Vladimir Putin’s opening address:

We are meeting today to review the results of our joint efforts in 2010 and to outline plans for 2011. Of course, it is impossible to speak about the problems of our senior citizens, our veterans, without your involvement, without the contribution of representatives of the leading veterans’ organisations and associations. You know the situation very well; you deal with the people directly. In fact, you live with these problems. This is why I thought it would be wise to meet with you today to discuss these problems.

Our key priority is improving the quality of life of our citizens, including, of course, veterans. This approach is outlined in the government’s action programme through 2012 and development strategy through 2020. A society’s attitude to senior citizens is an indicator of its social responsibility and the morality of its policies.

War, military service and labour veterans have done a lot for Russia; they have worked for the country their whole lives. We all know very well that common people have lived very modestly, in particular during Soviet times. People often worked without the hope of receiving financial benefits, honouring their responsibilities and doing their duty to the country. Actually, the older generation, our senior citizens have worked selflessly for the benefit of the country all their lives, fighting in wars when necessary. Today these respected citizens have the right to expect us to provide them with decent living conditions, to feel that the government will care for them.

There are over 40 million veterans and pensioners in the country. Supporting them is the unconditional duty of the government. This stance does not depend on the political situation. I want to emphasise this: this kind of attitude is completely independent of current political circumstances. During the global economic and financial crisis, we honoured our commitments to the people even though the government had fewer resources and more problems, including a budget deficit.

It should be said that up to 70% of federal budget spending in 2009 and 2010 was connected with social programmes and was spent on supporting the people, including senior citizens. We tried to do our utmost to mitigate the effects of the crisis, knowing that pensions and state allowances are the only source of income for many senior citizens.

I would like to point out again that Russia was the only country hit by the crisis to initiate large-scale pension reforms during this difficult period. As you know, other countries froze pensions and raised the pension age, whereas Russia increased pensions by nearly 45% in 2010.

On February 1 labour pensions will be indexed again, by 8.8%.

We have given special consideration to support for the veterans of the Great Patriotic War. They receive over 23,000 roubles monthly. This sum includes fixed monthly payments and an additional 1,000 roubles paid to every veteran in commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. The widows of the soldiers who died in the war receive 17,000 roubles.

In the past three years we allocated over 170 billion roubles to the programme to provide new housing to veterans. Over 145,000 participants of the Great Patriotic War have already benefitted from this programme. And we have cleared all the obstacles that complicated registration for new housing. Now, an application can be submitted at any time, and the person will be registered.

There are currently 41,000 people on the waiting list. When we cancelled the requirements for joining the programme and committed ourselves to providing housing even for those who had not managed to register before March 1, 2005, we expected that there would be about 140,000 applicants, but the number has already reached 172,000. And people continue to register. As I said, there are currently 41,000 people on the waiting list. So we have already provided housing to over 120,000 people. This is in addition to the 28,414 who submitted applications before March 1, 2005. We have set aside the necessary funds, 10 billion roubles, to provide housing for the rest of the veterans in 2011. I’d like to add that veterans also receive a 50% discount on utility payments.

Yesterday I met with representatives of the United Russia party, as you may have heard. I demanded that the party investigate the problem of growing utility prices. And I would also like to ask you and your affiliates to take part in this work and report cases of unjustified price increases to the government, if there are any.

Today I’d also like to discuss our plans for this year and the coming years. Resolving the problems faced by senior citizens means improving the situation in different areas, such as the pension system, housing and utilities, health care and housing construction and distribution. There are different government bodies addressing these issues. I believe that they should coordinate this work better. The veterans’ associations that you represent have also suggested that coordination needs to be improved.

I’d like to propose the creation of a coordination council for veterans’ affairs under the government, which would include representatives of government bodies and veterans’ organisations. The council would be charged with developing legislative initiatives and supervising the implementation of projects and programmes for elderly people.

I believe that such councils and consulting agencies should be created at the regional and municipal level, because veterans’ problems need to be addressed at every level. The government should be in constant contact with veterans’ organisations, attending to their needs and the needs of senior citizens in general.

Another important goal is to create a network of consulting, legal and social support offices for the elderly. And we should also coordinate our efforts well here. As you know, we have amended the legislation on non-governmental organisations so they can receive state support performing socially important functions. You have a comprehensive network of local organisations. There are branches in every municipality. These organisations employ highly qualified specialists, lawyers and psychologists. These opportunities surely must be used to provide people with professional consultations and competent legal advice. Not all pensioners and veterans can afford to pay legal fees, yet complicated situations involving violations of their housing, pensions and property rights, unfortunately, arise all the time.

In short, there is a lot of work to be done. I would like to repeat: we are ready to back you at the federal level and in the regions. The veterans’ associations, like other NGOs that do important social work, will receive direct financial support from the state. We will allocate a total of 900 million roubles to such organizations, including nearly 270 million roubles to veterans in 2011. I want you to know that at the end of last year, on December 27, 2010, I signed an executive order allocating 269.6 million roubles to veterans’ organizations.

In the future we intend to put together a federal programme of assistance to non-profit organizations, including veterans’ organizations.

Healthcare issues are particularly important for the elderly. I would like to say a few words about this area. I think that it is perfectly reasonable that veterans complain about some medical institutions that provide health services to most senior citizens. I am not going to list all of these complaints as they are generally well known: long queues, problems with calling ambulances and so on.

We are now launching an ambitious social project, I am referring to regional healthcare modernisation programmes. They have been designed to solve these problems, or in any case dramatically improve the state of health care. I would urge you to join the efforts to publicly monitor the implementation of this large-scale programme that will span the whole country. The goal is to significantly upgrade the level of primary medical care and improve the work of the entire network of clinics and hospitals. We will work in areas such as outpatient medical checkups of senior citizens, care for elderly people living alone, the development of rehabilitation services and high-tech medical assistance, including complicated orthopedic operations and prosthetics.

We should also facilitate access to government services, including key social services so that the elderly do not have to queue up and knock on the doors of various offices and institutions to get all sorts of certificates. We are in the process of implementing a whole programme to make government services more effective, including electronic forms. We are well aware that the older generation is more accustomed to traditional forms of communicating with government institutions, and not many of them have mastered the Internet and other modern technology. Therefore, various services, including medical services, will continue to be delivered through multi-purpose “one-stop” centres.

One problem that is often raised by veterans’ organizations is the still small pensions of retired officers.

We are exploring the possibilities and will increase the allowance of the miliray.  Undoubtedly, the ratio between military and civilian pensions needs to be seriously adjusted. Beginning from 2012, military pensions will be raised significantly.

We will deliver on our promise to provide military personnel with housing by extending it to those who retired in the 1990s without getting housing. That was a social injustice, and the problem must and will be resolved. These people found themselves on municipal waiting lists and almost fell through the cracks: neither the Defence Ministry, nor the municipal authorities have noticed them as they have their own waiting lists. This is unquestionably the duty of the state and we will fulfil it. I think that by the end of the year these people will know where they will get a flat. If we fail to accommodate everyone by the end of the year and hand out the keys to them, at least they will know where they will be living in, and all these people will get new flats early next year.

We see your organizations as key partners, and we will try to produce the best conditions possible for your work, and for the work of other non-governmental organizations. We are committed to improving the legislation, providing you with information, tax breaks and helping you with premises. I am aware that these kinds of problems exist, especially at the regional and municipal levels.

I would like to touch upon a topic that is extremely important for our society and nation. I am referring to the younger generations. Veterans’ organizations have traditionally worked in this area. We would like you to continue working at schools, universities and in residential areas to instill patriotic attitudes among the younger generation.

We expect you to weigh in on such an important issue as the strengthening of interethnic and interfaith peace in Russia, offsetting the propaganda of various extremist, nationalist and radical groups.

You unite the people who can be called, without exaggeration, the heritage of our nation, the custodians of our historical memory and the experiences of our people. Your example, and your authority, should always be made available. This should serve to enlighten the younger generations, to unite our society around genuine values. This continues to be one of the most important tasks for you. Thank you.

Let’s get to work.  

Vladimir Putin’s closing remarks:

To wrap up our conversation, I would like to say the following. First, I would like to thank you for assessing what has been done in the previous years and in 2010.

Second, all your criticisms (regarding distortions and defects) will be examined, and I promise that the government will respond to them.  I cannot finalise the decisions now, but when Dmitry Karabanov (head of the All-Russian Association of Veterans ) said, “Thank you for all the decisions that have been made today,” I realized that he is a veteran not only of the military but also of the diplomatic service. But I think you will agree that before approving matters of financing you should make some careful calculations. Otherwise it will be nothing but populist blather. That being said, I want you to know that I personally agree with everything you have said here and I believe that your approach is sound. We will address these issues. We just need to think about when and how. But we are committed to solving the problems you have put before us, make no mistake about that. We are aware of these discrepancies.

Of course, we really wanted to raise civilian pensions, and we promised to do so.  The reason for this, in my opinion, is that we are indebted to the older generation. Although we kept raising pensions, inflation was eating up these revenues. We had to make a leap forward. I am referring to the injustices that stem from the incorrect calculation of seniority earned during the Soviet era. We promised to do it, we needed to do it and we have done it.

But that of course left the military pensioners in the lurch. There are also some imbalances associated with the material support for the families of fallen soldiers at different periods in our country’s history, as has been mentioned here.

There are also problems connected with border guards and other groups. We will consider all this and formulate the final decisions at the Coordinating Council of the Government of the Russian Federation for Veterans’ Affairs. And I hope that it will not be merely a formal decorative body. I hope it will make a real difference and will enable us not only to discuss these problems in an open manner, but to find solutions that are economically sound, socially just and will be backed by the necessary resources.

I would like to end on this note. And I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year.