Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov briefed the meeting participants about the mechanisms of protection for citizens with high debt levels, in particular about the new rules for out-of-court bankruptcy procedure, which became effective on November 3. Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina also commented on the subject.

The speeches by Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin and Head of the Russian Popular Front Executive Committee Mikhail Kuznetsov were devoted to the system of tax deduction for physical training and sports.

The Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova spoke about the restoration of cultural heritage sites, while the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov talked about the progress in construction of the Vostok station and the work of the Antarctic expedition.

Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko delivered reports on the main topic of the discussion, measures to fight cancer.

The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Anton Vaino, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister – Plenipotentiary Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, deputy prime ministers Viktoria Abramchenko, Tatyana Golikova, Alexander Novak, Alexei Overchuk, Marat Khusnullin and Dmitry Chernyshenko, Presidential Aide Maxim Oreshkin and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov. In addition, the heads of several ministries and departments were invited to the meeting.

* * *

Excerpts from transcript of meeting with Government members

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Mr Murashko is our key speaker today. He will brief us on measures to combat oncological diseases.

Incidentally, I visited the Dima Rogachev Centre today – probably you noticed this. I discussed this with Mr Mishustin this morning.

I would like to thank the Healthcare Ministry for its serious attitude towards the work of this institution. Specialists have a number of questions, but we will discuss them later. They are asking for support and assistance on some specific problems. We will discuss this separately with the Minister afterwards.

But before getting to the main item, let’s discuss some current issues. I would like to ask Mr Reshetnikov to start with the protection of people with a high debt burden. There are some changes in this issue and people should know about them. Of course, everyone should understand that all these actions are aimed at protecting the interests of our citizens.

I would like to ask Mr Reshetnikov to speak about this problem in more detail.

<…>

Vladimir Putin: Ms Lyubimova, we have 154,000 federal and regional cultural heritage sites, and 16 percent of them are in poor condition. This process has clearly dragged on, especially their transfer to economic use. I know that you have some proposals. And in general, how is this work going?

Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova: Mr President,

Indeed, almost 154,000 cultural heritage sites are currently included in the register, and work has been organised with the new regions to update the unified register. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2025.

Every year, the Ministry of Culture works to preserve more than 300 cultural heritage sites. We pay special attention to historical communities – there are 46 such towns and villages at the federal level and 112 at the regional level. We apply the ‘conservation for development’ principle to those communities. For this purpose, we designate facilities for protection and work out development concepts for each historical community for decades ahead.

Such concepts have been approved for Plyos, Arzamas, Borovsk, Tutayev, Gorokhovets, Yeniseysk, Krapivna, Kyakhta in the Republic of Buryatia, and Suzdal. And we have plans for Vyborg, Zaraysk, Belyov, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Tomsk and Kargopol.

We are working on this in close cooperation with the respective regions, and this has had a positive effect, prompting the development of local businesses, restaurants, cafes and hotels, as well as an increase in the tourist flow. For example, tourist flows to Arzamas, Krapivna and Gorokhovets have doubled over the past year, and the tiny Tutayev now welcomes more than 250,000 visitors a year.

The Ministry of Culture is doing a lot of work to preserve cultural and natural landscapes associated with historical events or the lives of eminent people, and to designate places of interest. Some of the best examples include Polenovo, Yasnaya Polyana in the Tula Region, the Solovetsky archipelago in the Arkhangelsk Region, and the ancient city of Tauric Chersonesos in Sevastopol. Currently, more than 2,000 places of interest have been added to the register.

I would like to specifically note the results of work to reduce administrative barriers to renovation activities.

All public services related to the preservation of cultural heritage sites are now available digitally. The shift was achieved through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economic Development and our colleagues from the Ministry of Digital Development. As a result, the time limits for most services have been halved, and the number of documents to be submitted has been reduced by two thirds.

Thanks to you, Mr President, a very important problem affecting people living in listed apartment buildings has also been solved. On September 1, a law came into force allowing for capital repair works to be carried out in such buildings. Given that there are 8,000 residential buildings in the country that are recognised as cultural heritage sites, this is a very welcome measure of support for their residents, and according to our preliminary estimates, it will save more than 200 billion rubles.

Mr President, in pursuance of your instruction, the Ministry, together with the DOM.RF joint-stock company, is also working on the possibility of turning heritage sites with low investment attractiveness into economic objects. The first five regions to participate in the pilot project have already been identified: the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Novgorod, Ryazan, Smolensk and Tver regions.

The Ministry of Culture has also been implementing two more new programmes since 2020. The first is the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Sites programme, which makes it possible to prevent further damage to monuments and to ensure the possibility of their restoration in the future. This programme covers 50 sites annually. And there is a programme for the preservation of wooden architecture monuments, which ensures the restoration of five sites per year.

Thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Ok. We need to work more actively here, of course. The preferential interest, how much is the rate for a restoration project? Four percent?

Olga Lyubimova: We are working on four percent, yes, with the possibility of compensating banks, respectively.

Vladimir Putin: We need to see how this goes in the regions. Because in Moscow, it is clear that these investments pay for themselves quite quickly. We need to see how it will go in the regions.

And as we go along, as we implement this plan and this project, I ask you to report back in six months or so on what is happening there, so that, if necessary, we can make some adjustments, and by the end of the year, the pace should be noticeable and positive.

Thank you.

To be continued.