The President - on "Direct Line"

Excerpts from Vladimir Putin's answers

"No stretch"

Regarding what has changed in the life of the country over the past year. Traditionally answering this question in recent years, almost every year I said that the results of work over the past year were positive. And I am pleased to note that not once have I made any exaggerations. There is no need to suck anything out of thin air, as our people say. Indeed, the results of work over all these years have been positive. This year is no exception. Moreover, it is even better than we expected. The main indicator of success is economic growth, the so-called GDP, gross domestic product. Last year the growth was 6.7%. A very good indicator. This year we planned 6.2%. But in reality, over the eight months of this year, our growth has already amounted to 7.7% - significantly higher than the planned parameters. This in itself is already very good. But even better is that we have finally begun to achieve the result that we have been striving for all these years. Growth is largely ensured not by raw materials industries, not by oil, gas, metals, and so on, but two-thirds is provided by other sectors of the economy. What sectors are these? These are construction, transport, communications, trade, investment activities.

How does this affect the lives of our citizens, their real social well-being? The main indicator is, of course, the growth of well-being , the growth of wages. Last year the average wage growth was 13.4%, this year - 14.4%. But what I would like to draw special attention to is: if, with wage growth of 13.4% last year, the average increase in pensions was only 5.1%, this year, taking into account the increase from December 1, the increase in pensions will be on average 21%. And I think that's a good thing. But I want to emphasize that this is real growth, minus inflation. It is true that we have problems, and I will talk about this now, a little later, but this is real growth minus inflation.

Now about what makes me especially happy. These are changes in the demographic situation . When we discussed these programs a year and a half or two ago, there were skeptics who believed that no matter how much money you invest in demographic projects, they still will not give the required return, because this is a general trend in post-industrial countries, including all European ones. - Decrease in birth rate. I still agreed with those who believed that in our country the state’s attention to these problems would give the necessary impact. And so it happened. What have we been seeing lately? The birth rate is the highest in 15 years, and the death rate is the lowest since 1999. Infant mortality has also decreased.

Rising prices

Firstly, why is this happening? First of all, because our country is becoming part of the world economy . And everything that happens on world markets is reflected on us. In Europe - and we buy a lot of imported food products from there - an event occurred that affected us: the cessation of subsidies to a large extent for agricultural production led to an increase in prices in Europe by an average of 15-17%. For us, this immediately increased to 25%, for some products - up to 40 and even up to 60%: sunflower oil and some other types of goods. Besides, what else is happening in the global economy? The amount of alternative fuel consumed - the so-called bioethanol - has increased. That is, grain is used, including now, for the production of energy mixtures, which are used as a replacement for gas and an alternative to oil and petroleum products. While these are small volumes, this has led to higher prices on the market.

What is the government doing in this regard? A number of measures have been taken. Which ones? First. Interventions are being made from accumulated grain reserves. Second. Export duties on grain have been increased in order to keep it on the domestic market. And duties on the import of certain types of imported food into the territory of the Russian Federation, in particular on milk and dairy products, have been reduced. But we must also do this very carefully so as not to undermine our own agriculture. I know that I am probably also being listened to by residents of villages, villages, who (for city dwellers this is not very good, but the increase in prices on agricultural production has a positive effect) are afraid that we will remove all barriers too much, and everything that they produced will be sold out here at bargain prices. It's such a subtle thing. I hope that the decisions taken by the Russian government will be optimal.

About history

You and I know how quite recently we read things in textbooks that could make our hair stand on end , especially when interpreting, say, the results of the Second World War and everything connected with it. But lately there have been certain positive changes here. Just recently I had a meeting with teachers of history and social sciences, with scientists working in this field. Colleagues have formulated very good proposals on how we can correct this situation, without imposing the state point of view, but by giving young people, first of all, and all citizens of the country the opportunity to get acquainted with the full range of opinions on this or that issue, but at the same time giving an objective a look at history, at what our people have done, at our achievements.

I believe that this is an extremely important aspect of our common activities. But in order to prevent obvious defects in this area (you probably know, a corresponding decision has been made at the legislative level), the role and importance of the Ministry of Education and Science has been increased, which will already be able to give appropriate expert assessments in the preparation of educational literature . I hope this will have a positive effect.

"Putin's Plan"

Speaking at the United Russia congress, I said that I do not think it is right to personify this plan in this way , because in essence it is the result of the work of experts at all levels. This is the result of the work of experts in parliament, in both chambers, and in the government of the Russian Federation. This plan is set out in the last messages of the President of the Russian Federation, your humble servant, to the Federal Assembly.

All this, in individual aspects, can be called a strategic plan for the development of the country. But if, in the conditions of the pre-election struggle for parliament, someone decided to personify and associate this with the name of the current president - well, this can be classified as a political technology. But the plan itself is completely specific, in demand by the country. And I am confident that if we consistently act to implement it, we will achieve serious development results.

"In Ukraine"

The development of relations with the former republics of the Soviet Union is the main, main priority of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The volume of trade turnover, the level and depth of cooperation in various sectors of the economy are so great that if damage is caused in joint activities in these areas, this can simply lead to the shutdown of entire production. In addition, there is interdependence in agriculture and defense. Not to mention the fact that millions of our citizens have direct friendly and family contacts, and, according to statistics, in Ukraine, let’s say, in my opinion, up to 17 million ethnic Russians live, and in the Russian Federation the largest number, even temporarily based on Ukrainians - 4 million people. That is, the social well-being of millions of Russians and Ukrainians directly depends on the relations between our countries. We will pay our utmost attention to this. Of course, the development of relations between Russia and Ukraine should be built on a modern, pragmatic basis, taking into account each other’s interests.

If we are talking about energy resources, then, of course, interaction in this area should be carried out on a market basis. I have said it many times, but I can repeat it: subsidies due to low energy prices for the Ukrainian economy over the past 15 years have amounted to $3-5 billion annually. Ukraine has never received such support and certainly will not receive it from any country in the world. But in switching to market relations, we are doing and intend to do this softly, calmly, in a friendly manner, without causing damage to our Ukrainian partners, bearing in mind that we are switching to market pricing in our own country.

As for political interaction, I hope that no matter what government is formed in Ukraine, no matter what political platform it operates on, objective reality will push our partners to develop cooperation with the Russian Federation. We want this, we will do it on our part.

Iraq

As for Iraq, one of the goals, in my opinion, of course, is to bring the oil reserves of this country under our control. We were already somewhere in the middle of our meeting today that in some heads, in fevered brains, even the idea arises of how to get to Russian resources, including in Siberia. We see what is happening in Iraq, and we see that such a policy does not bring results.

As for the possible withdrawal of international contingents, including American ones, from these two points. Yes, indeed, the burden, especially for European countries with their military contingents in Afghanistan, is large. This is both a material burden and a serious moral and political burden. Russia is doing everything to support those countries that are making efforts to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan. We allowed transit (this is the first time in our history), we allowed transit for NATO countries across our territory, transit of military cargo and personnel. We help with information, we are considering the possibilities of our economic participation in the revival of Afghanistan, being in constant contact with the leadership of this country, and we have good prospects here.

As for Iraq, I agree with the President of the United States: I think he is absolutely right when he says that it is possible to withdraw the international contingent from this country only after the Iraqi leadership itself is able to keep the situation stable. The difference in our approaches is that the Americans believe that it is impossible to set an end date for the presence of foreign troops on Iraqi territory. In my opinion, this needs to be done, because until this is done, the Iraqi leadership itself, feeling under a reliable American umbrella, will not be in much of a hurry to develop its own armed forces and law enforcement agencies. And when they know that there is a cut-off time, a deadline after which there will be no more American bayonets, then, it seems to me, they will work more effectively and consistently, persistently to strengthen their own armed forces. But maintaining the occupation regime there forever is absolutely unacceptable.

“There will be a different person in the Kremlin”

I actually said at the United Russia congress that I am non-partisan, but I am ready to lead and agree to head the United Russia electoral list. Why? Think back to the early and mid-90s. With an incompetent parliament, with an incompetent Duma, it was impossible to make a single more or less verified decision. More than enough populist decisions that brought both the economy and the social sphere of the country to a dead end were taken at that time. But, in fact, not a single clear decision that would be in line with the development of the economy and social sphere was made. It was at that time that decisions were made that devalued all the income of the population. Populist decisions were made on various social obligations of the state. It was impossible to solve them, because there were so many of them that they were several times higher than budget revenues.

In 2007 and 2008 we will have elections to both parliament and president. And here, in the Kremlin, there will be another person. In these conditions, it is extremely important to maintain a stable course of development of our state, to maintain continuity in the implementation of those decisions that have been made recently.

I have already spoken about national projects, for the development of agriculture, for the development of healthcare, for the development of education, for the development of the Armed Forces, and in many other areas. For example, on housing and communal services, on the resettlement of dilapidated buildings, on the development of innovative sectors of the economy, we did not just make decisions. What have we done? We have reserved government resources for many years to come for the implementation of these goals. Imagine that people will come who do not value these decisions. It’s very easy to reorient this, give earrings to all the sisters, reduce, say, gold and foreign exchange reserves, and I can later say what this means for the country. And we will destroy the entire positive set of tools that allow us to develop and which are the key to the country’s development forward. It is therefore extremely important that the parliament is functional after the 2007 elections. Such a key element of the parliament’s capacity in previous years was United Russia. That is why I decided to top her list.

There will be no default

We will not default. And I'll tell you why. Default - what is it? This is the inability of the state to pay external debts, firstly. And secondly, the inability of the state and the Central Bank to provide the required amount of foreign currency for participants in economic activities in our own country.

Why is this not possible today? Firstly, we do not have such external debts; we have paid off all of them. Our ratio of external debt to the country's GDP is the best in Europe. Second. We have serious gold and foreign exchange reserves - $424 billion. According to this indicator, we are in third place in the world after China and Japan. And this is what many experts are talking about. This is a “safety cushion” for the entire economy and for all citizens of the country. This is something that will not make it possible to bring our economy to the state it was in in 1998. And that is why we must treat gold and foreign exchange reserves with care.

During the election campaigns, there is now a lot of talk about the need to distribute this money. Distributing is the simplest thing. The question is not about giving away, but the question is about using these opportunities effectively. The question is to create conditions for positive and progressive development of the entire economy. And it is gold and foreign exchange reserves that play this role. Our budget and foreign trade turnover are in surplus. And this is also an important condition, which gives us the right to say with complete confidence that there will be no default. And investment is also a very important element of economic stability. In our country, as I have already said about this, investments, including foreign ones, have increased many times over. And this is also an element of economic stability.