Putin's Address to Federal Assembly 21 Feb 2023

Speculation has ended as to what Putin would say and not say as the transcript is ready and the video is already widespread. My pre-speech commentary was made on yesterday's several threads at the Moon of Alabama blog and speculated based on Putin's prior speeches that it would be informative, focus on the international and domestic situation while mostly concentrating on the latter. Nothing said surprised me except his offer to those who thought the West would offer better opportunities only to discover otherwise to return and redeem themselves—IMO, that was very magnanimous. What follows is the machine translation from Russian that will likely vary in places from the official English translation issued by the Kremlin which will probably appear in full tomorrow.

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon!

Dear deputies of the Federal Assembly-senators, State Duma deputies!

Dear citizens of Russia,

I am delivering today's Address at a difficult time, as we all know very well, a milestone for our country, at a time of cardinal, irreversible changes around the world, major historical events that determine the future of our country and our people, when each of us has a huge responsibility.

A year ago, in order to protect people on our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country, to eliminate the threat posed by the neo-Nazi regime that emerged in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, it was decided to conduct a special military operation. And step by step, we will carefully and consistently solve the tasks that we face.

Since 2014, the Donbass has fought, defended the right to live on its own land, speak its native language, fought and did not give up in the conditions of the blockade and constant shelling, undisguised hatred on the part of the Kiev regime, believed and waited for Russia to come to the rescue.

Meanwhile, as you well know, we have done everything possible, indeed everything possible, to resolve this problem by peaceful means, and we have patiently negotiated a peaceful way out of this very difficult conflict.

But a completely different scenario was being prepared behind our backs. The promises of the Western rulers, their assurances about the desire for peace in the Donbas, turned out, as we now see, to be a forgery, a cruel lie. They simply stalled for time, engaged in crookery, turned a blind eye to political assassinations, to the Kiev regime's repression of the undesirable, to mockery of believers, and increasingly encouraged Ukrainian neo-Nazis to carry out terrorist actions in the Donbas. Western academies and colleges trained officers of nationalist battalions and supplied weapons.

And I want to emphasize that even before the start of the special military operation, Kiev was negotiating with the West on the supply of air defense systems, combat aircraft, and other heavy equipment to Ukraine. We also remember the attempts of the Kiev regime to get nuclear weapons, because we talked about it publicly.

The United States and NATO rapidly deployed their army bases and secret biological laboratories near the borders of our country, during maneuvers they mastered the theater of future military operations, prepared the Kiev regime under their control, the Ukraine enslaved by them for a big war.

And today they admit it – they admit it publicly, openly, without hesitation. They seem to be proud and revel in their treachery, calling both the Minsk agreements and the Normandy format a diplomatic spectacle, a bluff. It turns out that all the time when the Donbass was burning, when blood was spilling, when Russia sincerely – I want to emphasize this – sincerely sought a peaceful solution, they played on people's lives, played, in fact, as they say in well-known circles, marked cards.

This disgusting method of deception has been tried many times before. They were just as shameless and duplicitous in destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never get rid of this shame. The concepts of honor, trust, and decency are not for them.

Over the long centuries of colonialism, dictatorship, and hegemony, they have become accustomed to being allowed to do anything, to spit on the whole world. It turned out that they treat the peoples of their own countries with the same contempt and masterly attitude-they were also cynically deceived or deceived by fables about the search for peace, about adherence to UN Security Council resolutions on the Donbas. Indeed, Western elites have become a symbol of total unprincipled lies.

We firmly defend not only our own interests, but also our position that in the modern world there should be no division into so-called civilized countries and all others, that we need an honest partnership that basically denies any exclusivity, especially aggressive ones.

We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West, we said and insisted that both Europe and the whole world need an indivisible security system that is equal for all states, and for many years we have offered our partners to discuss this idea together and work on its implementation. But in response, they received a vague or hypocritical reaction. This is as far as words are concerned. But there were also specific actions: This is the expansion of NATO to our borders, the creation of new missile defense positional areas in Europe and Asia – they decided to use the "umbrella" to hide from us – this is the deployment of military contingents, and not only at the borders of Russia.

I would like to emphasize that, as a matter of fact, it is well known that no country in the world has such a large number of military bases abroad as the United States of America. There are hundreds of them, I want to emphasize this, hundreds of bases all over the world, the whole planet is full, just look at the map.

The whole world has seen them withdraw from fundamental arms agreements, including the intermediate-range and shorter-range missile Treaty, and unilaterally tear up fundamental agreements that support peace on the planet. They did it for some reason – they don't do anything for nothing, as you know.

Finally, in December 2021, we officially sent draft agreements on security guarantees to the United States and NATO. But all the key positions that are fundamental for us were, in fact, directly rejected. Then it finally became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans was given and they were not going to stop.

The threat was growing, and with each passing day. The incoming information left no doubt that by February 2022, everything was ready for another bloody punitive action in the Donbas, against which, let me remind you, the Kiev regime threw artillery, tanks,and planes back in 2014.

We all remember well the pictures when air strikes were carried out on Donetsk, air strikes were carried out not only on it, but also on other cities. In 2015, they again attempted a direct attack on the Donbass, while continuing the blockade, shelling, and terror against civilians. All this, let me remind you, completely contradicted the relevant documents and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, completely-everyone pretended that nothing was happening.

I want to repeat this: it was they who started the war, and we used force and will use it to stop it.

Those who planned a new attack on Donetsk, Donbas, and Luhansk clearly understood that the next goal was to strike at Crimea and Sevastopol, and we knew and understood this. And now such far-reaching plans are also being openly discussed in Kiev – they have revealed what we already knew so well.

We protect people's lives, our native home. And the goal of the West is unlimited power. He has already spent more than $ 150 billion aiding and abetting the Kiev regime. For comparison, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries allocated about $ 60 billion to help the world's poorest countries in 2020-2021. I see, right? For the war-150, and for the poorest countries, which are supposedly constantly taken care of, – 60, and even under certain demands of submission on the part of the recipient countries of this money. And where is all the talk about fighting poverty, sustainable development, and the environment? Where did it all go? Where did everything go? At the same time, the flow of money to the war does not decrease. They also do not spare any money to encourage unrest and coups in other countries, and again around the world.

At a recent conference in Munich, there were endless accusations against Russia. One gets the impression that this was done only to make everyone forget what the so-called West has done in recent decades. And they let the genie out of the bottle, plunged entire regions into chaos.

According to American experts themselves, as a result of wars – I want to draw your attention to this: we did not invent these figures, the Americans themselves give them – as a result of the wars that the United States unleashed after 2001, almost 900 thousand people died, more than 38 million became refugees. All this they now simply want to erase from the memory of mankind, pretend that nothing happened. But no one in the world has forgotten this and will not forget it.

None of them takes into account the loss of life and tragedies, because there are, of course, trillions, trillions of dollars at stake; the possibility of continuing to rob everyone; using words about democracy and freedoms to inculcate neoliberal and totalitarian values in their essence; labeling entire countries and peoples, publicly insulting their leaders; suppressing the power of the Internet, etc. dissent in their own countries; creating an image of the enemy, diverting people's attention from corruption scandals – after all, we see all this on the screens-from growing internal economic, social, interethnic problems and contradictions.

Let me remind you that in the 30s of the last century, the West actually opened the way for the Nazis to power in Germany. And in our time, they began to make Ukraine "anti-Russia". The project is not really a new one. People who are at least a little immersed in history know perfectly well: this project goes back to the 19th century, it was nurtured in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, and other countries with one goal – to tear these historical territories, which are now called Ukraine, from our country. That's the goal. There is nothing new, no novelty, everyone repeats.

The West accelerated the implementation of this project today, supporting the coup of 2014. After all, the coup was bloody, anti-state, anti-constitutional – as if nothing had happened, as if it was necessary, they even reported how much money they spent on it. The ideological basis was laid by Russophobia and extremely aggressive nationalism.

Recently, one of the brigades of the armed forces of Ukraine, I am ashamed to say-we are ashamed, they are not-was given the name "Edelweiss", as a Hitlerite division that participated in the deportation of Jews, executions of prisoners of war, in punitive operations against the partisans of Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece. Among the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard of Ukraine, the chevrons of Das Reich, "Dead Head", "Galicia", and other SS units, which also have blood on their hands up to the elbows, are particularly popular. Ukrainian armored vehicles are marked with the identification marks of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany.

Neo-Nazis do not hide whose heirs they consider themselves. It is surprising that none of the authorities in the West notice this. Why? Because they, sorry for the bad manners, don't care. It doesn't matter who you bet on in the fight against us, in the fight against Russia. The main thing is that they fight against us, against our country, which means that everyone can be used. And we saw, and so it was: both terrorists and neo-Nazis, even if the bald devil can be used, God forgive me, if only they did their will, served as weapons against Russia.

The anti-Russia project is in fact part of a revanchist policy towards our country, aimed at creating hotbeds of instability and conflict directly on our borders. And then, in the 30s of the last century, and now the idea is the same-to direct aggression to the east, to ignite a war in Europe, to eliminate competitors with someone else's hands.

We are not at war with the people of Ukraine, as I have said many times before. The people of Ukraine themselves became hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western masters, who actually occupied this country in a political, military, and economic sense, destroying Ukrainian industry and plundering natural resources for decades. The natural result was social degradation, a huge increase in poverty and inequality. And in such conditions, of course, it is easy to draw material for military operations. People were not thought of, they were prepared for slaughter and eventually turned into expendable materials. It's sad, it's just scary to talk about it, but it's a fact.

The responsibility for fueling the Ukrainian conflict, for escalating it, for increasing the number of its victims lies entirely with the Western elites and, of course, with the current Kiev regime, for which the Ukrainian people are, in fact, a stranger. The current Ukrainian regime serves not national interests, but the interests of third countries.

The West uses Ukraine both as a battering ram against Russia and as a testing ground. I will not now dwell in detail on the attempts of the West to reverse the course of hostilities, on their plans to increase military supplies – everyone is already well aware of this. But one thing should be clear to everyone: the more long-range Western systems arrive in Ukraine, the further we will be forced to push the threat away from our borders. It's only natural.

The elites of the West do not hide their goal: to inflict – as they say, this is a direct speech - "a strategic defeat of Russia." What does it mean? What is it for us? This means ending us once and for all, meaning they intend to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation. This is exactly how we understand all this and will respond accordingly, because in this case we are already talking about the existence of our country.

But they also cannot help but realize that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield, so they are waging increasingly aggressive information attacks against us. Of course, young people, young generations, are chosen primarily as the target. Here again, they constantly lie, distort historical facts, and continue to attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church, and other traditional religious organizations in our country.

Look at what they are doing to their own peoples: the destruction of the family, cultural and national identity, perversions, bullying of children, even pedophilia, are declared the norm, the norm of their life, and clergymen and priests are forced to bless same-sex marriages. God help them, let them do what they want. What do you want to say here? Adults have the right to live as they want, and this is how we treated it in Russia and will always treat it this way: no one invades our privacy, and we are not going to do it.

But I want to tell them: but look, excuse me, the holy scriptures, the main books of all other world religions. Everything is said there, including the fact that the family is the union of a man and a woman, but even these sacred texts are now being questioned. As it became known, the Anglican Church, for example, is planning – planning, however, only yet-to consider the idea of a gender-neutral god. What can I say? God forgive me, "they don't know what they're doing."

Millions of people in the West understand that they are being led to a real spiritual catastrophe. The elites, I must say bluntly, are just going crazy, and it seems that this is no longer being treated. But this is their problem, as I have already said, and we must protect our children, and we will do it: we will protect our children from degradation and degeneration.

It is obvious that the West will try to shake and split our society, rely on national traitors, who at all times-I want to emphasize this-have the same poison of contempt for their own Fatherland and the desire to make money by selling this poison to those who are willing to pay for it. It's always been like this.

Anyone who has taken the path of direct treachery, committing terrorist and other crimes directed against the security of our society and the territorial integrity of the country, will be held accountable under the law. But we will never be like the Kiev regime and the Western elites, who are engaged and were engaged in the "witch hunt" before, we will not settle scores with those who took a step aside, retreated from the Motherland. Let it remain on their conscience, let them live with it – they live with it. The main thing is that people, citizens of Russia, gave them a moral assessment.

I am proud – I think we are all proud – that our multinational people, the absolute majority of citizens, took a principled position regarding the special military operation, understood the meaning of the actions we are taking, and supported our actions to protect the Donbass. First of all, this support showed true patriotism – a feeling that is historically inherent in our people. It shakes with its dignity, deep awareness of each, I will emphasize, each of the inseparability of their own fate with the fate of the Fatherland.

Dear friends, I would like to thank everyone, the entire people of Russia for their courage and determination, and thank our heroes, soldiers and officers of the army and navy, Rosgvardiya, employees of the special services and all law enforcement agencies, soldiers of the Donetsk and Luhansk corps, volunteers, and patriots who fight in the ranks of the BARS combat army reserve.

I want to apologize: I'm sorry that I won't be able to name everyone during today's speech. You know, when I was preparing this speech, I wrote a long, long list of these heroic units, then I took it out of today's speech, because, as I said, it's impossible to name all of them, and I was just afraid to offend those I won't name.

A low bow to the parents, wives, families of our defenders, doctors and paramedics, medical workers, nurses who rescue the wounded, railway workers and drivers who supply the front, construction workers who build fortifications and restore housing, roads, civilian objects, workers and engineers of defense factories who now work almost around the clock, in several shifts, rural workers who reliably ensure the country's food security.

I thank teachers who sincerely care about the younger generations of Russia, especially those teachers who work in the most difficult, essentially front-line conditions; cultural figures who come to the war zone, to hospitals, to support soldiers and officers; volunteers who help the front and civilians; journalists, first of all, of course war correspondents who take risks on the front line to tell the whole world the truth; pastors of Russian traditional religions, military priests whose wise word supports and inspires people; civil servants and entrepreneurs-all those who fulfill their professional, civil and just human duty.

Special words for residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. You yourself, dear friends, you yourself decided your future in referendums, made a firm choice, despite the threats and terror of neo-Nazis, in conditions when military operations were very close, but there was nothing stronger than your determination to be with Russia, with your homeland.

(Applause.)

I want to emphasize that this is the audience's reaction to the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson. Once again, a low bow to all of them.

We have already started and will continue to step up a large-scale program of socio-economic recovery and development of these new regions of the Federation. Among other things, we are talking about reviving enterprises and jobs, ports of the Sea of Azov, which has once again become the internal sea of Russia, and building new modern roads, as we did in Crimea, which now has a reliable land connection with the whole of Russia. We will definitely work together to implement all these plans.

Today, the regions of the country provide direct support to the cities, districts and towns of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporizhia and Kherson region, and they do it sincerely, like real brothers and sisters. Now we are together again, which means that we have become even stronger and will do everything to ensure that the long-awaited peace returns to this land of ours, so that people's safety is ensured. For this, for our ancestors, for the future of our children and grandchildren, for the restoration of historical justice, for the reunification of our people, our heroes are fighting today.

Dear friends, I ask you to honor the memory of our military comrades who gave their lives for Russia, civilians, old people, women, children who died under the shelling at the hands of neo-Nazis and punishers.

(Minute of silence.)

Thanks.

We all understand, and I understand, how unbearably hard it is now for the wives, sons, daughters of fallen soldiers, their parents, who brought up worthy defenders of the Fatherland – the same as the young guards of Krasnodon, like the young men and women who fought against Nazism and defended the Donbass during the Great Patriotic War. Their courage, fortitude, great strength of spirit, and sacrifice are still remembered by the whole of Russia today.

Our duty is to support families who have lost their relatives, friends, and loved ones, to help them raise their children, give them an education, and give them a profession. The family of each participant in a special military operation should be in a zone of constant attention, surrounded by care and honor. You need to respond to their needs immediately, without red tape.

I propose creating a special state fund. Its task will be to provide targeted, personal assistance to the families of fallen soldiers and veterans of a special military operation. He will coordinate the provision of social, medical, and psychological support, solve issues of sanatorium treatment and rehabilitation, help in education, sports, employment, entrepreneurship, advanced training, and obtaining a new profession. A separate major task of the foundation is to organize long-term home care, high-tech prosthetics for all those who need it.

I ask the Government, together with the State Council Commission on Social Policy and the regions, to resolve all organizational issues as soon as possible.

The work of the state fund should be open, and the procedure for providing assistance should be simple, on the principle of "one window", without bureaucracy and bureaucracy. Each family, I emphasize, each family of the deceased, each veteran should be assigned its own personal social worker, coordinator, who in the course of personal communication in real time will solve the issues that arise. Please note that this year the fund's structures should be deployed in all regions of the Russian Federation.

We already have measures in place to support veterans of the Great Patriotic War, combat veterans, and participants in local conflicts. I think that in the future the state fund, which I mentioned, can also deal with these important issues. We need to work this out, and I ask the Government to do it.

I emphasize that the creation of a special fund does not remove responsibility from other structures and levels of government. I expect all federal agencies, regions and municipalities to continue to pay close attention to veterans, military personnel and their families. In this regard, I would like to thank the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the mayors of cities, and the heads of regions who constantly meet with people, including those who travel to the line of contact, and support their fellow countrymen.

What would you like to emphasize? Today, regular military personnel, conscripts and volunteers are bearing the hardships of the front together – we are talking about supplies and equipment, monetary allowances and insurance payments in connection with injuries, and medical care. However, the appeals that come to me and the governors – they also report this to me – to the military prosecutor's office, to the Commissioner for Human Rights indicate that not all of these issues have been resolved yet. It is necessary to understand each specific case.

And one more thing: service in the zone of a special military operation-everyone understands this perfectly well-is associated with enormous physical and psychological stress, with everyday risks to health and life. Therefore, I consider it necessary to establish for the mobilized, in general for all military personnel, for all participants in a special military operation, including for volunteers, regular leave lasting at least 14 days and at least once every six months, without taking into account travel time, so that each fighter has the opportunity to visit their families, stay close to their relatives, etc. close ones.

Dear colleagues!

As you know, the President's Decree approved the plan for the construction and development of the Armed Forces for 2021-2025. Work on its implementation is underway, and necessary adjustments are being made. And I want to emphasize that our further steps to strengthen the army and navy, as well as the current and future development of the Armed Forces, should certainly be based on the real combat experience gained during a special military operation. It is extremely important for us, one can say more, absolutely priceless.

Now, for example, the level of equipping Russia's nuclear deterrent forces with the latest systems is more than 91 percent, 91.3 percent. And now, I repeat, taking into account the experience that we have gained, we must reach the same high quality level in all components of the Armed Forces.

Officers and sergeants who have proved themselves competent, modern and determined commanders – there are many of them-will be promoted to higher positions, sent to military universities and academies, and serve as a powerful personnel reserve for the Armed Forces. levels. I just want to draw the attention of my colleagues to this. It is very important. People should understand that the Motherland values their contribution to the defense of the Fatherland.

We will actively implement the most advanced technologies that will increase the quality potential of the army and navy. We have such developments, samples of weapons and equipment in every direction. Many of them significantly exceed their foreign counterparts in terms of their characteristics. The task before us now is to launch their mass, mass production. And this work is being carried out, and its pace is constantly increasing, and I want to emphasize this, on our own, Russian scientific and industrial base, due to the active involvement of small and medium-sized high-tech businesses in the implementation of the state defense order.

Today, our factories, design bureaus, and research teams employ experienced specialists, and more and more young people, talented, qualified, focused on a breakthrough, loyal to the traditions of Russian gunsmiths – to do everything to win.

We will definitely strengthen guarantees for labor collectives. This applies to both salaries and social security. I propose to launch a special program of preferential rental housing for employees of defense industry enterprises. The rental rate for them will be significantly lower than the market rate, since a significant part of the housing fee will be borne by the state.

We have certainly discussed this issue with the Government. I instruct you to work out all the details of this program and, without delay, start building such rental housing, first of all, of course, in cities – our significant defense, industrial and research centers.

Dear colleagues!

As I have already said, the West has deployed not only a military and informational front against us, but also an economic one. But he has not achieved anything anywhere and will not achieve anything. Moreover, the initiators of sanctions are punishing themselves: they have provoked price increases, job losses, business closures, and the energy crisis in their own countries, and they are telling their citizens – we hear this – that the Russians are to blame for everything.

What means were used against us in this sanctions aggression? They tried to sever economic ties with Russian companies, disconnect the financial system from communication channels in order to crush our economy, deprive us of access to export markets, and hit our revenues. This includes the theft – there is no other way to put it – of our foreign exchange reserves, attempts to collapse the ruble and provoke devastating inflation.

I repeat, anti-Russian sanctions are only a means. And the goal, as the Western leaders themselves declare-a direct quote-is to "make our citizens suffer". "Make them suffer" – such humanists. They want to make the people suffer, thereby destabilizing our society from within.

But their calculation was not justified – the Russian economy and management system turned out to be much stronger than they thought in the West. Thanks to the joint work of the Government, the Parliament, the Bank of Russia, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and, of course, the business community and labor collectives, we have ensured the stability of the economic situation, protected citizens, saved jobs, prevented shortages in the market, including essential goods, supported the financial system, entrepreneurs who invest in the development of their business, so, in the development of the country.

So, in March last year, a package of measures to support business and the economy was launched for a total of about a trillion rubles. I want to pay attention: this is not an issue policy, no, no, everything is done on a solid market base.

According to the results of 2022, the gross domestic product decreased. Mikhail Vladimirovich called and said: I would like you to tell us about it. Yesterday, in my opinion, this information was released, and correctly, on time, as expected, everything is according to plan.

We were predicted, remember, that the economy would decline by 20-25 percent, ten percent. Just recently, we said: 2,9 – I spoke. A little later – 2.5. Gross domestic product in 2022 decreased by 2.1 percent-this is the most recent data. At the same time, let me remind you that back in February-March of last year, as I have already said, we were predicted to simply collapse the economy.

Russian business has restructured logistics, strengthened ties with responsible, predictable partners – and there are many of them, most of them in the world.

I would like to note that the share of the Russian ruble in our international payments has doubled to one – third compared to December 2021, and together with the currencies of friendly countries, this is already more than half.

We will continue to work together with our partners to create a stable, secure system of international settlements, independent of the dollar and other Western reserve currencies, which will inevitably lose their universal character under such a policy of Western elites and Western rulers. They do everything themselves. We don't reduce payments in dollars or other so – called universal currencies-they do everything themselves.

You know, there is such a stable expression: guns instead of oil. Of course, the country's defense is the most important priority, but when solving strategic tasks in this area, we should not repeat the mistakes of the past, we should not destroy our own economy. We have everything to ensure security and create conditions for the country's confident development. It is in this logic that we act and will continue to act.

So, many basic, I would like to emphasize, namely civilian sectors of the domestic economy over the past year not only did not reduce, but significantly increased production. The volume of housing commissioning for the first time in the modern history of our country exceeded 100 million square meters.

As for our agricultural production, last year it showed double-digit growth rates. Thank you very much, low bow to the agricultural producers. Russian farmers have collected a record harvest: over 150 million tons of grain, including more than 100 million tons of wheat. By the end of the agricultural year, that is, until June 30, 2023, we will be able to increase the total volume of grain exports to 5560 million tons.

Even 10-15 years ago, this seemed like a fairy tale, an absolutely impossible plan. If you remember – and some people probably remember here, the former Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture here-not so long ago, 60 million rubles were collected in general – per year, and now 55-60 only export potential will be. I am convinced that we have all the opportunities for a similar breakthrough in other areas.

We did not allow a drawdown in the labor market, on the contrary, we managed to reduce unemployment in modern conditions. Today, in the face of such great difficulties on all sides, the labor market has become more comfortable than it was before. Remember, before the pandemic, our unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, and now it's 3.7, in my opinion. Mikhail Vladimirovich, how much is 3.7? 3.7 is the historical minimum.

I repeat, the Russian economy has overcome the risks that have arisen – it has overcome them. Yes, many of these risks were impossible to calculate in advance, and it was necessary to react literally from the wheels, as problems arose. Both at the state level and in business, decisions were made as quickly as possible. I would like to note that private initiative and small and medium-sized businesses have played a huge role here. We have avoided excessive administrative regulation and skewing the economy towards the state.

What else is important? The economic downturn last year was recorded only in the second quarter – already in the third and fourth quarters there was growth and recovery. We have actually entered a new cycle of economic growth. According to experts, its model and structure take on a qualitatively different character. New and promising global markets are coming to the fore, including the Asia-Pacific region, our own domestic market, scientific, technological, and human resources base: not the supply of raw materials abroad, but the production of high-value-added goods. This allows us to unlock the enormous potential of Russia in all spheres and areas.

Already this year, solid growth in domestic demand is forecast. I am sure that our companies will take advantage of this opportunity to increase production, produce the most popular products, and occupy niches that have been vacated or are being vacated after the departure of Western companies.

Today, we see the full picture and understand the structural problems that we need to solve in logistics, technology, finance, and human resources. We have talked a lot and constantly about the need to change the structure of our economy in recent years, and now these changes are a vital necessity, and this is changing the situation, and in this case – for the better. We know what needs to be done for Russia's steady and progressive development, namely, sovereign and independent development, in spite of any external pressure and threats, with a reliable guarantee of the security and interests of the state.

I would like to emphasize that the point of our work is not to adapt to the current conditions. Our strategic goal is to take our economy to new frontiers. Now everything is changing, and it is changing very, very quickly. This is a time not only of challenges, but also of opportunities – this is true today, and our future life depends on how we implement them. I want to emphasize that it is necessary to remove any interdepartmental contradictions, formalities, insults, omissions, and other nonsense. Everything for the cause, everything for the result – everything should be aimed at this.

A successful start of Russian companies and small family businesses is already a victory. The opening of modern factories and kilometers of new roads is a victory. A new school or kindergarten is a victory. Scientific discoveries and technologies are, of course, also a victory. Everyone's contribution to the overall success is what matters.

What areas should the partnership work of the state, regions, and domestic businesses focus on?

First. We will expand promising foreign economic relations and build new logistics corridors. It has already been decided to extend the Moscow-Kazan expressway to Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Tyumen, and in the future-to Irkutsk and Vladivostok with access to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, which will significantly expand our economic ties with the markets of Southeast Asia.

We will develop the ports of the Black and Azov Seas. We will pay special attention to the North-South international corridor, as those who do this on a daily basis already know. Already this year, vessels with a draft of at least 4.5 meters will be able to pass through the Volga-Caspian Canal. This will open up new routes for business cooperation with India,Iran, Pakistan, and the Middle East. We will continue to develop this corridor.

We plan to accelerate the modernization of the eastern railway, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM, and increase the capabilities of the Northern Sea Route. This is not only additional cargo flows, but also the basis for solving national tasks for the development of Siberia, the Arctic and the Far East.

Regional infrastructure and infrastructure development, including communications, telecommunications, and the road network, will receive a powerful boost. As early as next year, 2024, at least 85 percent of roads in the country's largest agglomerations, as well as more than half of roads of regional and inter-municipal significance, will be restored to standard condition. I'm sure we'll do it.

We will continue the free gasification program. It has already been decided to extend it to social facilities: kindergartens and schools, polyclinics, hospitals, and paramedic and midwifery centers. And for citizens, such a program will now operate on a permanent basis: they will always be able to apply for connection to gas supply networks.

This year, a large program for the construction and repair of housing and communal services systems begins. Over the next ten years, it is planned to invest at least 4.5 trillion rubles in this area. We know how important this is for citizens, how much this area has been launched – we need to work, and we will do it. It is important that the program immediately gets a strong start, so I ask the Government to ensure its stable funding.

Second. We will have to significantly expand the technological capabilities of the Russian economy and ensure the growth of domestic industry capacities.

An industrial mortgage tool has been launched, and now a soft loan can be taken not only for the purchase of production areas, but also for their construction or modernization. The amount of such a loan was discussed many times and we wanted to increase it, a decent amount as a first step is very good: the amount of such a loan is up to 500 million rubles. It is granted at a rate of three or five percent for a period of up to seven years. I think it's a very good program, and you should use it.

Since this year, a new mode of operation of industrial clusters has been introduced, which reduces the fiscal and administrative burden on resident companies, and the demand for their innovative products, which are just entering the market, is supported by long-term orders and subsidies from the state.

It is estimated that these measures should ensure the implementation of high-demand projects in the amount of more than ten trillion rubles by 2030, and this year the expected amount of investment may reach about two trillion. Please note: these are not just forecasts, but clearly defined benchmarks.

Therefore, I ask the Government to speed up the launch of these projects as much as possible, lend a shoulder to business, and offer systematic support measures, including tax incentives. I know that the financial sector does not like to provide benefits, and I partially share this position: the tax system should be holistic, without any niches or exceptions, but a creative approach is in demand in this case.

So, starting this year, Russian companies can reduce their income tax payments if they purchase advanced domestic IT solutions and products using artificial intelligence. Moreover, these expenses are taken into account with an increased coefficient, one and a half times more than the actual costs. That is, for every ruble invested by the company in the purchase of such products, which I just mentioned, there is a tax deduction of one and a half rubles.

I propose to extend this tax benefit to the purchase of Russian high-tech equipment in general. I ask the Government to make proposals on the list of such equipment by the industries in which it is used, and the procedure for granting benefits. This is a good solution that will revive the economy.

The third. The most important issue on the agenda for developing economic growth is new sources of investment financing, and we also talk about this a lot.

Thanks to Russia's strong balance of payments, there is no need to borrow abroad, bow down, beg for money, and then have a long dialogue about what to give, how much, and on what terms. Domestic banks operate stably and sustainably, and have a solid margin of safety.

In 2022, the volume of bank loans to the corporate sector has grown, you know, it has grown. There were many concerns in this regard, but the growth was recorded, and it grew by 14 percent – this is more than in 2021, without any military operation. In 2021, the growth rate was 11.7 percent, and now it is 14. The mortgage portfolio has also increased-20.4 percent. Development is underway.

At the end of last year, the banking sector as a whole worked with profit. Yes, it is not as big as in previous years, but it is decent: the profit is 203 billion rubles. This is also an indicator of the sustainability of the Russian financial sector.

It is estimated that in the second quarter of this year, inflation in Russia will approach the target level of four percent. Let me remind you that in some EU countries it is already 12, 17, 20 percent, we have four, well, five-the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance understand each other, but it will be close to the target indicator. Taking into account the positive dynamics of this and other macroeconomic parameters, objective conditions are being formed for reducing long-term credit rates in the economy, which means that credit for the real sector should become more accessible.

Long-term savings of citizens are an important source of investment resources everywhere in the world, and we also need to encourage their inflow into the investment sphere. I ask the Government to speed up the submission of draft laws to the State Duma to launch the relevant state program as early as April of this year.

It is important to create additional conditions for citizens to invest money and earn money at home, within the country. At the same time, it is necessary to guarantee the safety of citizens ' investments in voluntary pension savings. It should have the same mechanism as in the bank deposit insurance system. Let me remind you that such deposits of citizens in the amount of up to one million 400 thousand rubles are insured by the state and their return is guaranteed. For voluntary pension savings, I propose to set twice the amount – up to two million 800 thousand rubles. It is also necessary to protect citizens ' investments in other long-term investment instruments, including from possible bankruptcy of financial intermediaries.

Separate solutions are needed to attract capital to fast-growing and high-tech businesses. They will be provided with support for the placement of shares on the domestic stock market, including tax incentives, both for companies and for buyers of such shares.

The most important element of economic sovereignty is the freedom of entrepreneurship. Let me repeat: it is private business that has proved, against the background of external attempts to contain Russia, that it is able to adapt to the rapidly changing market environment and ensure economic growth in difficult conditions. Therefore, every business initiative that benefits the country should be supported.

In this regard, I think it is right to return to the issue of revising a number of norms of criminal legislation in terms of so-called economic compounds. Of course, the state should control what is happening in this area, we should not allow permissiveness here, but there is no need to go too far. We need to move more actively towards this decriminalization, which I mentioned earlier. I hope that the Government, together with the Parliament, law enforcement agencies, and business associations will consistently and thoroughly carry out this work.

At the same time, I ask the Government, in close contact with the Parliament, to propose additional measures that will speed up the process of deoffshorization of the economy. Businesses, primarily in key sectors and industries, should operate in the Russian jurisdiction – this is a basic principle.

And in this regard, dear colleagues, a small philosophical digression. What would you like to say separately?

We remember the problems and imbalances that the late Soviet economy faced. Therefore, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its planned system, in the chaos of the 90s, the country began to create an economy based on market relations, private property – in general, everything is correct. In many ways, the Western countries served as an example here – as you know, there were a dime a dozen advisers here – and it seemed enough just to copy their models. However, they still argued among themselves, I remember this: the Europeans argued with the Americans about how to develop the Russian economy.

And what happened as a result? Our national economy has largely become oriented specifically to the West, primarily as a source of raw materials. The nuances, of course, were different, but in general as a source of raw materials. The reasons for this are also clear: the new, emerging Russian business was, of course, aimed, like all other businesses in all other countries, primarily at making a quick and easy profit. And what brought it? This is the sale of resources: oil, gas, metals, timber.

Few people thought about it, and maybe there was no such opportunity to invest for a long time, so other, more complex sectors of the economy developed poorly. And to break this negative trend – everyone saw it perfectly, in all governments – it took us years, adjusting the tax system and large-scale public investment.

We have achieved real, visible changes here. Yes, there is a result, but I repeat, we need to take into account the situation in which our, first of all, large-scale business developed. Technology - in the West, cheaper financial sources and profitable sales markets-in the West, of course, and capital began to flow there as well. Unfortunately, instead of going to expand production, buy equipment and technologies, and create new jobs here in Russia, they were also spent on foreign estates, yachts, and luxury real estate.

Yes, then they began to invest, of course, in development, but at the first stage everything went there in a wide stream, largely for these purposes – for consumption. And where there is wealth, there are naturally children, their education, their life, their future. And it was very difficult for the state to track and prevent such a development of the situation, almost impossible – we lived in the paradigm of the free market.

Recent events have clearly shown that the image of the West as a safe haven and haven of capital has turned out to be a ghost, a fake. And those who did not understand this in time, who considered Russia only as a source of income, and planned to live mainly abroad, lost a lot: they were simply robbed there, even legally earned funds were taken away.

Once, as a joke – many people probably remember-addressing representatives of Russian business, I said: you will get tired of swallowing dust, running around the courts and offices of Western officials, saving your money. That's exactly what happened.

You know, now I will add a very important-simple, but very important-thing: none of the ordinary citizens of the country, believe me, did not feel sorry for those who lost their capital in foreign banks, did not feel sorry for those who lost yachts, palaces abroad, and so on and so forth, and in conversations in the kitchen people probably They also recalled the privatization of the 90s, when enterprises created by the whole country went for a song, and the ostentatious, demonstrative luxury of the so-called new elites.

What else is fundamentally important? In all the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West has never given up trying to set fire to the post-Soviet states and, most importantly, finally finish off Russia as the largest preserved part of our historical state space. They encouraged and incited international terrorists against us, provoked regional conflicts along the perimeter of our borders, ignored our interests and used means of economic deterrence and suppression.

And large Russian businesses – why am I saying this-are responsible for the work of strategic enterprises, for thousands of employees, and determine the socio-economic situation in many regions, which means that the situation when managers and owners of such businesses find themselves dependent on governments that pursue unfriendly policies towards Russia is a threat to us a great threat, a danger – a danger for our country. This situation cannot be tolerated.

Yes, everyone has a choice: someone will want to live out their life in an arrested mansion with blocked accounts, try to find a place in a seemingly attractive Western capital or resort, in another warm place abroad - this is the right of any person, we do not even attempt it. But it's time to understand that for the West, such people were and will remain second-rate outsiders, with whom you can do anything, and money, and connections, and purchased titles of counts, peers,mayors will not help at all. They need to understand that they are second – class there.

But there is another choice: to be with your homeland, to work for your compatriots, not only to open new businesses, but also to change the life around you – in cities, towns, and in your own country. And we have a lot of such entrepreneurs, such real fighters in business – they are the future of domestic business. Everyone should understand that both the sources of well-being and the future should be only here, in their native country, in Russia.

And then we will really create a strong, self-sufficient economy that does not close itself off from the world, but uses all its competitive advantages. Russian capital, the money received here, should work for the country, for its national development. Today, we have huge prospects in the development of infrastructure, manufacturing, domestic tourism, and many other sectors.

I want to be heard by those who have encountered the wolfish habits of the West: trying to run around with an outstretched hand, humiliating yourself, begging for your money, is pointless and, most importantly, useless, especially now that you understand well who you are dealing with. Now you should not cling to the past, try to sue for something, beg for it. You need to rebuild your life and your work, especially since you are strong people – I appeal to representatives of our business, I know many of them personally and for many years-who have passed a difficult life school.

Launch new projects, earn money, invest in Russia, invest in enterprises and jobs, help schools and universities, science and health, culture and sports. This is how you can increase your capital and earn recognition and gratitude from people for a generation to come, and the state and society will certainly support you.

We will assume that this is a parting message to our business – to build work in the right direction.

Dear colleagues!

Russia is an open country and at the same time an original civilization. In this statement, there is no claim to exclusivity and superiority, but this civilization is ours-that's what matters. It was passed down to us by our ancestors, and we must preserve it for our descendants and pass it on.

We will develop cooperation with our friends, with all those who are ready to work together, we will adopt all the best, but first of all count on our potential, on the creative energy of Russian society, on our traditions and values.

And here I want to say about the character of our people: they have always been distinguished by generosity, breadth of soul, mercy and compassion, and Russia as a country fully reflects these features. We know how to be friends, keep our word, do not let anyone down and always support in a difficult situation, without hesitation we come to the aid of those who are in trouble.

Everyone remembers how during the pandemic, we were the first to provide support to some European countries, including Italy and other countries, during the most difficult weeks of the covid outbreak. Let's not forget how we come to the rescue in the event of an earthquake in Syria, in Turkey.

It is the people of Russia who are the basis of the country's sovereignty, the source of power. The rights and freedoms of our citizens are inviolable, they are guaranteed by the Constitution, and despite external challenges and threats, we will not back down from them.

In this regard, I would like to emphasize that both the local and regional government elections in September this year and the presidential elections in 2024 will be held in strict accordance with the law, in compliance with all democratic and constitutional procedures.

Elections are always different approaches to solving social and economic problems. At the same time, the leading political forces are consolidated and united in the main thing, and the main thing that is fundamental for all of us is the security and well – being of the people, sovereignty and national interests.

I want to thank you for such a responsible and firm position and remind you of the words of the patriot and statesman Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin-they were said in the State Duma more than a hundred years ago, but they are fully consonant with our time. He said: "In defending Russia, we must all unite and coordinate our efforts, our responsibilities and our rights in order to maintain one historical supreme right – the right of Russia to be strong."

Among the volunteers who are now on the front line, there are deputies of the State Duma, regional parliaments, representatives of executive authorities at various levels, municipalities, cities, districts, rural settlements. All parliamentary parties and leading public associations participate in the collection of humanitarian supplies and help the front.

Thank you again – thank you for such a patriotic position.

Local self – government, which is the closest level of public authority to people, plays a huge role in strengthening civil society and solving everyday problems. Trust in the state as a whole, the social well-being of citizens, and their confidence in the successful development of the entire country largely depend on its work.

I ask the Presidential Administration, together with the Government, to submit proposals for creating tools to directly support the best management teams and practices in large, medium and small municipalities.

The free development of society is a willingness to take responsibility for yourself and your loved ones, for your country. Such qualities are laid down from childhood, in the family. And of course, the education system and national culture are extremely important for strengthening our common values and national identity.

Using the resources of the Presidential Grants Fund, the Foundation for Cultural Initiatives, the Internet Development Institute, and other tools, the state will support all forms of creative search – modern and traditional art, realism and avant-garde, classics and innovation. It's not about genres and directions. Culture is designed to serve goodness, beauty, harmony, reflect on sometimes very complex, contradictory issues of life, and most importantly-not to destroy society, but to awaken the best human qualities.

The development of the cultural sphere will be one of the priorities for the revival of peaceful life in the Donbas and Novorossiya. Here we will need to restore, repair and equip hundreds of cultural institutions, including museum funds and buildings, that give people the opportunity to feel the relationship between the past and the present, connect it with the future, and feel that they belong to a single cultural, historical, and educational space of centuries-old, great Russia.

With the participation of teachers, scientists, and specialists, we must seriously improve the quality of school and university courses in the humanities, first of all – history, social studies, literature, and geography – so that young people can learn as much as possible about Russia, its great past, and our culture and traditions.

We have a very bright and talented young generation that is ready to work for the good of the country in science, culture, social sphere, business and public administration. It is for such people that the Leaders of Russia contest opens up new horizons for professional growth, as well as the Leaders of Rebirth contest currently being held in new regions of the Russian Federation.

I would like to note that a number of winners and finalists of these projects volunteered for combat units, and many are now working in the liberated territories, helping to establish economic and social life, while acting professionally, decisively and courageously.

In general, the school of military operations – there is no substitute for it. People come out of there differently and are ready to lay down their lives for the Fatherland, no matter where they work.

I want to emphasize that those who were born and raised in the Donbas and Novorossia, who fought for them, will be the main support and should be the main support in the overall development of these regions. I want to address them and say: Russia is counting on you.

Taking into account the large-scale challenges facing the country, we must seriously update our approaches to the personnel training system and scientific and technological policy.

At the recent Council on Science and Education, we spoke about the need to clearly set priorities and concentrate resources on obtaining concrete, fundamentally significant scientific results, primarily in those areas where we have good groundwork and which are critical for the country's life, including transport, energy, the housing and utilities system, medicine, and agriculture economy, industry.

New technologies are almost always based on fundamental research, once done fundamental research, and in this area, as well as in culture – I want to emphasize this – we must give scientists and researchers more freedom to create. You can't force everyone into the Procrustean bed of tomorrow's results. Fundamental science lives by its own laws.

And I will add that setting and solving ambitious tasks is a powerful incentive for young people to go into science, an opportunity to prove that you are a leader, that you are the best in the world. And our research teams have something to be proud of.

Last December, I met with young researchers. One of the questions they raised was housing. The prose is such, but important. We already have housing certificates for young scientists. Last year, an additional one billion rubles were allocated for this purpose. I instruct the Government to determine the reserves for expanding this program.

In recent years, the prestige and authority of secondary vocational education has significantly increased. The demand for graduates of technical schools and colleges is simply huge, colossal. You see, if our unemployment rate has fallen to a historic low of 3.7 percent, it means that people are working, and new personnel are needed.

I believe that we should significantly expand the "Professionalitet" project, which creates educational and industrial clusters, updates the training base, and enterprises and employers, in close contact with colleges and technical schools, form educational programs based on the needs of the economy. And of course, it is very important that mentors with experience in real, complex production come to this area.

The goal is specific – over the next five years, we will train about a million specialists in working professions for the electronics industry, robotics, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and the defense industry, construction, transport, nuclear and other industries that are key to ensuring Russia's security, sovereignty and competitiveness.

Finally, a very important question is about our higher school. There are also significant changes taking into account new requirements for specialists in the economy, social sectors, and in all spheres of our life. We need a synthesis of all the best that was in the Soviet education system, and the experience of recent decades.

In this regard, the following is suggested.

The first is to return to the traditional basic training of specialists with higher education in our country. The duration of training can be from four to six years. At the same time, even within the same specialty and one university, programs may be offered that differ in the duration of training, depending on the specific profession, industry, and labor market demand.

Secondly, if the profession requires additional training, narrow specialization, then in this case the young person will be able to continue their education in a master's degree or residency.

Third – a separate level of professional education will be allocated to postgraduate studies, the task of which is to train personnel for scientific and teaching activities.

I want to emphasize that the transition to the new system should be smooth. The Government, together with parliamentarians, will need to make numerous amendments to the legislation on education, on the labor market, and so on. Here you need to think through everything, work out to the smallest detail. Young people and our citizens should have new opportunities for high-quality education, employment, and professional growth. I'll say it again: opportunities, not problems.

And I would like to emphasize that those students who are studying now will be able to continue their education according to the current programs. And the level of training and higher education diplomas of citizens who have already completed training in the current bachelor's, specialty or master's degree programs are also not subject to revision. They should not lose their rights. I ask the All-Russian Popular Front to take all issues related to changes in the field of higher education under special control.

This year has been declared the Year of the Teacher and Mentor in Russia. The teacher is directly involved in building the future of the country, and it is important to increase the social significance of teaching, so that parents tell their children more about gratitude to the teacher, and teachers – about respect and love for their parents. Let's always remember this.

I will focus separately on the support of childhood and Russian families.

I would like to point out that the so-called children's budget, or the amount of budget expenditures for supporting families, has increased significantly in Russia in recent years, not by any percentage. It is the fastest-growing section of the country's main financial document – the budget, the budget law. I would like to thank the parliamentarians and the Government for such a unified and consolidated understanding of our national priorities.

Since February 1, maternity capital in Russia has again been indexed, as we said, by the amount of actual inflation over the past year, that is, by 11.9 percent. Russian citizens – residents of the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation-now have the right to such a measure of support. I propose to provide maternity capital in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to families in which children were born since 2007, that is, from the moment when this program began to operate throughout Russia. Let me remind you that we made the same decision for the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol.

We will continue to implement large-scale programs aimed at improving the well-being of Russian families.

I would like to emphasize that the Government and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have been assigned a substantive task – to ensure a noticeable, tangible increase in real wages in Russia.

An important indicator, the starting point here is the minimum wage, as we well understand. Last year, it was raised twice, for a total of almost 20 percent.

We will continue to increase the minimum wage, and at a rate higher than inflation and wage growth. Since the beginning of this year, the minimum wage has been indexed by 6.3 percent.

I suggest that starting from January 1 next year, in addition to the planned increase, we hold another one – by an additional ten percent. Thus, the minimum wage will increase by 18.5 percent to 19,242 rubles.

Now, as for the adjustment of the tax system in the interests of Russian families: starting last year, families with two or more children are exempt from paying home sales tax if they decide to purchase a new, more spacious apartment or house.

We need to make more active use of such tools – they have proved to be in demand-so that family budgets have more funds, and families can solve the most important, pressing problems.

I propose to increase the amount of the social tax deduction: for expenses for children's education-from the current 50 thousand to 110 thousand rubles a year, and for expenses for their own education, as well as for treatment and purchase of medicines – from 120 to 150 thousand rubles. The state will return 13 percent of these increased amounts to citizens from the income tax paid by them.

And of course, it is necessary not only to raise the amount of the deduction, but also to increase its demand, so that the deduction is provided in a proactive mode, quickly and remotely, without burdening citizens.

Further, the well-being and quality of life of Russian families, and hence the demographic situation, directly depend on the state of affairs in the social sphere.

I know that many regions of the Russian Federation are ready to significantly accelerate the renewal of social infrastructure, cultural and sports facilities, the resettlement of dilapidated housing, and the integrated development of rural areas. This attitude will certainly be supported.

We use the following mechanism here: the regions will be able to receive and use funds for national projects that are reserved in the federal budget for 2024 right now through interest-free treasury loans – they will be automatically repaid in April next year. A good tool.

We will keep this issue under constant operational control, and I ask that the State Council Commission on Economics and Finance be involved in this work.

At the same time, we do not need storming and chasing volumes, especially at the expense of the quality of the objects being built. Additional financial resources should work with high efficiency and efficiency.

This is especially important for the modernization of primary health care – such a large-scale program was launched in our country in 2021. I ask the Government and regional leaders not to forget that the main criterion, as I have said many times before, is not the figures in the reports, but concrete, visible, tangible changes in the availability and quality of medical care.

I also instruct the Government to adjust the regulatory framework for organizing purchases of ambulances with a set of diagnostic equipment. They allow you to conduct medical examinations and preventive examinations directly at enterprises, schools, institutions, and remote localities.

We have launched a large school renewal program. By the end of this year, a total of almost three and a half thousand school buildings will be put in order. Please note that most of them are located in rural areas, and we did this on purpose. This year, such work is also underway in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. It is meaningful and visible, and people really see what is happening. It is very good.

Starting in 2025, federal funds for the repair and renovation of kindergartens, schools, technical schools and colleges will be allocated to the regions on a regular, systematic basis, in order to prevent situations when buildings are in a neglected state.

Further: we have set a significant goal – to build more than 1,300 new schools between 2019 and 2024. 850 of them have already been opened. It is planned that 400 more will be introduced this year. I ask the regions to maintain these plans, to maintain them clearly. The amount of funding for this program from the federal budget from 2019 to 2024 is almost 490 billion rubles. We do not reduce these costs, we will keep it all.

This year, we have increased the volume of infrastructure budget loans. I would like to emphasize that we are sending an additional 250 billion rubles for the development of transport, municipal and other infrastructure in the regions.

I instruct the Government to allocate an additional 50 billion rubles in addition to these funds – they will be used specifically to upgrade public transport in the regions of the Russian Federation this year, and on the basis of modern technologies. At the same time, please pay special attention to small towns and rural areas.

We have already decided to extend the Clean Air project until 2030, which aims to improve the environmental situation in the largest industrial centers. I would like to draw the attention of both industrial companies and regional and local authorities: the task of significantly reducing harmful emissions is not removed from the agenda.

I would like to add that we have made good progress in reforming the waste management industry. We are increasing our processing and sorting capacities to move to a closed-loop economy. The priority is further elimination of old garbage dumps and dangerous objects of accumulated damage. I ask the Government, together with the regions, to prepare a list of those objects of accumulated damage that will be eliminated after the current program is completed.

We will continue to improve the health of unique water bodies, including Lake Baikal and the Volga, and in the medium term we will extend this work to our rivers such as the Don, Kama, Irtysh, Ural, Terek, Volkhov and Neva, and Lake Ilmen. We must not forget about our medium and small rivers. I draw the attention of all levels of government to this.

According to the instructions given earlier, a draft law on the development of tourism in specially protected natural areas has also been prepared. We recently discussed it with our colleagues from the Government. It should clearly define what and where it is possible and what it is not possible to build, and in general the principles of the ecotourism industry. This is a very important issue for our country. I ask the State Duma to speed up the consideration of this draft law.

Now a few more words about what is happening around us.

Dear colleagues, I will focus on one more topic.

In early February of this year, the North Atlantic Alliance issued a statement with a de facto demand that Russia, as they put it, return to implementing the strategic offensive arms Treaty, including allowing inspections at our nuclear defense facilities. But I don't even know what to call it. This is some kind of absurd theater.

We know that the West is directly involved in the attempts of the Kiev regime to strike at the bases of our strategic aviation. The drones used for this purpose were equipped and upgraded with the assistance of NATO specialists. And now they also want to inspect our defense facilities? In the current conditions of today's confrontation, this sounds like some kind of nonsense.

At the same time, I would like to draw your special attention to the fact that we are not allowed to conduct full – fledged inspections under this agreement. Our repeated requests for inspection of certain objects remain unanswered or are rejected on formal grounds, and we can't really check anything on the other side.

I want to emphasize that the United States and NATO explicitly say that their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. And what, after that, as if nothing had happened, they are going to drive around our defense facilities, including the newest ones? A week ago, for example, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic complexes on combat duty. Are they going to stick their noses in there too? And they think that it's so easy – we will let them go there just like that?

By issuing its collective statement, NATO has effectively made a bid to become a party to the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty. We agree to this, please. Moreover, we believe that such a question is long overdue, because NATO, let me remind you, consists of more than one nuclear power-the United States, Great Britain and France also have nuclear arsenals, they are being improved, developed and also directed against us – they are also directed against Russia. The latest statements of their leaders only confirm this-listen.

We simply cannot and should not ignore this, especially today, as well as the fact that the first Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty was originally concluded by the Soviet Union and the United States in 1991 in a fundamentally different situation: in conditions of reducing tensions and strengthening mutual trust. In the future, our relations reached such a level that Russia and the United States declared that they no longer consider each other adversaries. Great, everything was very good.

The current Treaty of 2010 contains the most important provisions on the indivisibility of security, on the direct relationship between strategic offensive and defensive weapons issues. All this has long been forgotten, the United States has withdrawn from the ABM Treaty, as you know, everything is in the past. Our relations, which is very important, have degraded, and this is entirely the" merit " of the United States.

It was they who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, began to review the results of World War II, to build an American-style world in which there is only one master, one master. To do this, they began to brutally destroy all the foundations of the world order laid after the Second World War, in order to erase the legacy of both Yalta and Potsdam. Step by step, they began to revise the existing world order, dismantle security and arms control systems, and planned and implemented a whole series of wars around the world.

And all this, I repeat, with one goal – to break the architecture of international relations created after the Second World War. This is not a figure of speech – this is what happens in practice, in real life: after the collapse of the USSR, they seek to fix their global dominance forever, regardless of the interests of modern Russia and the interests of other countries, too.

Of course, the situation in the world has changed since 1945. New centers of development and influence have been formed and are rapidly developing. This is a natural, objective process that cannot be ignored. But it is unacceptable that the United States began to redraw the world order just for itself, exclusively in its own, selfish interests.

Now, through representatives of NATO, they send signals, and in fact put forward an ultimatum: you, Russia, fulfill everything that you have agreed to, including the START Treaty, without question, and we will behave as we please. They say that there is no connection between the New START issue and, say, the conflict in Ukraine, other hostile actions of the West against our country, as well as there are no loud statements that they want to inflict a strategic defeat on us. This is either the height of hypocrisy and cynicism, or the height of stupidity, but you can't call them idiots – they are not stupid people after all. They want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and climb on our nuclear facilities.

In this regard, I have to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty. I repeat, it does not withdraw from the Agreement, but rather suspends its participation. But before we go back to discussing this issue, we need to understand for ourselves what such countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as France and Great Britain still claim, and how we will take into account their strategic arsenals, that is, the total strike potential of the alliance.

They have now made a statement, in fact, an application for participation in this process. Well, thank God, come on, we don't mind. You don't just need to try to lie to everyone again, to pretend to be champions of peace and detente. We know the whole story: we know that the warranty periods of validity for combat use of certain types of nuclear weapons of the United States are expiring. And in this regard, some figures in Washington, as we know for certain, are already thinking about the possibility of natural tests of their nuclear weapons, including taking into account the fact that the United States is developing new types of nuclear weapons. This information is available.

In this situation, the Russian Defense Ministry and Rosatom should ensure readiness for testing Russian nuclear weapons. Of course, we will not be the first to do this, but if the United States conducts tests,then we will conduct them. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed.

Dear colleagues! Dear citizens of Russia,

Today we are going through a difficult, difficult path together and overcome all difficulties together. It could not have been otherwise, because we were brought up on the example of our great ancestors and must be worthy of their precepts, which are passed down from generation to generation. We only go forward because of our loyalty to the Motherland, our will and our unity.

This unity was evident literally from the first days of the special military operation: hundreds of volunteers, representatives of all the peoples of our country came to the military enlistment offices, decided to stand next to the defenders of Donbass, fight for their native land, for the Fatherland, for truth and justice. Now soldiers from all regions of our multinational Homeland are fighting shoulder to shoulder on the front line. Their prayers are heard in different languages, but they are all for victory, for comrades in arms, for the Motherland. (Applause.)

Their hard, military work, their feat find a powerful response throughout Russia. People support our fighters, they don't want to, they can't stay away. The front is now passing through the hearts of millions of our people, they are sending medicines, communications equipment, equipment, transport, warm clothes, camouflage nets and so on-everything that helps save the lives of our children.

I know how letters from children and schoolchildren warm up front-line soldiers. They take them with them to battle as the most precious thing, because the sincerity and purity of children's wishes touch to tears, the fighters have a stronger understanding of what they are fighting for, who they are protecting.

It is very important for soldiers and their families, for civilians, and the care that volunteers surround them with. From the very beginning of the special operation, they act boldly and decisively: under fire and shelling, they take children, the elderly, and everyone who is in trouble out of their basements, deliver food, water, and clothing to hot spots, deploy humanitarian aid centers for refugees, and help in field hospitals and on the contact line by risking themselves, they save and continue to save others.

The Popular Front alone raised more than five billion rubles as part of the "All for Victory!" initiative. This flow of donations is constant. Everyone's contribution is equally important here: both a large company and entrepreneurs, but it is especially touching and inspiring when people with modest incomes transfer part of their savings, salaries and pensions. Such unity to help our soldiers, civilians in the war zone, and refugees is worth a lot.

Thank you for this sincere support, solidarity, and mutual assistance. They cannot be overestimated.

Russia will respond to any challenges, because we are all one country, one big and united people. We are confident in ourselves, confident in our abilities. The truth is ours. (Applause.)

Thanks.