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The event was also attended by Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Gleb Nikitin; and via videoconference: Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District Igor Shchegolev, Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev, Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Governor of the Vladimir Region Alexander Avdeyev, Chairman of the Board of Avtodor Group of Companies Vyacheslav Petushenko, and builders, engineers and students of road construction universities.

The overall length of the new sections of the Vostok M-12 motorway is over 308 kilometres. The road under construction from Moscow to Kazan is part of the Rossiya international transport route, a major project to develop road infrastructure from St Petersburg to Vladivostok. Given the sections of the M-12 motorway that were opened in 2022, travel time from Moscow to Arzamas will be reduced from 7 hours to 3.5 hours. The northern section of the Moscow High-Speed Diametre that passes through the capital, connects the M-12 and M-11 motorways.

The opening of the 9.4-kilometre southern bypass of Arzamas will reduce the load on the street and road network and will help develop tourism in the Nizhny Novgorod and Sarov-Diveyevo tourism clusters.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends and colleagues,

Today, we open several major road facilities. We are opening several sections of the Vostok M-12 motorway with a total length of over 300 kilometres, which is now under construction. Moscow and Arzamas will be connected by a modern, high-speed motorway. It will cut drive time between the two cities in half.

In the east side of Moscow, a new section of the Moscow High-Speed Diametre is being opened. This is the final stage of the diametre’s northern section. The diametre now runs through Moscow and connects the M-12 with the M-11 motorway, which goes to St Petersburg, and this is an important step in the development of the Rossiya international transport route.

We are also opening the southern bypass of Arzamas. The bypass will decrease the load on the city in terms of transit transport, increase the speed and convenience of car travel in this region, and will help attract more tourists to the Nizhny Novgorod Region.

I would like to thank all those who put their effort and skills into building these facilities. Special thanks go to the specialists involved in building the Vostok motorway for working ahead of schedule. Given the extensive scope of the highly complex, large-scale tasks, the teams are doing an excellent job.

Thanks to your professionalism, the route includes, quite literally, unique structures – I am talking about the bridge over the Oka River near Murom. With a length of nearly 1,400 metres, this is Russia’s first bridge built with a domestically developed and certified cable-stayed structure. I believe my colleagues will be speaking about it in more detail.

Today, we are taking yet another major step in modernising and expanding the federal road system as well as in improving territorial cohesion. Such high-quality, advanced motorways, efficient routes and transport hubs largely contribute to the strengthening of the national economy and industry – and ultimately, our citizens’ quality of life as well as greater business and tourism activity.

This means that our road construction plans will definitely be expanded and fully implemented, which I feel confident about. This applies to the further development of the Vostok motorway, which I just mentioned; it is to be extended to Kazan and then to Yekaterinburg and Tyumen, and in the long term, to other Russian regions in Siberia and the Far East.

Obviously, it is important for vehicle trips on the newly opened sections of the motorway to be comfortable and safe. To this end, they must be provided with stable mobile communications and internet access, which should be properly implemented – as well as projects to open petrol stations, foodservice outlets and rest stops.

In conclusion, I would like to once again congratulate everyone on today’s remarkable event and, of course, wish you further success.

Thank you very much.

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Vladimir Putin: I would like to once again heartily congratulate everyone on the completion of this significant segment of work to build this road, the M-12 Motorway.

We have ambitious plans for expanding our country's infrastructure. This applies not only to roads but to infrastructure in general. Mr Nikitin just said that he could not believe that we would be able to complete a project of such massive proportions in such a short time.

Expanding transport infrastructure is extremely important for the future of Russia, given its vast and immense territory; that is quite clear. It leads to across-the-board economic development. It is not just about tourism; everything starts to develop at completely different rates when there is the transport infrastructure.

“Couldn't believe it,” Mr Nikitin said. We have a saying in our country, “Eyes are scared, but hands are still doing the job.” Our hands are all golden.

I want to thank everyone who contributed their skills, talent, and hard work to this project and wish us further success.

Thank you very much. All the best.