Point of View

“I am confident that the indexation will not distort macroeconomic parameters. We managed to reduce inflation last year and sustain this trend in the first months of this year, which shows that we will manage to meet the planned macroeconomic targets. A responsible policy means, among other things, fulfilment of our obligations to our citizens. Therefore as of April 1, 2010, pensions in Russia are to be increased by 6.3 percent.”

"1 we began the first stage of pension reform, which essentially entails the so-called valorisation, or adjustment, of pensions for those citizens who earned them during the Soviet era. Moreover, now a pensioner's pension cannot be below the subsistence level, no matter where he or she lives. In this context we must resolve another important problem. Together with the regions, we must establish a mechanism for providing additional social payments to bring pensions up to the subsistence level wherever necessary".

"Russians entitled to the Maternity Capital benefit, can begin spending the money from January 1, 2010 for purposes stipulated by the law - buying better housing, paying off their mortgages, and financing their children's education and the accumulative part of their future pensions. As we have promised, the size of the Maternity Capital benefit in indexed every year, and will reach 343,000 roubles in 2010. We have allocated 102 billion roubles from the federal budget for this purpose".

“Regarding material support, the Russian Government will send the families of the deceased 400,000 roubles each and the Perm Territory will provide 100,000 roubles. Consequently, the total value of the support will be half a million roubles. Victims will receive 300,000 roubles out of the federal budget, plus another 100,000 out of the territory's budget. Consequently, a total of 400,000 roubles. Money can help solve many things, but not everything. In this case, far from everything. Therefore, I want to draw attention to the fact that the most important thing right now is consideration for people. We need to provide them with moral support. We need to help the families of the deceased. Let us make do with all formalities and, I repeat, provide them with moral support.”

“Every necessary measure is being taken to investigate the circumstances of this tragedy. The Emergencies Ministry is conducting additional inspections on concert halls, clubs and other similar facilities of mass recreation. This work has started. But the main thing now is to save those who have suffered burns and injuries. Many are in serious condition”.

"We set before ourselves the goal of achieving such a level of pension support that the average old-age pension would not fall below retirees' cost of living. We will certainly accomplish this objective in 2010. And we have further plans to raise pensions at a specific pace, although naturally this will depend on the overall state of the Russian economy. If everything proceeds as planned, pensions will exceed retirees' cost of living by at least 150% by 2050, which is our planning horizon for pension support."

"All the World War II veterans are to be given flats regardless of whether or not they joined the waiting list before March 1, 2005. We are financing this out of the budget for 2010. I have just one question or request for the veterans and the administrative bodies: determine as quickly as possible the number of people who are entitled to new housing under that decision. This needs to be done so that our construction companies could get government financing in time to buy or build the required amount of housing in 2010."

"A decision has been taken at government level and at the level of RusHydro, in which the government holds the controlling stake, that all the station workers from the families of those who died or are missing, and in general all the station workers who have been affected will get preferential treatment in terms of jobs for the whole period of its recontrction, as well as after the station has been restored, and you should have no doubts on that score."

"We passed a decision at the end of last year, in December, to increase the wage fund for the federal public sector workers by 30% at once, but we immediately launched a reform of the budget sector. I will tell you in a nutshell what these reforms amount to. We have given public sector institutions much greater discretion as to how they spend government money and have enabled them to optimise their spending. In other words, optimisation of expenditure is to a large extent in the hands of the managers of various institutions."

"When we talk about this country, about Russia, we start with its economy, efficiency and competitiveness, and all that is very important. But our ultimate goal is people. Russia is its people, and we must make them happy, improve their lives, as well as Russia's healthcare services, security, defence potential and infrastructure."