primary housing market.”

Or another one: ‘Can 450,000 rubles allocated to families that are classified as large as of January 1, 2019, be used as a down payment to buy housing, because it is impossible to take out a mortgage without a down payment, and saving the amount is simply too difficult?’

Vladimir Putin: Shall be start with the question about six percent?

Yelena Vinnik: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Six percent interest rate for a mortgage. Well, what is happening here and what happened? Indeed, there was such a decision, my instruction for families with children, moreover for families where the second and third child is born: a mortgage on beneficial terms with a six percent interest rate must be ensured. Can it be even lower? It can and this is already being done in the Far East, where the rate is five percent.

What happened with these 6 percent? I saw a lot of messages on the topic in the stack of questions that I looked through yesterday, the day before yesterday and three days ago,. It is difficult for people to resolve this, or the problem is not solved with banks regarding the 6 percent: it does not apply to the loans issued previously.

Yelena Vinnik: They do not recalculate the loans; they do not want to do it.

Vladimir Putin: They do not recalculate. This is a real mistake of the Russian Government and the relevant agencies. What is the mistake? The Finance Ministry did not allocate sufficient funds to compensate banks for this subsidy objectives. They initially decided that 2 percent will be enough. It is not.

So this problem needs to be addressed through two channels: through the Finance Ministry, which should work with large banks, such as Sberbank and VTB, and through the DOM.RF state company (they work with small and medium-sized banks).

The reason it was not resolved through either channel is that the Government did not allocate the necessary resources. But even before Direct Line, after I looked through the questions, I spoke with Government members, including the Finance Ministry leadership, and in principle, this problem has already been solved. The Finance Ministry has allocated the necessary resources, and I hope that in the near future there will be progress and we will see tangible results.

As for the 450,000-ruble benefit for the repayment of a family’s mortgage loan upon birth of their third child. What can be said here, we provided it specifically for this purpose, and this alone, because this sphere of life, especially for families with children, is the most important, the most sensitive one.

By the way, the maternity capital, as we look at the statistics of its use, is mainly being spent to improve housing conditions. We launched the programme precisely for this purpose, and we will do it retroactively from January 1, 2019, and that is why it is not provided for other purposes.

By the way, back to the 6 percent mortgage issue, this programme of state support for families with two, three or more children is valid from January 1, 2018 until December 31, 2022.

And I want everyone who is using this programme to know that, if they take out a loan before December 30, their discount on mortgage interest will be valid for the entire term of the loan.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, I would like to add that many people are writing to us that they should have waited instead of having a child in 2017. I mean, had they known that this programme would be launched, they would have postponed the birth of their second or third children. Indeed, there are such messages.

Vladimir Putin: This should not be postponed.

Yelena Vinnik: Well, yes.

Vladimir Putin: This is something that is not measured with money.

Yelena Vinnik: Let us turn things over to our call centre again.

Tatyana Remezova: Thank you very much.

Right now I have a call on this topic. We are receiving many calls from young mothers regarding maternity leave. It is true that the financial assistance they receive during this period, from eighteen months to three years when mothers cannot work, is called many things, Mr President: a joke or a humiliating sum, for example. Now we have Yekaterina Kirillova from Serpukhov. You can see she is sitting right next to her child’s bed, who unfortunately has fallen asleep while waiting. But the President can hear you, Katya. Ask your question, please.

Yekaterina Kirillova: Good afternoon, Mr President.

My name is Yekaterina. I live in the Moscow Region and I am on maternity leave. My son is ten months today.

I have been regularly receiving child care benefit paid until the child turns 18 months old. But when my son turns eighteen months, I will receive 50 rubles per month, so I have a question: are there any plans to change this sum, because mothers I know can only see this sum as a joke and cannot understand what purpose it serves. I think that perhaps it would be better to end it altogether and not spend the money from the budget.

Those who decide to go to work and leave their children in daycare nurseries face a different problem. Queues for nurseries are very long, and it is very difficult to get into one. Most children who get into them have some kind of preference. This is my question.

Vladimir Putin: Interesting. We have just seen this on the screen: a question about increasing support for families with children under three. Was that not your question?

Yelena Vinnik: We have received a text message with almost the same question.

Vladimir Putin: On the screen right now.

Pavel Zarubin: Our caller is not responding.

Vladimir Putin: Not responding, ok. I would like to say this.

First, it is true that a new measure of support has recently been introduced: we began to pay money to families with a first and second child. We have maternity capital for the second child, but there has never been a similar measure for the first one. On the whole, it is quite large, equal to the minimum subsistence level for a child in the region. On average – let me repeat that this is the average sum. It differs from region to region, but it is about 10,500 today, almost 11,000 rubles on average.

This financial assistance is provided to families for their first and subsequent child. The money for the first child is allocated directly from the budget; the money for the second can be allocated, at the family’s request, from maternity capital. And the financial support is provided to the family according to its needs, as they say. I am talking about families where one adult worker’s average income equals 1.5 times the region’s subsistence minimum. Our country’s subsistence minimum equals the minimum wage; it is estimated at an average of 11,280 rubles. 1.5 times the subsistence wage per person, how much is that? 17,000 rubles. Roughly speaking, 17,000 plus 17,000 equals about 34,000. This means, if the family’s income is 34,000 for two adults, today, this family is entitled to financial assistance equalling 10,000 rubles – I repeat, this is an average number for the whole country. This is the minimum subsistence level for a child.

We have almost adopted the decision at this point; we have talked about this with the Government, with the Prime Minister. The latter has recently delivered the Government’s report to Parliament in the State Duma, and said that we would increase the number of families provided with this assistance, with this benefit.

How? Starting January 1, 2020, we will extend this assistance to not only families with 1.5 times the subsistence minimum per person, but also families with two subsistence minimums per person. Essentially, this means, relatively speaking, two minimum wages: 11,280 plus 11,280 equals 22,000, 23,000 rubles. In total for two, about 45,000 rubles. If the family earns about 45,000 rubles, it is entitled to compensation equal to the subsistence minimum for a child in the region. This is on average 10,000 to 11,000 rubles. Not so bad really, I think.

Now to address the issue of the 50 rubles that I read about on the screen and that this woman just talked about while describing her situation. Indeed, this first measure covers children under eighteen months, while the second category, from eighteen months to three years, was left out. Not left out, but was granted 50 rubles worth of compensation. And the question was: maybe we should spare the budget such expenses? The thing is, this is not budget money we are talking about. In 1994, a decision was taken; a Presidential Executive Order was signed. The situation was extremely difficult, and employers were made to pay these 50 rubles. This money did not make much of a difference back then, and now, of course, it is means nothing – I mean, what are 50 rubles, really?

So we have been searching for a solution of late. I actually think it has been found already, in fact the decision is ready. We will make the payments, in accordance with the family’s needs, depending on their income, to families with children aged from eighteem months to three years, in the amount of the subsistence minimum for a child. The only thing we still need to decide is the level of income that makes a family eligible. Either one and a half of the subsistence minimum per person, or two.

What was the mum's name?

Yelena Vinnik: Yekaterina.

Vladimir Putin: We can work it out with Yekaterina right now…

Yelena Vinnik: Calculate.

Vladimir Putin: No, not calculate, but make a decision. There is nothing to calculate, everything is clear.

Yelena Vinnik: Can we reach Yekaterina again?

Unfortunately, they tell me there is no connection yet. They are dialling again.

Vladimir Putin: It does not matter. It is important to agree on a benchmark amount to rely on in the future to give this support to families with children.

Look, if from January 1, 2020, we start supporting families that earn two subsistence-minimum incomes and have children under eighteen months, it means the programme will reach 70 percent of families. It will be noticeable.

On the other hand, it will be strange to bring the eligibility cutoff down to 1.5 subsistence minimum per person, once the child reaches the age of eighteen months – this would immediately reduce the number of families eligible for this support programme. So I believe – and I have actually decided this for myself a long time ago – we will have to extend it to all families with an income of two subsistence minimums.

If you go back to the beginning of our discussion, to the beginning of our conversation, a colleague from the Emergencies Ministry said how much he makes, even an officer in his position makes about 43,000, so such a family will immediately become eligible (mum goes on maternity leave and will not work).

Finally, I think that in the near future we will simply finalise this decision. We have one more support programme; it extends to regions with negative demographics, but there are already 65 such regions. There, families also receive a benefit in the amount of a child’s subsistence minimum for their third child.

We will continue this programme, but I would ask the Government to look at the regions of Siberia and the Urals. This is something to think about. They are not yet included in these 65 regions, but we still need to look at what is actually happening with demographics there.

In principle, yes, this is a new solution.

Pavel Zarubin: Let’s go back to economic issues. Many people link these difficulties with the Western sanctions. By the way, the European Union again extended them today. Sometimes, there are appeals to make peace with everyone. If Russia complied with the West’s demands and agreed to everything, would this benefit our economy in any way?

Vladimir Putin: First, what does it mean “to make peace”? We have not fought with anyone and have no desire to fight with anyone.

Second, what would this give us and what would it not give us, and what would we lose? Look, according to expert analyses, Russia fell short by about $50 billion as a result of these restrictions during these years, starting in 2014. The European Union lost $240 billion, the US $17 billion (we have a small volume of trade with them) and Japan $27 billion. All this affects employment in these countries, including the EU: they are losing our market.

I quoted our losses. They are tentative. Nevertheless, let’s assume we have accepted this. But we also received something. What exactly? First, we had to change our thinking (and we did this) to understand what we needed to do in the high-tech economic sectors and how.

Our so-called import substitution programmes are worth 667 billion rubles. This compelled us to develop even those areas where we lacked competence before.

I talked about this and can repeat it now. Say, the RSFSR (the Soviet Union) and new Russia never had domestic marine engine manufacturing. We bought these engines abroad.

It turned out that it was not enough to manufacture engines, generally speaking. Marine engines are a special story, a separate technology, a separate branch, and a separate competence.

We learned that in just a few years. We made our own engines that were not only not inferior but even superior to their Western counterparts in some respects. We also made progress in many other areas – for instance, transport engineering, power engineering, not to mention agriculture.

Look, if ten years ago I or anyone else in this hall had been told that we would be exporting agricultural products worth $25.7 billion, like we did last year, I would have laughed in the face of the person who said this. We would shake hands and I would thank them for their kind but unrealistic intentions.

Today this is a fact. Moreover, we want to reach $45 billion in agricultural exports by 2024, and I believe we can do this. Of course, it is still a question whether we will achieve this or not, but we must work on it; this is a realistic plan. So we were mobilised in many areas.

Now to the question of whether some things would be different if we give in and abandon our fundamental national interests. We are not talking about reconciliation here. Perhaps there will be some external signals, but no drastic change. Look, the People’s Republic of China has nothing to do with Crimea and Donbass, does it? We are accused of occupying Donbass, which is nonsense and a lie. But China has nothing to do with it, and yet the tariffs for Chinese goods are rising, which is almost the same as sanctions.

Now, the attack on Huawei: where does it come from and what is its objective? The objective is to hold back the development of China, the country that has become a global rival of another power, the United States. The same is happening with Russia, and will continue to happen, so if we want to occupy a worthy place under the sun, we must become stronger, including, and above all, in the economy.

Pavel Zarubin: But voices in Europe are growing stronger saying it is time to stop…

Vladimir Putin: Excuse me, but this is because nobody really likes this. We have lost 50 billion, and Europe has lost 240 billion. This affects many economic sectors in Europe, in European countries, so what’s good about it?

In fact, even though we have gained something from these external restrictions, personally I believe that it is better to live in normal economic conditions, going by some general rules that everyone abides by.

Tatyana Remezova: Nevertheless, today the EU will address the issue whether to extend sanctions against Russia without examining it, which means the issue was automatically submitted for approval.

Yelena Vinnik: Let us get back to our call centre.

Natalya Yuryeva: Thank you, Yelena.

Our Centre has already received over 1,800,000 questions, and they continue coming in at an incredible speed. Let us see where people are calling from. Where is this question from?

Call centre operator: The city of Kursk.

Natalya Yuryeva: And this one?

Call centre operator: The city of Tomsk.

Natalya Yuryeva: And what about this one?

Call centre operator: The village of Kaskara, Tyumen Region.

Natalya Yuryeva: They are writing there is no running water. The lack of running water seems unthinkable in the 21st century. Let us listen to this particular call: “Good afternoon, Mr President, my name is Maria, from the village of Kaskara, Tyumen District, Tyumen Region. Construction work in our village has been continuing for more than 20 years, but we still have no water. There are over 300 residents, many kids, and we have to go for water to neighbouring villages. But initially, there was a water spout in the neighbouring village, which was then dismantled. And now we buy bottled water in Tyumen. At the same time, there is a water supply system for the Tyumen Broiler poultry farm near us. We asked the mayor to divert some, but the promise has not been kept. Mr President, you are our only hope, please help us solve this issue with water. Thank you.”

Pavel Zarubin: Excuse me, look, I have an idea. Let us contact Tyumen right now and find a film crew there and send them to the village to see what is happening there. And we will return to this issue, we will contact them in the course of the programme. Do you agree?

Vladimir Putin: Wait, what region is this?

Pavel Zarubin: Tyumen Region.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Pavel Zarubin: So, we are sending a crew now and contacting Tyumen. We are sending a correspondent to this village.

Vladimir Putin: However, I must say a few words. Tyumen Region and Tyumen is a self-sufficient region, it is a fairly wealthy region in the Federation. Very strange. Is this some extremely remote village or what?

Pavel Zarubin: We will find out everything during the programme.

Vladimir Putin: Fine.

Yelena Vinnik: Yes, because it is very strange that there is no water there at all.

Over the 12 days when we received messages, interesting things began to happen in the regions. Decisions were made even before the Direct Line started; the authorities began to stir and officials found time to meet and talk with people. The Investigative Committee started noticing some details.

Thus, for example, the director of an oil refinery already has been arrested in Belgorod Region; workers there had received no wages for a year. In Kaluga Region, there is a family living in a ramshackle home that, I believe, dates back to the post-war period. The house was found untenable in 2014. The Investigative Committee has intervened. There are many places like this in Russia.

Pavel Zarubin: Including the so-called “whale prison” in Primorye Territory. For six months, it has been a top story in Russia. Therefore, we sent our film crew there. As soon as Olga Armyakova arrived there, as soon as they learnt that it may be a topic for Direct Line, amazing things began to happen there.

Primorye Territory, Olga Armyakova.

Olga Armyakova: Good afternoon, Moscow, or more precisely, good evening. It is almost 8.30 pm in the Far East, already dusk, but do not let the darkness bother you. Our crew is on the coast of the Sea of Japan, Srednyaya Bay. It is unbelievably beautiful here.

However, we came here for another reason. You can see the marine mammal adaptation centre, the one called the “whale prison,” which the whole world is watching right now. Almost 100 belugas and killer whales have been living here for about a year. In these cages, you can see baby whales: they are very curious – they are trying to get a look at our crew – and playful: they tried to splash us with water several times, creatures of fantastic beauty. They are beluga whales, by the way. They were caught in the Okhotsk Sea “for scientific and educational purposes.” This is the official wording.

However, later it was reported that they want to sell the animals abroad. Surprisingly the business people had all the authorisations they needed, but the law had changed, and the export of whales was prohibited. It was the beginning of a difficult legal puzzle, and these amazing rare animals, belugas and killer whales, fell victim to it.

Let me remind you that the President ordered their future to be decided by March 1. Since then, expert commissions have come here as well as scientists from the Cousteau team; the entire country united in order to save the beluga and killer whales. However, there had been no breakthrough until today. It is an interesting coincidence or, in other words, the miraculous effect of Direct Line; there is no other way to put it. It is more important that right now two killer whales and six belugas are being moved to the area of the Shantar Islands to be released there; and this is, of course, an international sensation.

Our camera crew were the only journalists who could see the animals being prepared for resettlement. I suggest we watch a report.

(Video report demonstration)

This is just the beginning of a large-scale project, which, by the way, still continues. Even though it is raining here. Scientists will be able to assess the success of this special operation later. The main thing now is to get it done. Let me remind you that nothing like this has ever happened in the world.

Vladimir Putin: This is a well-known problem, and it is generally clear why these issues arise. The killer whales alone, as far as I know, cost about $100 million, so there are many “interested” parties, so to say, and this is why solving the problem is not easy. There are always issues when a lot of money is involved.

But thank God, some movement has begun. We have Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev on the line. Go ahead, please, Mr Gordeyev.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev: Good afternoon, Mr President, good afternoon, Direct Line participants.

In essence, the correspondent has reported everything correctly. I would only add that a special group set up by the Government has been commissioned, and we took control of this issue because we understand the public relevance of this problem.

The group is made up of specialists, scientists, representatives from both federal and regional bodies, Primorye Territory is also involved; we are grateful to the many specialists from there. Under the scientists’ recommendation, the only correct decision was taken, to transport the animals to their habitat, where they were caught, to their natural environment. The operation will take about four months.

We have instructed the Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography to monitor and conduct this operation. So it will be done by specialists. Afterwards, when the animals are placed in Shantarstakaya Bay in Khabarovsk Territory, the specialists will continue monitoring them. The priority is appropriate re-adaptation, as was said earlier.

Mr President, we are working around the clock, we will conduct daily monitoring. The operation is indeed unusual but very interesting, and it is also a fairly interesting scientific experiment at the same time.

To prevent similar events in the future, so the mammals are not caught in such numbers, the Government decided to change the law, to prohibit catching them for so-called cultural and educational purposes and allow a small number of animals to be caught only for research purposes and for the people of the Far North, which is their tradition. This decision will be brought to the Government level so the public can take part in it.

Pavel Zarubin: Thank you, Mr Gordeyev, we understand you.

Mr President, we should have held Direct Line earlier, then the killer whales could have been released sooner, although it could be just a coincidence.

Mr President, we have a lot of guests here today…

Vladimir Putin: Excuse me, please. I would like to respond to some things that I just saw on the screen. These are questions of a political nature, so I do not want anyone to get the impression that we are dodging these questions. This one is quite sharp: “Where is this gang of patriots from United Russia leading us?”

I believe that when people take responsibility, including for making decisions that are not very popular, but badly needed by the country, it means that these are mature people who consciously chose strengthening their country and improving people's lives as the goal of their lives, and of their political careers.

I would not call the people who were at the helm in the 1990s a “gang.” But I must note that during that time our social sphere, industry and the defence sector collapsed. We lost the defence industry, we practically destroyed the Armed Forces, led the country into a civil war, to bloodshed in the Caucasus, and brought the country to the verge of losing sovereignty and collapse – I have to put this bluntly.

I would not say that all people who worked in the 1990s are responsible for this, but surely, if this happened, there must have been those who should be held responsible for it. I repeat, I do not want to call them a “gang,” but such is the result of their work. This is about the first question I saw.

The second one: “When will the local authorities be elected again?” If you are talking about local authorities, if you mean municipalities, they are always elected. We do have an election procedure through regional parliaments (this is stipulated by law). This, by the way, is also an election, but, as a rule, leaders of municipalities are elected by a direct secret vote of the entire population.

Finally, one last question: “What kind of secrets do the Interior Ministry employees know, that they are not allowed to travel abroad?” Just a few days ago, I spoke with Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev, who also asked this question.

Indeed, Interior Ministry officials – maybe not all of them, only some – do know these secrets, but not all; ordinary employees do not. Therefore, we agreed that we would expand the geography of possible foreign travel for Interior Ministry officials.

But in general, still, Interior Ministry employees are endowed with special powers, and in this sense, of course, they are in a special position. They have to make an informed choice whether they want to work with these restrictions or not.

Pavel Zarubin: Absolutely.

Mr President, let us talk to the guests here in our studio, they have quite a few questions. We promised to give them the floor. Olga Pautova, please.

Olga Pautova: Mr President, I suggest we change the topic and move on from cities to villages, because today we have a lot of farmers in our studio. Maria Kandyrina, for instance, has a small dairy farm; her cheeses have recently been awarded a gold medal at an international exhibition in France.

Next to her is Boris Akimov. Back in the day, he came up with the idea of the LavkaLavka shop, where he would sell other farmers’ products; today, he is a farmer himself. He told us he was now growing his own variety of garlic and even producing Pereslavl parmesan cheese and jamon. Did you bring us some to try?

Boris Akimov: No, everything is back in the village of Knyazhevo.

Pavel Zarubin: Looks like we have to go there. They say their products are in great demand.

Vladimir Putin: Jamon is a Spanish product, parmesan is Italian. They are produced differently, using different techniques.

Boris Akimov: And now we have our own.

Pavel Zarubin: Is your jamon good?

Boris Akimov: So they say.

Pavel Zarubin: What do you think?

Boris Akimov: I am not one to brag. But seems like it.

Pavel Zarubin: Then tell us about your problems and ask the President your question.

Boris Akimov: Today, the government provides way more assistance to agribusiness holding companies than to farmers, about 90 percent of all assistance is provided to the 10 largest Russian companies.

Meanwhile, these companies’ profits do not stay local, but are rather in Moscow, or, even more often, abroad, in offshore accounts. While small farmers, small businesses invest in the areas where they live and work, thus becoming a driver of local development.

I believe we have a concrete suggestion on how these priorities could be adjusted somewhat. Europe has a great example of promoting regional products. Take, for instance, again, parmesan, or Parma ham, or champagne. They serve as drivers for these areas, providing a great number of farmers and small businesses with jobs.

Our idea is to launch a similar programme for making regional products in Russia. I am sure this would give many farmers and small businesses a boost, while the local area would start developing as well; good for farmers, good for consumers, too.

Yelena Vinnik: So what is your question then?

Vladimir Putin: Will they develop well, by the way?

Boris Akimov: Basically, this is the suggestion: we have many regional brands that are often forgotten. Take the Breitovo garlic that I grow, for instance, or Pavlovo chickens, or Murom cucumbers.

In other words, there are many products that can be revived and become the drivers of the development of this territory. It would be great to extend this programme to the entire country.

Vladimir Putin: Once again, please, what programme? Can you please explain?

Boris Akimov: A programme to develop products of local, territorial origin. There is a place called Pavlovo in Nizhny Novgorod Region. At one time, it was famous for its Pavlovo chicken breed. These chickens were famous.

Today, every region has many interesting products that could be revived, that could become economic drivers in their territories. They would create jobs and farmers would be employed.

Vladimir Putin: So, you are talking about the development of local brands, so to speak.

Boris Akimov: Yes, the development of product brands.

Vladimir Putin: I see. We basically have, say, Vologda butter that is well-known at least in the country and maybe even abroad. So, generally, this has not been lost.

I fully agree with you that the state and the media should help with this, although the media will want us to pay and then they will promote whatever we want. But, of course, the state should provide support.

At the same time, I think what you said about farmers and large farms are repercussions of the debates on what the state should primarily focus on. And I agree with you. I know about these debates and I know who pushed for this. I am just kidding.

Jokes aside, this is the former governor of Krasnodar Territory, Alexander Tkachyov. He kept saying that large commodity production was a driver of agriculture and indeed, it provides the main commodities and this is true both for this country and abroad. But we should certainly not forget about small and medium farms, and I fully agree with you on this.

However, I think that you still have incomplete information in this respect. What do I mean? Look, first, the amount of commodity production at farms recently increased by 45 percent. Overall, this is decent growth, and it would have been impossible without state support.

Government support for agriculture totaled 254 billion rubles last year; this year, it is more than 300–303 billion. This includes export support. Of the total amount, around 45 percent goes to large companies, while smaller farms account for 16 percent. Smaller farmers, who are rolling out more and more products, today account for 12 percent of the market.

What does this mean? This means that the amount of support they are given is greater than their market. And this implies that the government is pushing them towards further development. If, as I believe, this happens, in the very near future, their share of the market will equal the level of support they get, growing from 12 percent to 16.

Here of course, I fully agree with you, the state will have to lend a hand and take the next step, especially since there are areas of activity where smaller farms are indispensable. Farmers, in general, are an absolutely organic part of the agriculture industry.

As for brand support, you are again correct; we need to think about this. I will ask Dmitry Patrushev [Minister of Agriculture] to draft proposals.

Yelena Vinnik: Mr President, let us continue.

Vladimir Putin: So where is the cheese?

Boris Akimov: There will be cheese.

Yelena Vinnik: Leave your address with us after the programme.

A lot of housing has been built in Russia in recent years. The shortage of housing is less important now and the issue has been pushed to the background by another problem – now there is a lack of infrastructure in new residential areas: there are no kindergartens, schools, clinics, or public gardens.

I will just read a couple of messages. Moscow Region: “Why, when building new complexes, residents' needs for schools, kindergartens, or other infrastructure are not taken into account? If you need children, you have to think about their living conditions.”

Another one: “The infrastructure was never built. There is no kindergarten, no schools, and the developer is on the wanted list.”

Mr President, let us go to our call centre, there are many calls on this subject, I know.

Natalya Yuryeva: Colleagues, for starters, I will say that our call centre has just undergone a massive DDoS attack from abroad. Apparently, this is the reason for the disruptions in video calls we encountered.

But we have managed to repel it; the app was restarted and we are continuing to receive calls. The total number is already approaching 2 million.

Answers to journalists’ questions following Direct Line


Following Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, the President answered a number of questions from media representatives.
June 20, 2019
17:20
Moscow


Answers to journalists’ questions following Direct Line.

* * *

Question: What about Donbass? Russia’s response to shelling is weak; Zelensky has not decide anything and passports are a half-hearted issue…

Vladimir Putin: As for resolving the Donbass problem, I have already spoken about this. I just talked about this, but I can say it again: this problem cannot be resolved properly without a direct dialogue and without the implementation of the Minsk agreements by the Ukrainian authorities.

As for passports, understandably there are queues for Russian passports. We will grant citizenship to those who want it.

As for other Ukrainian citizens that would like to receive citizenship, I talked about this as well. We will grant it to them and improve the system for granting citizenship under a simplified procedure.

Question: Why is Russia’s response to the increasing shelling so weak, as if nothing is happening?

Vladimir Putin: This is not a matter of weakness or strength. The bottom line is that we want to give the new Ukrainian leadership a chance to get on track to resolve this rather than make things worse.

Question: Can you please tell us if you think it is time for Russia to admit its responsibility for the crash of the Malaysian Boeing, the downing of MH17?

And one more question, Mr President. This is the 30th anniversary of the downfall of the Berlin Wall when Moscow’s sphere of influence in Eastern Europe started to collapse and which was followed by the disintegration of a great power – the USSR. Do you think Russia is again a super power 30 years later?

Vladimir Putin: First, regarding the Boeing. Russia has never dodged its responsibility if it is responsible for something. We find absolutely unacceptable what we saw and what was presented as evidence of Russia’s guilt.

We think there is no evidence at all there. Everything that was presented does not prove anything. We have our own version and we have submitted it, but regrettably nobody wants to listen to us.

Until there is real dialogue, we will not find a correct answer to the questions that remain open, that are linked with the tragedy of the plane and the death of people, over which we are certainly mourning and of course consider such actions unacceptable.

And it is still necessary to repeat what we said: who allowed flights over an area of hostilities? Was it Russia? No. Where were the fighters planes and where is the absolute proof that the militia men or someone else fired the weapon?

There are a lot of questions and nobody is answering them. They have simply made a choice once and for all and have appointed the guilty – and that’s it. This approach to the investigation does not suit us.

As for the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Is Russia a great power? We are not seeking this status because this would imply certain elements of imposing our influence on other countries and entire regions.

We do not want to return to how it was in the Soviet Union, when it imposed a way of life and political system on its neighbours, including countries in Eastern Europe.

This is counterproductive, too costly and has no historical prospects. You cannot make other nations live by your rules.

It appears that the sad experience of the Soviet Union is not considered by some of our partners in the West. They are making the same mistakes and falling into the same trap, assuming that they are empires and constructing their policy accordingly.

Question: Starting this year, our correspondents have reported at least three deaths of Russian servicemen in Syria, which have not been reported by the Russian Defence Ministry. Sorry for reading it out, I am nervous.

Since the beginning of war in Syria, Russia has not acknowledged the deaths of employees of a private military contractor linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin. Last year, our correspondents met with the families of several [Russian] citizens killed there. Their families and friends insist that they be granted the status of combat participants, even if posthumously.

Tells us, Mr President, what is the problem with honouring and acknowledging people who fought in the interests of their country?

Vladimir Putin: Look, as for the private companies, including the private security companies under which the people you have mentioned were operating – this is not the Russian state, and they are not engaged in combat.

Fortunately or unfortunately, these are issues of an economic nature, related to economic activity, oil production and exploring oilfields – that is what we are talking about here.

Of course, we acknowledge that people risk their lives even when addressing these social and economic tasks and problems. Overall, this is also a contribution to fighting terrorism as they are reclaiming these fields from ISIS. But this has nothing to do with the Russian state or the Russian army, so we do not comment on this.

Question: We have a colleague in prison – Kirill Vyshinsky has been behind bars in Ukraine for a year. Considering that your meeting with Vladimir Zelensky is apparently postponed indefinitely, would it be possible to get Kirill back home before your meeting? Say, if we sent Oleg Sentsov to Ukraine, and those sailors, anyone, let everyone go, and then Kirill and these people would walk free as soon as this summer.

Vladimir Putin: We are thinking about it, we have not forgotten.

Question: May I ask a question about defrauded stakeholders of shared construction projects?

You said earlier this month that within two years, the very concept of a defrauded stakeholder should disappear in Russia. Unfortunately, I am one of them, and I would like to ask you something using my case as example.

I have a very difficult situation: the developer went bankrupt, and there is no new investor, because no one wants to invest. A lot of money is needed, and there is no financing from the Government.

So I am not sure that in two years I will stop being a defrauded stakeholder. Could you tell us what actions, you think, will and can be taken to fulfil your task?

Vladimir Putin: Indeed this is easier said than done. But this duty lies not only with the Federation, but largely with the regions of the Russian Federation.

First of all, we need to identify all the equity construction investors who need support, to understand exactly which projects they had invested in and how much damage each incurred. This work is in progress. At the same time, work is underway to provide these people with housing, and the regional and federal budgets are involved.

We are doing it, investing the necessary resources, and we will definitely complete it. Where is the project you invested in, in which region?

Remark: I am a stakeholder in the Novokosino 2 residential complex in Reutov, Moscow Region.

Vladimir Putin: In the Moscow Region, the problem is really quite acute, although I have given instructions to the regional governors, and compliance is monitored at the federal level, so that each stakeholder’s problems are finally resolved.

What I meant when I said there would be no such thing as defrauded stakeholders in two years is that we are gradually getting rid of the shared construction system, in which a significant part of the risks are shouldered by future apartment owners, such as you. You know about it.

I have already said many times, and I will use this opportunity, especially because there were no such questions during Direct Line today – they were not asked on air. But this is something people are concerned about, so I will use this opportunity since you asked.

We shift responsibility from citizens to financial organisations, bolstering these financial organisations with insurance mechanisms from the budget, first and foremost, from the federal budget.

The Central Bank has introduced an entire support system for those financial institutions which will be maintaining the so-called escrow accounts and only after the housing is commissioned, money from these escrow accounts, the citizens’ money, will be sent to developers.

Yes, this might lead, and unfortunately it has already led, to some reduction in housing construction. We had a peak of 85 million, now it is below 80, but this is inevitable.

We must move to a new system of financing housing construction, make it modern and civilised. This is exactly what I spoke about. Well, maybe not in two years, maybe in three years, but, in any case, we must do this in the upcoming years.

Remark: But I do not fall under the system, for instance.

Vladimir Putin: Why? Your issue, like the issue of other housing equity holders, must be addressed. If, of course, you are not just an equity holder, but engaged in business, if you bought not one but five, six, ten apartments and are going to do business, this is another thing. If you really bought housing for yourself, your issue must be addressed. I will talk to Andrei Vorobyov (Moscow Region Governor). Reutov, right?

Remark: Yes.

Question: In a little while you will go to meet with, as you call him, your friend, Shinzo Abe. Could you please speak about what you expect from this visit, as not only a number of meetings are expected to take place, but the closing of the Cross Year of Russia and Japan. Should we expect any surprises like you stepping onto the judo mats or visiting hot springs?

Vladimir Putin: These are not the most important surprises in interstate relations – like stepping onto the judo mat or visiting hot springs – but this is also important and interesting and creates a certain atmosphere.

What do I expect from this meeting? The continuation of dialogue. I am sure that Shinzo, like all of us, wants full normalisation of relations and the conclusion of a peace treaty. It seems like we are almost there, very close, but often there are issues that arise and suddenly postpone the final resolution of this issue.

But what is absolutely clear, and I spoke about it many times: both the Japanese side represented by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russia wants a final normalisation of our relations. Both the Japanese and the Russian people are interested in it and will be striving for this.

Thank you very much.