vladimir putin today held a meeting on economic issues via videoconference, we invite you to listen to the president's opening remarks. dear colleagues, good afternoon. we recently celebrated our main holiday, victory day, and i want to remind you that it was achieved not only in battles on the fronts, but also due to the economic power of our country, which then opposed the industrial potential of not a single germany, but almost all of europe that

fascists enslaved. by the way, now let's move on to the agenda. i would like to start with that over the past two months we have held a series of meetings on the economic situation and, together with the members of the government, the heads of the constituent entity of the federation , the leadership of the central bank, representatives of business, we are implementing a plan to ensure the sustainable development of the economy. we build this work taking into account difficult external conditions. i mean the complex global convention and the sanctions pressure of the western state. moreover, these sanctions in many ways provoke a global crisis; their authors were guided by short-sighted bloated with political ambitions, russophobia, to a greater extent, they hit their own national interests, their own economies, the well-being of their citizens. we see this primarily in the sharp

growth. inflation wins in individual countries. it has already come close to 20% per annum, and in the eurozone as a whole, commodity prices have added over 11%. it is obvious that, due to objective economic laws, the continuation of the obsession with sanctions, if i may say so, will inevitably lead to the most complex and intractable consequences for the european union and for its citizens, as well as for the poorest countries in the world that are already facing the risks of famine, emphasized the blame for this lies entirely with the elites of western countries, who are ready to sacrifice the rest of the world in order to maintain their global dominance. in turn, russia is confidently coping with external challenges thanks to both the responsible macroeconomic policy of recent years and the systemic decision to

strengthen the economic sovereignty of technological food security. our production company gradually occupy niches in the domestic market vacated after the departure of unscrupulous partners, including consumer goods, industrial service equipment, construction and agricultural machinery. a good harvest is expected this year, according to experts, of course, this is a preliminary estimate, but still grain can reach 130 million tons, including 87 million tons of wheat. if this happens, and we will rely on this, then this will become a record in the entire history of russia; this will allow not only stocks to meet domestic needs, but also to ramp up supplies to the global market. for our partners, which is very important for the world

food markets, inflation is gradually slowing down over the past month, its rates have decreased several times compared to march. weekly growth. prices have already dropped to zero point one-tenth of a percent. it is already close to weeks at a growth rate in line with the inflation target of the bank of russia, the possibilities of the budgetary system are growing in january. april consolidated budget surplus amounted to two and seven tenths of a trillion rubles, despite the fact that budget expenditures have also grown noticeably over this time due to the decisions made on advanced financing of development projects and advance purchases against the backdrop of a record positive balance of foreign trade balance is strengthening and the exchange rate of the national ruble currency this year demonstrates, probably, the best

dynamics among all currencies of the world; however, i would like to note a number of trends that require special attention. so domestic demand in our country lags behind last year’s values. in addition, the amount of money in the accounts of enterprises and individuals continues to decline, it is obvious that these factors have a negative impact on economic dynamics and such risks need to be reduced, including based on our successful experience of targeted actions in the context of the 2020-pandemic 21 years now, as then, are the most important indicators of the success of socio-economic policy. these are the incomes of russian citizens. in order to ensure positive dynamics here, it is necessary to support the consumer demand to increase opportunities for businesses and regions of the country a number of decisions have already been made on this score. we

know about it together with you worked out them in march. we have agreed to expand the program of payments to needy families with children from april. it also applies to families where children under the age of 16 are growing up, such will retroactively begin on may 11th. we also decided on additional financial support for the constituent entities of the federation, i mean the restructuring of regional debts and the provision of loans from the federal budget, and i would like to emphasize again all procedures here should be as understandable and convenient as possible for the constituent entities of the federation; these mechanisms should stimulate the regions to finance additional economic development programs. including documenting regional industrial development funds to ensure the fulfillment of all obligations and program areas to continue capital construction. all this must be done in terms of

business. we have formed a program of credit system, forming enterprises under the guarantee of choice. according to the estimate, the volume of such cries is one and six tenths of a trillion rubles. in addition , special solutions are provided to support key industries such as aviation, agriculture, food production. further, at the end of april, we agreed to take special measures to provide the economy with additional resources, as experts say, to increase its liquidity. it is important for the rhythmic work of enterprises and organizations to maintain and even increase employment among these measures is the deferral of payment of insurance premiums. for the second quarter current year. we also had discussions with you. we decided that it was accepted and that enterprises employing about fifty-two

million people will receive such an opportunity. payments for insurance premiums for these organizations will be postponed, as we agreed. starting from may 2023, in total, businesses will be able to keep in circulation about one and one tenth of a trillion rubles, in fact, these funds will become an annual interest-free loan from the state. in addition, companies in the manufacturing sector will be entitled to deferral of insurance premiums for the third quarter of this year. this is about half a trillion rubles already instructed the government to work out. the issue of providing additional preferences for the repayment of contributions for the third quarter, depending on the retention of employment and the wage fund. we have all gone through this, as i said, during the pandemic, we need to define precise criteria. on this score, and as i have already said, we have expanded the program of

guarantee support for lending to enterprises . the president has given instructions. as you know extend this program to those companies that have not yet received the status of backbone, but have already grown from the category of small and medium-sized businesses. with the help of a guarantee from vnesheconombank, such organizations will be able to attract more than a trillion rubles. and at attractive lower rates due to reduced risk. here i also note that the bank of russia continues its policy of easing monetary policy to increase the availability of loans. in general, the key rate of the central bank, as you know, has already been lowered to 14%. with given these dynamics. we have decided to reduce the rate on preferential mortgages to nine percent loans. at this rate, you can get it starting from may, while the preferential mortgage program itself has

been extended until the end of this year. this decision should become arguable for russian families who are planning to buy an apartment to improve their living conditions. we need to think about this further. and of course, the construction industry and related sectors of our economy will support the preferential mortgage mechanism. let's talk today in more detail about how the measure to support the economy of russian families is being implemented in practice in life, about which i have just mentioned, and i also propose to discuss possible additional measures and steps to ensure sustainable economic growth in real incomes of citizens. it was vladimir putin's opening speech at a meeting on economic issues, the president held it via videoconference. the parliament of latvia made a scandalous decision today, the majority of the deputies of the

seimas approved a bill that stops the operation of the article of the agreement between the country and russia and the preservation of memorial structures. this means that now the authorities of the country will be able to demolish all the monuments of the soviet period, including the monument to the liberators of riga in the capital, and let me remind you that starting from may 9, spontaneous actions of residents took place in this statue, they brought flowers to it, the official representative of the foreign ministry, maria zakharova, commented on the decision of the latvian legislators in one word ghouls monument to the warriors of the soviet army to the liberators of soviet latvia and riga from of the nazi invaders is located in victory park on the left bank of the daugava behind a stone bridge , a competition for the construction of a monument to the victory of the great patriotic war was announced in july 1945 by decision of the council of people's commissars of the latvian ssr on february 3, 1946, on the square on which

the memorial was subsequently built in execution of the death sentence of the military tribunal of the baltic military district, the head of the nazi administration in latvia, they were convicted of war crimes and mass the murder of civilians, including jews, the solemn laying of the monument took place only in may 1975. on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of the victory , funds were collected from public donations , construction began only in december 1982. an international group of latvian masters worked on the monument, the author of the concept and the riga artist architect, aleksand pugaev on november 5, 1985 , the monument was opened the compositional center of the monument, a monumental 79-meter column, adorned with golden five-pointed stars on the sides of which are symbolic sculptural images of the motherland and the soldiers-liberators. residents of pskov came out in defense of the memorial to the soldiers as liberators in riga, they

gathered and at the consulate of the republic of latvia a sign of solidarity with the inhabitants of the river, who brought flowers to the monument to the soldiers of the liberators , activists installed banners with the image of the monument and also laid flowers on it. on the curonian spit near the border with lithuania, they installed their bronze soldier, an exact copy of the monument to the fallen soldiers in tallinn 2007 authorities estonia removed him from the city center, but in the kaliningrad region, he will continue for centuries, confident local residents vladimir gladyuk. it is installed in the center of the village by a fishing soldier, after a hard battle he took off his helmet and hung a still hot machine gun on his shoulder, a tired look is fixed on the marble slabs, on which the soldiers who died in the battles on the kureshenon spit at the end of january 1945 were knocked out, fierce battles were fought for the kurdish spit

battles, having landed not far from here, the landing force withstood more than 10 enemy attacks by seven red army soldiers, those who participated in the capture of this small piece of land were given the name of the heroes of the soviet union, the combined detachment of the 113th regiment of the thirty-second infantry division, numbering 162 volunteers, attempted to break through the ice on the chicken rung spit on the landing, the germans brought down all the firepower, thereby interrupting all communication with the main forces and only on the 4th of february, the advancing troops of the red army broke the resistance of the nazis in general, the losses of the soviet troops during the period of the offensive. operations amounted to 403 fighters in memory of fallen heroes and was immortalized in a monument at the expense of patrons of the natives, the village monument was erected by local residents together they decided to install this monument on this place, therefore, using their own funds. here it was. everything was done,

a copy of a soldier was cast from concrete. now he has become a soldier with a cat of a scythe, and here he is now for centuries a three-meter monument in a fishermen's quarters has become a copy of the monument to the fallen soviet soldiers in tallinn , a symbol of victory. over fascism for many years stood at the memorial cemetery in the city center in 2007 the authorities moved the bronze soldier along with the ashes of the dead to the outskirts. this decision aroused indignation among the russian-speaking population, who considered these actions an insult to the memory of the soldiers of the kursk spit installed a few kilometers from the border with lithuania in our closest neighbors, former friends of our states, they are everything, they are trying to erase history, but we will not erase it in our hearts in this memory will be kept in every house, and i don't know the significant event that we have this monument, we just erected a new monument to it. residents come to him, not only during the festive events, they try to

keep the monument of the plate and the square itself clean. there are always fresh flowers here. vladimir gladyuk alexander polonsky news, kaliningrad finnish prime ministers supported the country's retreat to nato in a joint statement says that helsinki will try to do this, i quote, as soon as possible, the same plans were announced in sweden, according to reuters. uh, the political-military bloc will approve membership applications, either before or during the summit, which is scheduled for the end of june in madrid. in addition, the alliance wants to strengthen its presence in northern europe and conduct more exercises. as a reminder, earlier sweden and finland had a neutral status. a according to polls, about 40% of finns opposed membership. and this is how the possible entry of finland and sweden into nato was assessed in the kremlin . the expansion of sodium and the approximation of the military

infrastructure of the alliance to our borders do not make peace. and most importantly, our european eurasian continent will become more stable and safe, this will definitely depend on everything. what will be this process of expansion will be expressed in the future, as far as it will move, the military infrastructure is approaching our borders of course, from the current instruction of the president and commander-in-chief to develop a list of measures to strengthen our western flanks in connection with the strengthening of the eastern flank of nato, that is, it must be moving in our direction, therefore, of course , all this will become elements for a special analysis and development of the necessary measures. uh, to balance the situation and keep us safe. statement of the finnish authorities the russian foreign ministry also commented. according to the official statement of the department, it is the

policy of military non-alignment that has served as the basis for stability in the entire european region for decades. however, nato member countries managed to convince finland that it should join the alliance. the foreign ministry emphasizes brussels. this is necessary in order to create another flank for the military threat to russia, and as a result, finland loses its independence and turns into another frontier of military confrontation in the foreign ministry. warned that in in response, our country will be forced to take steps of a military-technical and other nature. today it has become. it is known that an unrecognized republic, kosovo, will apply for membership in the council of europe , the authorities of serbia, who consider kosovo their territory, have already reacted to this. serbian president aleksandar vučić is urgently convening the security council of the country there. he recalled that the authorities of the

self-proclaimed kosovo pledged that they would not join any international organizations and promised that belgrade would be resistance to attempts by other countries to recognize kosovo's independence. indicated by this decision. pristina, showed that another treaty was violated by the washington agreement. after ten years of violating the brussels agreements, they also violated the washington one, but un security council resolution 1244. they are not their mentors. never respected the key western countries are playing this game. and we are a small free country that protects. our interests are small, but life is a struggle, we will fight, they in the west want to do everything to we recognized kosovo and our task is to protect our earth the luhansk people's republic is celebrating its anniversary. this year, for the first time in the

status of a recognized country, exactly 8 years ago, the inhabitants of the region voted for independence in a referendum on the holiday of the inhabitants of the republic vladimir putin congratulated how cities and towns have changed during this time olga kurlaeva? in the very center of lugansk, such a main flag was stretched out. he was accepted 8 years ago on the very day when they refused to accept the new kiev government for their desire to speak russian language in the end paid a high price . the kiev regime sent the military here the state flag of the luhansk region, the same as the russian tricolor. only the white stripe is replaced by the blue color of purity and innocence of the mother of god blue perseverance and will to win. red blood. those who defended this victory eight years ago held a referendum on the recognition and independence of the luhansk people's republic under this flag 8 years ago. right here on this square. i was was rainy weather when e

valery bots. announced for this referendum. for me, probably, this is all this is our idea, the idea of ​​our ideals, these eight years have been a whole era of the formation of development. let it be so. you will definitely win, the victory will be ours in the referendum for independence from the kiev authorities , 98% of lutsk residents voted. today, as 8 years ago, the flag was raised over the city, but there is still a difference, firstly, the russian air defense is working and, secondly, for the first time the lc celebrates republic day already being recognized by the state, the flag is raised by luhansk citizens and the russians to the songs of denis maidanov, wait. and every sea raises the flag of the head of the lc to find in the crowd of complex for the first time the commander-in-chief changed the field camouflage to a civilian deuce and it seems that leonid ivanovich himself is surprised by this and does not recognize you. i did n't recognize myself. now, yes, guys, they said that

when they saw me out of uniform, there is a feeling of peace and the holiday of april 6, 2014, the power that defeated the maidan in the person of the bloody shepherd. turchinov. she sent an army of happiness to the lugansk region, tanks entered, and later the national battalion gift staged a real terror against peaceful luhansk-chan in memory of the defenders of lugansk, a monument was erected right under the shelling. but no, they stood for their homeland. this is the name of the monument, which was erected by the warrior- liberator of the luhansk people's republic in 2014 . for 8 years. it was undermined more than once. saboteurs fired at it; it became a good target, because they set it up. just opposite that high-rise building. it was a target that was simply fired upon by the servicemen of the people's militia and the battalion. aidar in the boundary is cleaning up the industrial zone

nazi hideouts are knocked out of the dawn bunker. the flag of the lpr is flying dangerously above, and russian artists irina dolina grigory leps yurkis zemlyane perform in lugansk in front of the wounded soldiers alexander sklyar went to the liberated starobelsk to help the front of all russia, even football fans joined in support of the military personnel of the lugansk people's militia. have fans. zenith assembled new armor sets for fifty fighters on civil republic employees express gratitude to the sports club's fan club for a month humanitarian aid from russia goes to all the liberated towns and cities of the lugansk people's republic 8 years ago, the people of lugansk voted for unification with russia, and now they do not regret it, only olga kurlaeva denis is waiting for vladmirzoyantsev. vladimir berlya people's republic of luhansk gas supplies from russia to europe are declining transit through ukraine today fell

by a quarter. pumping gas through the german subsidiaries of gazprom has been stopped and counter stations, how they plan to fill the storage and where it will go russian gas will talk about lazar europe is switching to ruble settlements according to bloomberg, 20 companies have already opened accounts with gazprombank. to pay for russian gas supplies, 14 more requested a list of documents required to open such accounts. this information was confirmed by italian prime minister maria draghi, who said that germany had already paid for russian gas supplies in rubles. and most european importers opened ruble accounts. he believes that rome will be able to continue to buy fuel without violating the sanctions of the road, stressed europe has not officially announced that the settlement scheme with conversion. in rubles, it goes against the regime of restrictions, meanwhile, the situation with gas transit through ukraine remains difficult. kiev has left only one route to europe through the gas

measuring station sudzha yes and here the decrease in pumping volumes from today is almost 30%. as for the second entry through the gis saver, the ukrainian authorities on the eve of the day completely stopped using it, citing the fact that it is under control of russian forces, the current situation with transit significantly reduces the reliability of europe's gas supply, gazprom said, while the russian company will be able to redirect flows. in conditions that reduce demand in europe, gazprom has the opportunity to choose between different supply corridors due to the fact that the total transportation capacity of these corridors is unrealizable today. that is, it can distribute flows between the northern stream 1, and between the yamal of europe and the ukrainian parasites and, of course, the turkish uh stream, which goes to turkey and then across the balkan countries was hungary another blow to the

energy security of europe german outlets of gazprom stopped receiving gas from russia confirmed by the minister of economy of germany robert hubbet the companies fell under russian counter-sanctions. this will primarily affect supplies, because in fact this decree prohibits russian ones. uh , it becomes impossible for enterprises to fulfill foreign trade contracts with these companies and, accordingly, the postal supply of gas to them directly, respectively. uh, since through them in recent years, well, in general, historically, a significant volume, and gas supplies to germany and other european countries, then we are talking about the appearance of a serious gap in the balance of gases in the german economy, they said that german gas workers are monitoring the situation and preparing for it, and the market can compensate for the

lack of gas supplies from russia, but business and ordinary consumers are not so sure neat, which we do all the time. eh, the further production cycle depends. eh, here, respectively, quite clearly. they say that if you stop the supply of energy resources from russia, then this will inevitably lead to extremely serious consequences. for me the german economy. the oil market is also talking about the crisis of the opec plus countries participating in the agreement to reduce oil production in april. we were unable to increase the production of raw materials, despite the agreements, production should have been increased by 400.000 barrels per day in fact, it has decreased by 840.000 according to the minister of energy of the

united arab emirates the situation was predicted oil producers warned of a lack of investment at a time when quote someone said that it is not necessary to invest in fossil fuels as a result of production capacity oil in the world have decreased the loss of russian volumes will lead to an uncontrolled rise in prices. today, under the influence of the geopolitical situation , there is an intention to limit or reduce the purchase of a certain amount of oil that is available on the market. if that happened, then prices would go up. it's not a matter of oil availability. we at opec believe that the market is balanced, so we warn of the dangers of politics interfering with the balance of supply and demand in the market. if we do this , consumers will suffer we don't want to do something counterproductive to control something and try to lower prices, the international energy agency has lowered by 100,000 barrels per day the forecast for growth in oil demand for

this year is primarily due to china, which is facing another wave of covid. you are a young, very close person for us, you have been together since childhood. are you sure you are doing this? that 's right, the introduction of the country's leadership is waiting for us to film such a demand to issue a reportage camera.

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