Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Please report  how your work on the programme is progressing.

Nikolai Fyodorov: (hands documents to the prime minister) These are the interim results the institute has obtained while working under your instructions, which were not simple: to analyse and provide intellectual support for the proposals arising in Russian society in connection with the upcoming elections to the State Duma this year.

Vladimir Putin: (looks through the documents) Hmm, how lucky. It opened at the most important part: “Social Justice: Towards an Equal Opportunity Society.”

Nikolai Fyodorov: Mr Putin, we are formulating this programme with due account of the acute requests and needs of the people across Russia, from Chukotka to Kaliningrad. I can tell you that, personally, I have been surprised by the technology of formulating this programme, even though I have taken part in many elections, starting with the elections of People’s Deputies of the USSR in 1988-1989. Now we have polled over a million people across Russia, in all of the 83 federal entities, through United Russia and the regional coordinating council of the Russian Popular Front.

Vladimir Putin: More than a million?

Nikolai Fyodorov: Yes, more than a million. We used a variety of formats, asking people in the street as well as through our authorised representatives, my institute and the Russian Popular Front’s website. These proposals are the essence of the people’s pain, suffering and dreams. We have systematised them, working primarily though members of the Popular Front’s Federal Coordinating Council, because the front represents millions of people, from trade unions to the Pensioners’ Union of Russia and the retired military, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Opora Russia, Delovaya Rossiya and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Federal Coordinating Council has accumulated over a thousand clever and sound proposals. Their coordination with the Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies during two rounds of talks has in most cases reached 90%, although it is about 60% for a minor number of the proposals, which is still a very high level of coordination. Without the front’s assistance and this new format for getting involved in politics and preparing for the Duma elections, the level of coordinating and taking these proposals into account  at this stage would have been 10%-20% at best.

These are proposals from people across Russians, from its eastern to western borders. And this is only one file out of a hundred. Here are the most burning problems and expert proposals. We have an unusually large group of experts, 200 federal experts and 400 experts from the 83 federal entities who are working remotely. Our call centre has processed over 15,000 proposals. We divided the proposals into groups, for example proposals from the Russian regions, from institutes, universities and the Russian Academy of Sciences. They have proposed entire programmes.

Another unusual element is that we selected three priority, the most burning and  actual socio-economic projects from each entity of the Russian Federation that could have the maximum multiplication effect. The additional positive element is that these projects are to be financed strictly from regional budgets and extra-budget sources, in the form of a public-private partnership with contributions from the federal authorities.

Taken together, this has encouraged members of the Federal Coordinating Centre and experts to propose that the Russian Popular Front’s document be named the People’s Programme. I can tell you that our visits to the regions show that this is an acceptable idea.

Vladimir Putin: This is above all a Untied Russia programme, but at the same time it is more than purely a party programme, and so the suggested name sounds reasonable. Of course, you should discuss it with your colleagues; I am all for it. It should also be discussed within United Russia and in the broader format of the Russian Popular Front.

Nikolai Fyodorov: We have held two rounds of talks within the Federal Coordinating Council, which can be described as the first and second hearings. In August, we can discuss the programme’s sections with the organisations concerned, or even the entire draft. Discussions of some issues could take into account the results of interesting meetings you have held, for example with the young people at Seliger. It would be reasonable to offer them for public debate. I am referring, in particular, to sensitive issues like raising the legal drinking age to 21 years.

There are other important and sensitive issues which should be offered for public debate, as you mentioned. It is possible, technically, to do this in August, before the party congress.

Vladimir Putin: This work should be accelerated in August and the first half of September using a variety of formats.

Nikolai Fyodorov: We are ready to do so.