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President Putin said that this week he would send the Government his budgetary message that determines the principles of forming the federal budget for next year.

In preparing the budget, the President said, it is necessary to look at the outstanding problems and answer the question, “who lives well in Russia?” He said that the answer to that question was unlikely to be too optimistic.

Mr Putin said that the principles of forming the budget must enable the radical decisions in the spheres of the economy and armed forces to be carried out and be aimed at improving the well-being of the people. President Putin stressed that populism should have no place in working out the budget.

The President also said that he had commended Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin and one of his deputies for preparing the documents signed during the Russia-American summit. Mr Putin noted that those who had worked on the documents signed during the Bush visit had turned out to be greater optimists than he himself. He stressed that they had managed to come up with solutions that met both the interests of Russia and the United States.