you know this is r.t. international we do start this hour with russian president vladimir putin's annual televised q. and a in which he field questions from the public nearly two million questions have been submitted so far this year the live audience is being ditched for a more tech savvy approach we're showing you live pictures right here as we're standing by for the russian president to come in and also reported that putin will grill regional governors on air on issues raised by the public now this year's session will be a lot of sixteenth and it is expected to be slightly different from what we've seen in previous years a very quick preview as we stand by for the russian president here as artie's no doubt goes deah. the biggest change this year is that dimia putin will have

a huge screen in front of him on which text messages as well as video messages and receive phone calls from russians from all over the country with problems that they might might have questions all each issues and this year governors and regional authorities leaders have been asked to free their schedules because now the last of me or putin might call them up to our answer for any problem that their constituents might be having so we should make for an for an interesting discussion these q. and a sessions generally turn into a marathon the longest one was in two thousand and eleven which lasted for four and a half hours is the shortest one was in two thousand and one which went on for about two and a half hours generally there focused on domestic affairs problems that russian sat in the social sphere with wages for example with health care taxes sometimes

corruption but every so often we'll hear an international question and much more interesting themes for for the wider audience. the world cup is just around the corner and football fans are already eagerly guessing who they think will make it through the group stage as is r.t. host and star coach george zimmerman you're here are some of his picks. i would say . is when the wind would go. experience. of the road to be. in the group be. alone will show you later the total of portuguese who are going to finish second in the room of a more of the majesty united manager's predictions you can just head over to our website dot com also if you think you know better you can challenge just head to

facebook or twitter and use the hash tag match merino meanwhile or well let's get back to what we're expecting right here on r.t. international now be our russian president vladimir putin and his televised q. and a in which he feels questions from the public let's drop in. twenty full you. get to the reading yet and search radio stations do as you still do the radio russia and this is and recondition and clean man of our carlos in the calls process he said in that area you were at thirty on the remix of a good afternoon good afternoon and so this is the first. q. and a session since putin had been going you had become president of the russian federation we have received over two million questions from you already audience many topics similar throughout the years health care system housing. sailor ease retirement benefits but there are some new questions especially topical first

and foremost these are gas prices which are on the rise so all the star picks will be part of our discussion today but frankly speaking you wouldn't like to see this . a book of complaints would like to talk about the future a future of russia we are to actually form in the upcoming years and as for the problems of today we certainly would like to find answers to the questions and solutions to these problems here at the studio of the year two thousand and eighteen is here volunteers this is exactly why here we have a number of volunteers they represent dozens of her charity organizations their active infuse the aesthetic and young women and that will certainly take interest in the first and foremost the future of russia why are they here may be working forty days already and they solve many minor and not very minor

problems and complaints sometimes officials stand to put the responsibility on the course. and these guys they are calling them back and argues all that will be doing their job and they today will be ready to report to the president when he isn't here let's remind you that we decided to have a new form there are no guests in here this is his bashfully falls the sake of receiving as many questions from you as possible and one more a novelty quite a serious one for the first time in history we've decided to engage the conference video which is so often used by president when he means them is launches talks in meetings over the phone with the ministers wise ministers governors and mayors so they all are on the air today they will be directly asked

says by the president when he feels that it will be necessary and that kind of conversation would certainly provide tangible results so i'm sure so this is life and here comes the president of the russian federation lattimer putin welcome. i don't know so this is our center for processing. and here we have it on you come most volunteers good afternoon hello thank you very much. so these are the questions we've. been related for you. last. question on three issues very important.

thank. you for the good afternoon. cloak. the every day in mood afternoon so we are of the. santa for processing the calls from you and we are receiving more and more calls and messages at this very minute the overall number of calls more than two million you can ask your own question to . the same. s.m.s. as usual as for them. all these messages they receive three zero forty forty we also provide the. translation for hearing impaired and also you can watch these broadcasts via the internet we have been receiving a lot of messages not only through the bones but also through the internet where you see dozens of thousands

a massive and publications for social networks. can start here we receive dozens of thousands of video calls and we have a related huge amount of questions i would like to remind you that you can go to the application and ask your own question you. and the only live video like this and just like the year before you can go to the oak live service and that can be accessed quite easily it gives an opportunity to watch it live also but dissipate in particular in a we've been received and we will be receiving your messages and calls up to and up today's q. and a we also watch closely the discussions of the session in social media so this is the sum of all the interactive display which shows how people how users of social networks interact i do in each other discussing this q. and a in various social networks with graham or any other social networks we've

already seen over three hundred thousand messages and publications the most popular hashed out this. year which is the direct line or q. and a session with the president throughout today but we'll be watching closely is the reactions of our users so everything is ready let's start. here's please. so two years ago we were in one of the in a session where i asked so what kind of stage will live in was a good one or a bad one and you said back then that it was a great day so would how do you answer to that question today. well it was an expected answer for them which if you. were supposed to talk about. two thousand and seventeen and i brought some of the dice with me. this is a thousand and seventeen. if the first quarter of two thousand and eighteen figures

now you are talking of where we are and why if you were a black stone age you. know we're moving towards sustainable. but that. take the arctic region or the antarctic legion below might seem. completely why it's why does it put you always get. the specs of we're black. so you never have either black or white but we're moving towards a. stage so why we hear the bottles award trend one point five percent fifty thousand seventeen industries on the rise one percent agree culture is on the rise. and again it seems to

be a sustainable trend at which to do what other evidence do we have. historically we have their minimum. inflation. story. and again taking place. at what you have a rise in of foreign direct investment for forty four percent. that would mean that we'll be seeing further growth. in the next years. but he would. have tried has been really good some are saying one hundred twenty years or some saying one hundred thirteen but the final figure is one hundred fifteen that's a very high. in the fact that we have had low level of external

debt slower than twenty percent and we are seeing growth. golden for any change in the hood so she has to be four hundred billion right now it's four in fifty billion about you and so when there. partially. in the hope that means we have a stable of very good conditions for the development of the economy and another key factor. is reached the life expectancies growing. number to get hold of. that about me poor real in. what has been growing. and wages up one point nine percent and a real disposable income is three point eight percent we give different figures and if you. did use a lump sum payments five thousand roubles to the pension years it would be three

point eight percent. of the. now like to. make a point to the audience not every person would feel that the difference. if you take the statistics it's hard figures but that's the reality i stood expert exports on the rise doing machinery and equipment are being exported. but the bigger volumes and that signals the structural changes in the economy but i still expect to see in agricultural products some of the. exported. higher rates last year. in the exports of agricultural products hits of the twenty billion mark and it's even higher then. exports.

the export of weapons is worth fifteen billion and the exporter of agriculture has now moved. twenty twenty three billion. dollars so all that is spent sanctions right here well it's not just due to sank. let me have a look at. the. main figures of what was going on over there or some other positive figures because that's enough she said to him for a living in. the new government and you know many of the candidates were quite controversial because people were are going to who would be the minister who was that mr cain or her seat but some saying that experience is sort of the vantage but others say this is not the kind of government but you can achieve a breakthrough you mentioned in your address what do you think. you know he's really just. following these discussions. but it was to be expected

and it's well good that. on any issues the economy or social security we have. public debates it's fine so my perspective on it is this follows as you see the development plan. that we've been talking here for the past year was drafted by the previous government for the previous sixteen or eighteen months and i you know it very well of that you. so but if we can bring reshuffle or even broader completely new faces perhaps very qualified competent people they would. need at least two years. and realize what they were supposed to do or to draft

a new target we can't always do those two years and this is why i decided she to bring you the government three years ago we need to bring in new faces fresh faces which you're going to allow me to use language like that. but again these are very qualified people who've been entrusted with some serious projects in the past but we also have to. retain those people who. are doing what you do paved for. breakthrough decisions. so i think we have the best governments that. are the moment but now. let's talk about the following so what is the government is going to do the upcoming future. after you entered. the presidency this

year you outlined the strategic goals to be achieved by the country very important we understand that so we do use to forward the poverty line in the population live expectancy should reach. a certain point in the future economy. in the field of economy real disposable income should increase where the commish be one of the top five economies globally but one more question does the government we have today has the real instrument to achieve all that or not. yes and they when you when you're in the deal you can win a deal. so that she is not on the you. for. these. goals. we outlined in the state of the nation address to the federal now we've remained the

core of the government and. we still needed to drive those proposals in the next couple of months but with every. move and now we also need to. move full scale to the program based on the principle we've used that policy early but we need to roll it out i mean you know across the board has proven to be efficiency we do have some positive track record on there. are also need to introduce ownership for the projects that we need to find the people who are responsible for the projects and those who initiated particular project those who are in charge of it. for you many of them have remained in their

positions and new people are qualified as i said we need to have personal responsibility for the particular project we don't have time to waste. we also need to provide the financial resources. preliminary estimates. to the next six years we'll spend seventeen billion of that we realized that i could. do to achieve our goals we needed at least an extra. eight trillion rubles. and we know where to take it somewhere you can begin the economy will grow at least in this will be the main source. where extra revenue you will soon need to use the remaining existing resources more efficiently than we need to find some of our

microeconomic plans. need to find our tax policy. tax policy. will be. released. by the government. short term and it needs to be guaranteed if we're going to michigan is to remain stable for the next six years this will be very important for our economy so you the real figure is around twenty three trillion right over here if you will play well it's probably also receive a lot of questions about the taxes on the purchases on personal income and from barrage we have one question why would you increase taxes so that these money would be going to be allocated to increase the level of life which would be disrupted by the same event. indeed of. the we're talking about an extra eight trillion rubles. again this won't come out from

thin air as i said where we're going to take it's not to talk about it once again so one of the sources as i said he's finds using. the tax system. on the income tax. the sales tax there was discussed. by the experts. including some political parties say we need to change the income. thanks. we have for being speculating about it for some time so we have a flat fee for the income tax but it seems to be a fair one. well if you get a progressive tax rates if you earn more than you have to pay more in taxes it seems to be fair on theoretically but if you take. a tax practice from the

previous years one of which is soon as you introduce it. the progress of rate people with a higher thing is going to. finding ways to conceal it and the staying to pay the salaries in envelopes practice is known in russia so the fiscal outcome is zero but there's too much buzz. and the investment climate will to be that it will degrade so we believe it's not feasible solution as for the sales tax we debated that a lot there was but one of my colleagues and some of the experts we need to introduce it well first of all we did have. a tax and it's serious on the economy. and eventually it's

a burden on our consumers. it will eventually lead to an increase in inflation. and. they're all these factors together convinced us that doesn't make sense to introduce the sales tax there are other proposals that are debated by the government that will be adopted soon and i don't want to were that the head of them so i don't want to make any announcements so you hear about those decisions as for the burden that my. increase of the poverty actually our goal is the contrary one we need to have the number of people who could be below the poverty line and between two thousand and two thousand and eight we actually decreased two fold the number of people living below the poverty line definitely during the tough

times that sort of increased. again we saw. nine point eight or nine point six increase in salaries in the real income is three point eight so we are moving towards their goal just like cutting in the number of people living below the poverty line but. redistribution in the face called system will not increase the number of people living below the poverty line it's ultimately goal is to decrease the number of just need to you find. the system we need to redistribute some of the resources particularly to achieve this goal. which is to cut the number of people who live below the poverty line. enable such an environment where the government would provide targeted support. to you because if we follow this path then we'll be cheering the positive

outcome. all right let's go with continue talking about the economy they said one of the most topical we shoot is the increasing gas prices as we've been receiving or large amounts of such calls and questions about what our santa if. these do you. think it well yes in deed to gas prices are a record high in terms of prices themselves and in terms of the questions with accumulated these are just some of them. are the. the region across the yard of the little brother used by six rubles that used to be thirty nine in now which is forty . one one of the cities you know leon i was the pull our railing because they have no money to buy. gas and some are now the ability over selling their cars now mr kerry vive centers therefore we must each. would you

be daft in here mr putin. my name is alex a vibe i'm from st petersburg can you tell me please for how long we'll be seeing the increasing gas prices from forty five roubles for diesel. it's too much far too much please make it stop. if you were chosen by the people you are our president but you cannot increase on gas prices why. thank you for the question with. us we might have noticed that the government has taken a series of measures to resolve this issue i agree with you but what's happening. on acceptable this is bad. you have to admit that this is the

belt that were. inaccurate regulation. that was. introduced in the energy sector so what was done wrong. but if you look at most of the government. has revised. some of the tax. measures. put in the way of my new office the all over this period the there was the so-called tax maneuver now. i don't want to go into detail. but if you look in reality. from the experts when you stimulate. energy companies to exports crude out of russia in a world prices globally were up. and in order to provide enough load for

a refineries are old companies. you're doing this but. they feel they're not getting enough revenue. and you might be able to pull a good they feel that the kooks have got more revenue if they exported of that oil or refined products brought in order to compensate for the. money that they didn't get the increase in gas prices so the government's already took some measures and those measures were taken in consultation with our leading world giants so. we're down for gasoline you stop we're not we're. not here. like for three thousand for gas. by two thousand roubles for diesel and it's again we were planning to increase the size duties

starting from july but actually we scrapped those plans and by the alternate two thousand and eighteen the government supposed to take further measures to stabilize the situation of the markets and. just that we do it i'm still sleep well i suppose the government will be following the developments in the federal antimonopoly service will be looking into it so it won't ignore this situation. that's going to experience naming in. the shows that we're more from and. we can cross live to the energy minister because he's are lying to. you. we've got a new format this time and i've asked some of my colleagues from the government from russian regions. be with us so mr novack can you please comment on the.

situation on what i just heard although it means that i'm going to take you to. what used to be gene it was issued to do is reach the conclusions because i'm ready to pour water on the current situation indeed in my views if you don't we're seeing a rise in the fuel price is the aberration is five to six percent comparing to a pill that is above the inflation level if we take april was approaching to the prices as whom you wish were going to base not higher than the foundation's rate so would demand when we saw according to their all star data in the real situation assessments of the start of the wisdom of the moon we've stopped the crease at this point government that can begin may well adopted the operative mashes just.