Vladimir Putin: “The involvement of citizens in the affairs of a country determines the success of a state”

(KZN.RU, February 20, Ksenia Shvetsova). The results of the implementation of national development projects should be visible in every subject and in every municipality of the country. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, stated this during the annual address to the Federal Assembly, which was held today in the Gostiny Dvor. He proposed to reduce the tax burden on the family according to the number of children, urged the regions to ensure the availability of kindergartens and suggested introducing a “mortgage vacation”. The speech of the President lasted for almost 1.5 hours.

Members are the Council of the Federation, deputies of the State Duma, members of the Government, leaders of the Constitutional, Supreme and Arbitration Courts, the governor's corps, chairmen of legislative assemblies of the subjects of the Federation, heads of traditional religions, public figures, including heads of public chambers of regions, heads of major media were among the invited. Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the RT, and Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, attended the event.

The address was focused on issues of domestic social and economic development. The President of the RF paid special attention to the tasks set in the May decree. Their content reflects the needs and expectations of citizens, marked V. Putin. “These tasks require great efforts from us, but they correspond to the scale and speed of changes in the world. If someone prefers to work as he used to, to avoid initiative and responsibility, then it is better to leave immediately. With such attitude, it is better not to approach the work”, said the President.

A special role in achieving the objectives set is played by national projects, which should be implemented in all regions of the country, noted V. Putin. “I want to emphasize and repeat: our development projects are not federal and, moreover, not departmental. They are national. Their results should be visible in every subject of the Federation, in every municipality. The main body of specific tasks is being implemented there, in the field”, he marked.

Last week, one of the national projects "Housing and the urban environment” was discussed with the participation of Vladimir Putin in Kazan. This meeting was the first in a series of discussions on national projects that should ensure the country's movement in main areas of development.

“On the basis of the opinion, assessments of citizens at the beginning of next year, we will summarize the first work results on national projects. And we will draw the appropriate conclusions about the quality and work results at all levels of the executive branch”, noted the President of the RF.

The number of mortgage and consumer loans in Russia is growing today. In order to support the citizens, the President of the RF proposed to introduce additional legislative guarantees. “Anything can happen in life: one could lose a job or get a serious illness. And in this situation, he should not be driven into a dead end, and it is meaningless even from an economic point of view”, said V. Putin. He suggested introducing “mortgage holiday  ”for citizens who for various reasons lost their income while paying a loan for housing.

“We recently talked about this in Kazan”, reminded the President of the RF. “We need to give people the opportunity to keep their only housing, to move the loan and to pay it off later”.

V. Putin ordered to think over the mechanism for implementing new support and do not harm financial institutions and help people in difficult situations.

Special measures to support the payment of mortgages are planned to provide for families with children. Since last year, the program of preferential mortgages with a rate of 6% has been in effect for families in which the second or subsequent child was born, reminded the President of the RT. He noted that today only 4.5 thousand families have used the benefit.

“I propose to establish a benefit for the entire term of the mortgage loan”, said Putin.

Also, the head of the country proposed to increase the federal benefit on real estate tax for large families, additionally exempting 5 square meters in the apartment and 7 square meters in the house from tax for each child. “This should be very simple: more children – less tax,” said the President. This benefit will be provided for citizens of pre-retirement age, added V. Putin.

A difficult demographic period has begun in Russia. But at the turn of 2023-2024, it is planned to achieve the resumption of natural population growth. Implementation of various support programs for large families is planned for this purpose. Along with their implementation, it is necessary to solve the problem of shortage of nurseries, which is still relevant for almost all regions, said V. Putin. Today there is almost all-round accessibility of kindergartens for children over 3 years old.

Until 2021, it is necessary to completely solve the problem with nurseries, create at least 270 thousand new places, including the non-state sector. And 90 thousand places should be created already this year.

“For three years, 147 billion rubles should be allocated from the federal and regional budgets for these purposes”, said V. Putin.

This year, it is planned to build 11 new kindergartens in Kazan, the work has already started at 10 sites. In total, it is planned to create 2510 pre-school places under the federal and republican programs this year. 1110 places will be created in nursery groups. In addition, plots for the construction of 20 kindergartens for 4440 places are being formed in the framework of the federal project “Demography” for 2020-2021.

Enrollment in nurseries and kindergartens, as well as registration of benefits, allowances, tax deductions should occur without additional statements, marked V. Putin. He explained that until the end of 2020, the provision of all key public services should be translated into a proactive format, “when it is enough to send a request for a service, and the system should do the rest on its own automatically”.

Another important topic that V. Putin mentioned in his address was the training of professional personnel. It is necessary to build a modern research and development model for technological development. For this purpose, scientific and educational centers are being created in the regions. They are designed to integrate all levels of education, opportunities of scientific organizations and business, noted the President of the RF. Within three years, such centers should be established in 15 regions of the country. Kazan along with Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk has become one of the four cities in Russia, where the scientific and educational mathematics center have been opened.

“At the end of August, the WorldSkills World Championships will take place in Russia”, reminded the President. “Let's wish our team every success. This success is significant for increasing the prestige of working professions and specialties. A passion for the profession, creativity, is formed in the green years”. Relying on the experience of the WorldSkills movement, it is necessary to accelerate the modernization of secondary vocational education, said the President of the RF. He noted that by 2022, it is planned to re-equip more than 2000 workshops in colleges and technical schools.

Over the next three years, about a million new places in the system of additional education will be created through the expansion of the network of children's technology parks, quantoriums, centers of digital and natural science, and humanitarian development. “I generally want to draw the attention of young people. Your talent, energy, creative abilities are among the strongest competitive advantages in Russia. We understand this and appreciate it very much”, said V. Putin.

The WorldSkills Championship in Kazan 2019 will be held in Kazan from 22 to 27 of August. Young professionals from 60 countries of the world will take part in 56 competencies of the tournament. From 20 to 24 of May, the capital of the RT will host the finals of the VII National Championship “Young Professionals”.

Separately, Vladimir Putin focused on the topic of solid waste management, noting that the problem of growing landfills and the lack of recycling in the country had never been dealt with. Today, this is one of the main issues for each region. “At the same time, it is necessary to increase the share of waste treatment from the current 8–9% to 60%, in order not to accumulate new millions of tons of garbage”, said the President. He urged all citizens to actively engage in the work on introducing separate garbage collection.

Also in his address, V. Putin mentioned the issues of healthcare development, the introduction of modern equipment in social institutions, the interaction of government with business, and many others.

At the end of his speech, the President of the RF noted that the development of the country depends on the results of each person’s labor. Therefore everyone needs to find a business by vocation and liking. “The general confidence in our forces, the involvement of citizens in the affairs of a country are essential for achieving success”, concluded V. Putin.