Vladimir Putin's opening remarks:

I would also like to welcome you. Clearly, we could not invite everyone who considers themselves veterans and pensioners here, to the Kremlin. Neither the Kremlin, nor the White House, that is the one we have here in Moscow, can accommodate all these people, there are over 30 million of them, 38 million, to be precise. So we decided to invite people from different regions who represent certain groups within this broader segment of society – pensioners. They include retired workers, ex-service personnel, and veterans of the Great Patriotic War, all of them honourable and respected people.

In this country we have always respected our elders, and our meeting today was designed not only as a demonstration of this respect – which goes without saying – but also as an opportunity for us to talk about problems, listen to your views, taking your advice and recommendations on board in a straightforward, open and free discussion. Thank you.

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Vladimir Putin’s commentary following a speech by Igor Batishchev, a boarding school director in the town of Lipetsk

Vladimir Putin: Mr Batishchev, I have one more small comment that is unrelated to the media. You said that all of us were proud of our common homeland. Indeed, we took great pride in Yuri Gagarin’s flight, our victory in the war, Europe’s liberation from Nazism, and many other things… We were also proud of our culture. But we also felt bitterness or shame when there was no sugar or meat in our shops. It was a shame, a complete disgrace…

Igor Batishchev: That only took place at the end of the Soviet period.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, but there were many different periods. We are talking about the final stage. And all that pride did not help us to preserve our common homeland because the overwhelming majority of people thought that it could not get any worse. You see? This is what we are talking about… Let me share something with you. I had just returned from a trip abroad then, and I was surprised at what I saw in the country; there were many things that seemed strange to me. I spoke about this publicly before – I went to change a flat tire once, and the guys working in the car servicing centre asked me, “Are you for the Soviet Union or for Russia?” I was shocked. “Is there a difference?” The names are different but it is still Russia, big Russia. The people were so confused that they could not think straight, they could not see what was going on. Problems were being exploited for personal gain, and populist promises were being made. People were being told that tomorrow we would all live like in Paris or London, and that this would happen almost overnight. You all know the result: an economic and social collapse, a descent into criminality and – I mention this with sorrow – unprecedented plundering of the nation in the 1990s. This is what we got in the end.

Why am I saying this now? We are once again facing a choice. An election campaign is underway, which is good, it’s just as it should be in a democratic state. But there is something I’d like to draw your attention to – there are many unresolved problems, some of which are very painful. We must not allow populists once again to use these problems, to exploit them for their own gain. After all, we should be able to distinguish real problems and those who are working to resolve them as best they can from those who are sitting on their hands and only make more promises in a bid to obtain something for themselves, like power and functions. I hope that society was vaccinated against this in the early 1990s, and can now objectively assess developments in the country.

Igor Batishchev: Thank God this is not the 1990s…

Vladimir Putin: I very much hope so.

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Vladimir Putin’s commentary following a speech by Ivan Zhukov, former Baltic Fleet serviceman

Vladimir Putin: Mr Zhukov, first of all, regarding the first issue, when I talked to Mr Medvedev I said that our common pride for our homeland was not enough to preserve the Soviet Union because there were many problems. The main problem was the horrendous quality of life. The purpose of the state is to make people live better, to feel even insignificant, even the smallest positive trend, change for the better. This is our common objective and it is an objective of the state.

Pensions are one of our priorities. Of course, there is still a lot to be done to improve the pension system. Our Pension Fund still faces a deficit, and we are supporting it with payments from the federal budget. But we must make sure the Pension Fund is deficit-free. We can do it, and what we need is to adjust the system and to ensure that the budget receives sufficient revenue from the effectively functioning economy. You might remember that four years ago the average old-age pension was just over 3,000 roubles. Mr Medvedev has just said that time flies and some things fade into oblivion. There were times of pension delays. Four years ago the pensions were paid on a regular basis but they were just over 3,000 roubles. The average old-age pension – I can quote figures by heart now – was 8,100-8,200 roubles as of the beginning of this year and now it is 8,800-8,900 roubles, while Great Patriotic War veterans receive 10,000-13,000 roubles. So, today the average old-age pension is 8,800 and it will be 8,900 roubles by the end of the year.

Another category is social pensions, which are, unfortunately, very low and must be increased. They differ from one region to another. Besides, they cannot be lower than the minimum subsistence wage. If they fall below this level – and I want to draw the attention of all pensioners who hear this – if they fall below this level we will have to allocate money to bring the amount up to the minimum wage. This rule must be compulsory for every region. Social pensions must be increased by all means, and we will attend to it.

Speaking of pension provision in general, it will be maintained and increased. Next year we plan two pension adjustments, in February and April if I am not mistaken. We will not stop increasing pensions.

Remark: So, we can expect that it will be adjusted?

Vladimir Putin: Pensions definitely will be adjusted twice, the first increase bigger than the second one. This is one of the objectives of the government and the state in general. We have no plans – for the immediate future at least – to raise the retirement age. I know there have been related discussions. It is true that almost everywhere in Europe – as I’m sure you’re aware of it – the retirement age has been raised, even in former Soviet republics, such as Ukraine.

Remark: Everywhere.

Vladimir Putin: Everywhere. Everywhere in Europe. The retirement age is 65 for both men and women there.

Remark: We should not follow the worst examples. We must follow the best ones.

Vladimir Putin: You know, the issue is that their economies cannot afford paying lavish pensions. So, it is an objective necessity. We can do without this at the moment. It also has to do with life expectancy. The proportion of people who retired and do not work any more is much larger than the number of employed people in Europe, and it is too much of a burden for their economies. Life expectancy in Russia is not as high as in Europe. If we consider raising the retirement age, we will have to do it carefully, in coordination with growth in life expectancy and real incomes of the population.  

Ivan Zhukov: People would stop worrying. They know where you stand on this issue.

Vladimir Putin: We have no plans of this kind.

Question: Why is there no pension limit? Why is there no maximum level?

Vladimir Putin: Because inflation is still rather high. If we set a maximum limit for pensions, we will have to limit it across the scale, including social pensions, but we cannot raise social pensions to the level of, say, pensions for Great Patriotic War veterans. The principle of social justice must be observed. True, people receive small pensions that need to be raised, but we must raise other benefits as well. Social benefits are granted to people who, for instance, did not work the entire length of employment. There are other categories of citizens as well. Are you suggesting we make these categories equal? What if we hold a poll or referendum among pensioners and ask them if they agree that we make everyone equal and entitled to equal pensions?

Remark: No, but there must be a…

Vladimir Putin: This is exactly the point.

Remark: … there must be justice.

Vladimir Putin: In that case, we will not be able to fulfil your proposal to ‘freeze’ pensions. We could freeze them, as have many countries. They froze wages and pensions. But inflation is growing. And your actual income would fall. There is so much fuss and speculation about low pensions during this election campaign. We know the amount of our pensions. But we are not freezing them, although they are very modest. As I told you – the average pension was 3,000 roubles, now it stands at 8,000 roubles, but they are still very modest. Mr Medvedev and I are aware of this and we will do what we can to increase them. But we cannot freeze them now. There is no need for this measure because it means reducing real incomes. Despite all the hue and cry raised by the opposition, real incomes – regardless of inflation – are growing. Even with account of growing housing utilities rates – and we will by all means touch upon this sensitive issue – real incomes are still growing, even if only by a small margin. If we freeze them, real incomes will start falling, so let’s not do this at the moment.

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Comment on the speech by Galina Savina

Vladimir Putin: I know from my family experience how difficult it is sometimes to part with active work, as Mr Medvedev said. I remember how my father worked as a foreman at a plant… It wasn’t like working at a computer, though I have respect for modern technology. He worked almost until he was 75. I once visited him at the plant – it was noisy, a lot of hardware everywhere. I can’t say they had any production or technological discipline there. “Why do you need all this?” I asked him, and he said: “It’s okay, leave me alone.” I didn’t understand that he couldn’t tear himself away from it. Of course, we were short of money, but money wasn’t the issue. He just couldn’t tear himself away from it. This is why I think we must consider Ms Savina’s proposal (on work for pensioners). We must think of some flexible system and get employers interested as well.

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Comment on the speech by Polina Reshetnikova

Vladimir Putin: We have done much on the Health national project (Mr Medvedev was involved in this work when he was deputy prime minister). We put our focus on healthcare at the grassroots level. Quite recently I met with rural professionals, including doctors. We discussed this. I don’t know whether you had a chance to see this on television but it was shown. I have noticed that even these places where we transferred funds…

Polina Reshetnikova: They aren’t getting there?

Vladimir Putin: They have. But these institutions are not maintained in the proper shape. We thought we’d give them the money, put the primary institutions in order, and municipalities and regions will maintain them in proper shape but, regrettably, this is not happening. But this is a separate matter, and this is our responsibility. We will deal with it. Both the government and the president will deal with it. Nevertheless, despite this we have decided to carry out one more programme to modernise healthcare, primarily municipal, regional healthcare. In two years we will transfer a handsome sum of 460 billion roubles there.   

We will spend considerable funds on the Tver Region, including its villages. We will preserve and upgrade village first aid and obstetric stations. There are about 2,000 of them and we will build some 1,500 new ones. We’ll pay special attention to cardio-vascular diseases (primarily, the most widespread ones, like heart attacks and strokes), as well as traumas. We’ll devote special attention to these two groups. We will allocate money for equipment. Standards of rendering aid are also changing. Say, an injection cost 100 roubles, whereas now it will be 250 roubles. But the payment will be made by the government rather than people. Thus, the salaries of medical personnel will also increase.

And one more point. We’ll establish 400 interregional medical institutions, mostly to deal with traumas and cardio-vascular diseases. I hope that people in the Tver Region (we have just exchanged information, and their standards are worse than the national average)… It’s not that I hope – I’m sure people in the Tver Region will feel this. 

Now a few words about supplies of medicines. We have two channels for providing medicines for the people – federal and regional. We earmarked more than 19 billion roubles for the federal channel, which also has two elements. First, we have general discounts. The federal budget allocates 46 billion roubles for those who are entitled to them. Second, we have discounts for patients with serious diseases (like cancer and so on) – we have earmarked 47 billion roubles for them. I must talk with Mr Medvedev about this, ask his advice, and address the Finance Ministry. We should probably give more help to the regions so that they could provide better for their regional requirements. People must receive these medicines in the required amount and at affordable prices.

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Comment on the speeches by Abdurakhman Magomedov and Gamzat Gamzatov

Vladimir Putin: Mr Magomedov mentioned the extremists. They portray their activities as defending Islam. Meanwhile, the real defenders of Islam are those religious leaders who are killed by these criminals for defending the traditional values of the peoples of Russia. Russia has always acted in the world arena as a consistent defender of the Muslim world, as its ally. By trying to destroy Russia, the extremists are depriving the Muslim world of this support. In this sense they act as agents of the enemies of the Muslim world.

Remark: Absolutely.

Vladimir Putin: That’s my first point. Second (I’m grateful for your present!), I knew Rasul Gamzatov personally. I can attest that he was a wonderful person, an example to follow not only for Dagestan but also for the rest of Russia. Therefore, a monument to him in Moscow will certainly be appropriate. This is a man who can really be called a great citizen of Russia. And listen – thank you for the present again! – listen to his words, the very first phrases. They seem to be addressed to all of us today: “A plea is heard: ‘Save me and the rest, fate, from evil thoughts. Raise my spirits, fill me with hope, and give me courage! Amen.” Thank you very much.