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New Russian cabinet gathers for first meeting

The meeting’s agenda includes a number of financial and economic issues related to the federal budget

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Members of the newly-formed Russian government have gathered for the first meeting on Tuesday.

Several people are for the first time participating in the event as cabinet members, including Deputy Prime Ministers Maksim Akimov, Yuri Borisov and Konstantin Chuichenko, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev, Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh, Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev, Natural Resources Minister Dmitry Kobylkin, Minister for the Development of the Far East Alexander Kozlov, Minister of Science and Education Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Konstantin Noskov, Minister for the Development of the North Caucasus Sergei Chebotarev and Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev. Deputy Prime Ministers Tatyana Golikova and Alexei Gordeyev have rejoined the cabinet after a break and taking other positions.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delayed his visits to Cuba and Argentina in order to participate in the first meeting of the renewed cabinet. "Due to various activities of the newly formed government, the foreign minister’s visits to Argentina and Cuba will not go as planned," the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu are absent from the meeting. Manturov, who is a co-chair of the Russian-Bulgarian intergovernmental commission, is expected to take part in Tuesday’s talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in Sochi. Shoigu is currently on a visit to Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent holding talks with his Uzbek counterpart Abdusalom Azizov.

The meeting’s agenda includes a number of financial and economic issues related to the federal budget, as well as to the budgets of the Pension Fund, Social Insurance Fund and the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. Besides, the cabinet will also consider bills concerning transport, the fight against corruption, science and technology and some other areas.