MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Life expectancy in Russia has decreased to 70.1 years, which is linked to the pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at his annual press conference on Thursday.

"There are things that are of great concern to us, which is life expectancy. It has slightly decreased, it was 71.5 years last year, and now it became 70.1 years. And this is just one of the negative the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, " President Putin said.

He added that raising labor productivity is also an important issue for Russia. "There is a whole set here starting with education, digitalization, and ending with the same healthcare. A whole set of programs, we have almost all of them laid out, we know what needs to be done, the resources to work in this direction are provided and allocated rather quickly. We have them. It is only important to organize this work competently and achieve the maximum return on each ruble invested in solving these problems," the President said.