MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin supported the call for creating a permanent civil forum but disagreed that his confidants should be its active participants.
“We have a special relationship,” Putin said top his confidants on Monday, December 10, reaping applause.
He said full trust has been established between him and his confidants.
Speaking of the civil forum, Putin agreed that “this is an important and relevant thing”.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin supported the proposal to establish civil control over government bodies at different levels.
“This is extremely important work and civil initiative is very relevant nowadays,” Putin said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
“There are nearly one million bodies that exercise control,” the president added and admitted that their work is not effective enough.
“We should think about how to support them” and urged his administration to think about this.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said imprisonment should be obligatory in the fight against corruption.
At the same time, Putin said, “The point is that punishment shall be unavoidable.”
Putin stressed that the latest anti-corruption cases “are not the campaign. But this is the long-term policy.”
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin warned against bureaucratising the institution of presidential confidants.
One of them suggested at a meeting with Putin on Monday, December 10, that their status be officially formalised and they were given certificates confirming it.
“And then you would also want a car and a secretary,” Putin replied with irony.
“Let’s not bureaucratise this work,” he added.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin called for making small aircraft in Russia for the needs of local air services.
“With such a huge territory and underdeveloped infrastructure, car and railroad one, we need to develop local air services,” Putin said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
In his opinion, “We should certainly restore local air services using our own capacities.”
Putin believes that foreign companies can be engaged in this process, “with their capital and expertise, but production should be in Russia”.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin intends to discuss further development of Russian Post with the government.
“We will certainly focus our attention on this and I will go back to this with the government,” Putin said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
One of them told the president that Russian Post is in dire straits.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin will have talks with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on December 14.
Putin and Rousseff, who will be in Russia on an official visit, will discuss expansion and diversification of bilateral trade, prospects for deepening strategic partnership in such areas as energy, space exploration, scientific and technical cooperation, personnel training, and cultural and humanitarian ties, the presidential press service said on Monday, December 10.
MOSCOW — Russia should take its place in geopolitics by protecting its national interests and correlating them with the interests of its foreign partners, President Vladimir Putin said.
“We should find our own place in this geopolitical system,” Putin said on Monday, December 10. “We should do this in a modern way, not through confrontation but by protecting our national interests and correlating them with the interests of our partners and taking them into account,” he said.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Western politician’s remarks that by creating the Customs Union Russia is trying to restore the Soviet Union are “nonsense”.
“It’s very strange for me to hear that the Customs Union [being created by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan] is the revival of Soviet ambitions. What nonsense!” he said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin does not see anything extraordinary in the protest actions in 2011 and is convinced that the Russians do not want any revolution.
“Nothing extraordinary happened in our country. Public, particularly protesting activities, are growing in any country during the election campaigns,” the president said at a meeting with his electioneering agents on Monday.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said additional support to single mothers and single-parent households can be possible.
“We must tune society in such a way as to treat all children, regardless whether they come from two-parent or single-parent families, and all mothers equally,” Putin said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin promised that the state would not forget the problems of people with disabilities.
“We maintain contact with organisations of people with disabilities and we will continue these direct contacts,” Putin said at a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10.
“We will detect the most sensitive things and respond to them,” he added. “We will not leave them without attention.”
There are about 10 million people with disabilities in Russia. “Employing them is the main problem,” Putin said.
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin does not rule out that the Russian government will adjust the plans to privatize Russian Railways (RZD) and to increase the prices for the train tickets in the third-class sleepers.
“This issue is very important, certainly some adjustment is needed. The government thinks and I think that some adjustment will be made,” the president at a meeting with his electioneering agents on Monday. An electioneering agent reminded Putin of the plans to privatize a RZD stake in 2013 and a 20% growth in the prices for the train tickets in the third-class sleepers starting from January 1, 2013.
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin called for restoring the Hero of Labour title in Russia.
At a meeting with his confidants on Monday, December 10, Putin supported test pilot Magomed Tolboyev’s proposal to restore the title and said that there must be “clear criteria [for awarding the title]”.
GORKI — The Russian government at its next meeting will consider a draft state program for the development of the North Caucasus Federal District for the period until 2025, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting on the development of the fuel and energy complex of the North Caucasus Federal District on Monday.
GORKI — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave North Caucasus’ power companies the last chance to improve their fiscal discipline.
Fiscal discipline in the North Caucasus will be restored with the help of law enforcement agencies and modern technologies, Medvedev said.
He stressed that non-payments for electricity in the North Caucasus have reached a critical point and have exceeded 20 billion roubles.
GORKI — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met with International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder on Monday, December 10.
“Russia will be an active participant of events organised by the ILO as we find its work quite useful and take part in different programmes, have ratified a large number of conventions but we will continue the work to update our legislation,” Medvedev said.
GORKI — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the “road map” for state cadastral registration of rights to immovable property.
“I can say that I have approved the ‘road map’ for state cadastre and registration of the rights to immovable property,” Medvedev said at a meeting with his deputies on Monday, December 10.
He expressed hope that “this will make it possible to provide services faster and improve the reliability of information in the unified state cadastre”.
GORKI — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a resolution that limits hotel prices in Sochi during the upcoming Winter Olympic Games to be held in this Black sea resort city in 2014.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak noted at a meeting between the prime minister and his deputies on Monday, December 10, that single-bed should cost no more than 2,900 roubles rooms in two-star hotels and 4,000 roubles in three-star hotels.
The prime minister urged his deputies to watch the prices so ensure that the hotel owners do not invent “surrogate charges” for their guests.
GORKI — Fiscal discipline in the North Caucasus will be restored with the help of law enforcement agencies and modern technologies, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting on the development of the fuel and energy sector in the region, held on Monday, December 10.
He stressed that non-payments for electricity in the North Caucasus have reached a critical point and have exceeded 20 billion roubles.
“Law enforcement agencies should deal with the most glaring cases, and everything must be done to restore payment discipline,” Medvedev said.
MOSCOW — Deputies defence minister will be in charge of the ministry’s main directorates, directorates and departments, which were earlier subordinated to the minister, First Deputy Defence Minister Arkady Colonel-General Bakhin said on Monday.
“Deputies defence minister will be in charge of all central structures, including the structures, which were directly subordinated to the defence minister. This was done to make the control system of the Russian Armed Forces more efficient,” Bakhin told journalists.
MOSCOW — Russia’s Defence Ministry has recreated the Main Combat Training Directorate (GUBP), one of the main tasks of which will be raising combat effectiveness of multi-service force groupings, First Deputy Defence Minister Colonel-General Arkady Bakhin told journalists on Monday.
MOSCOW — State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin and the leaders of all factions have submitted a draft law, which responds to the U.S. Magnitsky Act.
Information on the draft law has been placed on the State Duma website.
Naryshkin said on Monday that the document could be debated in the State Duma this week.
MOSCOW — The Federation Council will approve a Russian legislative response to the Magnitsky Act after it has been passed by the State Duma.
The Federation Council intends to do so before the end of the year, the upper house’s Deputy Chairman Alexander Torshin said on Monday, December 10.
MOSCOW — The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has confirmed its previous forecast of GDP growth in 2012 at 3.5 percent.
“The GDP projection remains unchanged,” Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10.
According to the ministry, GDP will grow by 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.
MOSCOW — The Ministry of Economic Development has lowered its forecast for industrial production in 2012.
Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10, that the forecast has been revisited from 3.6 percent to 3.2 percent.
He believes that official statistics can be even lower at about 2.8 percent.
MOSCOW — The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has specified its forecast for the balance of foreign trade in 20120–2013.
Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10, that the surplus is expected at around 195 billion U.S. dollars compared to 191 billion U.S. dollars projected earlier.
The forecast for 2013 has also be raised from 125 billion U.S. dollars to 132 billion U.S. dollars.
MOSCOW — The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has downgraded its oil export forecast for 2012 to 239.6 million tonnes, Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10.
Earlier, the ministry projected the oil export to be 241.1 million tonnes.
The forecast for 2013 has been raised from 238 million tonnes to 240 million tonnes.
MOSCOW — Capital outflow in Russia in 2012 may reach 73–75 billion U.S. dollars, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10.
The ministry earlier projected the capital outflow at 50–60 billion U.S. dollars.
MOSCOW — Inflation in Russia in 2012 may be 6.5 percent and the average annual inflation 5.1 percent, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10.
“Inflation is lower than we expected and we think it will be 6.5 percent year on year, if it is around 0.5 percent in December,” he said.
The forecast for 2013 remains unchanged – 5–6 percent, but the average annual indicator will be much lower – 6.7 percent instead of 7.1 percent projected earlier.
TYUMEN — The fuel and energy complex of Yamal is currently undergoing a new stage of development. “Over the first eight months of this year, the most recent data are now being specified, enterprises and organisations have invested in the real sector of the economy of the autonomous area more than 280 billion roubles. Basically, these are resources of the oil and gas industry,” governor of Yamal Dmitry Kobylkin said in an interview with Itar-Tass.
MOSCOW — The implementation of the anti-tobacco law drafted by the Health Ministry will help reduce tobacco consumption in Russia by at least 15 percent, Darya Khalturina, co-chair of the Russian Anti-Tobacco Coalition, said on Monday, December 10.
MOSCOW — The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has confirmed its previous forecast of GDP growth in 2012 at 3.5 percent.
“The GDP projection remains unchanged,” Deputy Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday, December 10.
According to the ministry, GDP will grow by 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.
MOSCOW — Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin has summarised the company’s performance from January to November 2012.
In January-November 2012, loading increased to more than 1.17 billion tonnes of freight, a rise of 3 percent compared to the same period last year, although last month, shipping volumes of several items came in below target: construction materials were 6 percent, timber 2.1 percent, cement nearly 4 percent and ferrous metal scrap 2.6 percent respectively under the planned figure.
ASTANA — Kazakhstan and Russia are looking into a new agreement on the use of the Baikonur launch pad, which Russia currently leases from Kazakhstan. This agreement will envisage a step-by-step withdrawal from lease relations, the head of the national space agency Kazkosmos, Talgat Musabayev, said at a parliament session on Monday.
According to him, acting in coordination with the Russian leadership, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has set the task to “work out a new comprehensive agreement on the Baikonur pad, which envisages the withdrawal from relations of lease”.
ASTANA — The launch of the Kazakh Earth remote sensing (ERS) satellites will be carried out in 2013–2014, Chairman of the National Space Agency of Kazakhstan (Kazkosmos) Talgat Musabayev said on Monday at the Government Hour meeting in the lower house of the national parliament.
MOSCOW — The volume of capital investments in Dagestan in 2012 will exceed 12 billion roubles, as a result of which more than 1.8 thousand jobs have already been created in the republic, head of the region’s Agency of Investments and Foreign Economic Relations Ali Nurmagomedov said on Monday at the conference Investment Potential of the Republic of Dagestan.
MOSCOW — Drug police of Russia, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have seized in their joint raid over 400 kilograms of hashish and liquidated a large network of drug dealers, Russian federal drugs control service chief Viktor Ivanov said on Monday.
The raid encompassed Afghanistan’s seven populated settlements.
TBILISI — It is important for Georgia to normalise relations with Russia, Vice-Prime Minister, Defence Minister Irakly Alasaniya said on Monday.
Commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement, Alasaniya told journalists, “I’ll be glad that following Mr. Lavrov’s statement Russia will take efficient steps towards normalising relations with Georgia.”
The vice-prime minister said, “The process can be started by restoring economic and cultural relations between both countries.”
TBILISI — Georgian prime minister’s special envoy for the settlement of relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, said on Monday he was likely to meet with a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Switzerland.
In reply to the query “Who exactly will you meet with?” he said “This will become clear within the next few days, most likely it will be a meeting with State Secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin”.
MINSK — President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus seeks to step up cooperation with Iran.
“I ask to tell the Iranian leadership that we hope for active cooperation,” Lukashenko said at the meeting with Iranian Ambassador Seyed Hosseini on Monday.
According to the Belarusian president, “despite huge problems in the world and despite unprecedented economic and financial pressure on Iran our trade turnover is decent enough.”
VILNIUS — Beginning on January 10, 2013, Lithuanian nationals will not need visas to travel to Armenia, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry reported on Monday.
“It will be enough for Lithuanian nationals to produce their passports to enter Armenia,” ministry sources explained. Lithuanian nationals will be able to stay in Armenia up to 180 days within the period of one year.
On January 10, 2013 a decree of the Armenian government comes into effect, under which Yerevan unilaterally abolishes visa requirements for EU member countries, including for Lithuania.
BAKU — Russia has suspended as of Monday, December 10, the operation of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It said no agreement on payments for the lease of the station could be reached at the talks with Russia.
GENEVA — The protocol on Tajikistan’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was signed on Monday, December 10, at a special session of the Organisation’s General Council.
KIEV — The ruling Party of Regions has fallen short of the required 226 votes to support the nomination of Nikolai Azarov as prime minister.