The last benefit

On February 14, Vladimir Putin spent his latter in the Kremlin on February 14 as the president, an annual press conference for Russian and foreign journalists, and a record for duration - 4 hours 40 minutes. During this time, the head of state answered 100 questions from 78 journalists. He spoke about the achievements of 2007, the first of which he called the growth of the Russian economy in 8.1 %, the highest in recent years.
“If we consider the parity of purchasing power, if we count the volume of the economy,” Putin said, “such countries“ Eights ”have been circumvented as Italy, France, and Russia now occupies the seventh place in the world (according to international experts). Real income of citizens increased by 10.4 percent, wages - by 16.2 percent, pension - by 3.8.
By his own admission, with special satisfaction, the president noted the successful implementation of the demographic project, since the growth of the dynamics of the birth rate in 2007 was the largest over 25 years. He also said that the country's government will fulfill the promise to index all benefits in this area, including maternity capital.
“Investments in fixed assets are the largest for all the previous eight years,” the president shared. - This was not even in 2000, when the economic growth was 10 percent. Investments in fixed assets amounted to 21.1 percent. The net influx of private capital in the Russian Federation amounted to 82.3 billion dollars last year, this is twice as much as in 2006 - twice!
The president is also pleased with the financial condition of the country. The gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $ 170 billion and approach the mark of a half -trillion US dollars. The stab fund is 3.84 trillion rubles. Russian banks easily passed the liquidity crisis. The Russian stock market is growing a record pace, 20 percent - along Putin - a very good indicator.
And the head of state considers inflation the main problem of the Russian economy. He admitted that it was not possible to cope with its growth, the growth rate of inflation exceeded the expected ones: instead of 8.5 percent, it turned out 11.9. The fight against inflation was named one of the most important tasks of the entire leadership of the country and primarily the economic bloc for 2008 and subsequent years.
Then, numerous questions of the very different properties followed: about the personal, about the attitude to the successor Dmitry Medvedev, about the future Olympiad in Sochi, the situations in the regions, about relations with Georgia and Ukraine and about international affairs. The president, as always, answered, without stinting in bright, memorable images and epithets.
Putin resolutely rejected rumors and assumptions about the possible denomination of the Russian ruble, saying that "this is stupid and there is no such economic necessity."
Russian journalists were tuned to the president more than favorably, unlike some foreign colleagues who strove to pepper a sweet picture. And ... ran into. When the Western journalist asked what Putin was thinking about the then one -sided proclaim of Kosov’s independence, the answer was sharply: “Unilateral support for the independence of Kosovo is unmoral and unlawful,” said the President of Russia.
“International law does not protect the interests of small countries now,” he stated further, but he didn’t limit himself to this: “You, Europeans, are not ashamed to approach with such double standards? They say -“ In Kosovo a special case. ”There is everything, not a special case. We offer our partners not to encourage separatism, but to develop uniform rules of behavior!” Having called not to act on the issue of Kosovo, based on the “political expediency”, the president said that Russia is not going to monitor and act mirror, if someone recognizes the independence of Kosovo. “If someone makes a bad decision, we should not act the same way,” he said, and he warned that Russia would perceive it as a kind of partners' behavior in order to ensure our behavior in order to provide ours Interests. If they consider themselves entitled, then why can't we? But we will not act just as straightforwardly. "Russia" has home blanks, and we know what we will do, "the president said, developing the topic.
As at all previous meetings of this kind, representatives of the press from Chechnya and Ingushetia got the opportunity to ask questions. But they did not use it. Instead of questions-some unintelligible, poorly formulated verbal curtsies, Vainakhs muttered something with shaking hands, unable to cope with excitement. One invited the president to visit on behalf of the people, although the latter was unlikely to give him such powers, the other rushed to defend Putin from a foreign journalist, without proudly inform everyone who was not aware that he was not at such a meeting in the Kremlin for the first time and not even the second time.
But Putin spoke about the situation in the region without any questions.
“Positive changes,” he said, “primarily occur thanks to the very Chechen people. People know how to work and work efficiently. The leadership of the Chechen Republic concentrates its efforts, financial capabilities of both the federation and the republican actually, on solving key current problems, on which the social well -being of Russian citizens living in Chechnya really depends ...
... I assure you, there will be no failure in the development of the North Caucasus in general, the Chechen Republic and the whole of Russia. Because - and this is already quite obvious today - Russian citizens are configured to continue the positive course that has been formulated and conducted over the past eight years, and this is the main guarantee of our success in the coming years. ” So said the president.