OREANDA-NEWS. December 22, 2011. In particular, Dmitry Medvedev proposed a number of initiatives to further develop the country's political system. In addition, the President outlined his position on the main directions of domestic and foreign policy, economic modernisation and social development, defence and security.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Citizens of Russia, State Duma deputies and members of the Council of Federation,

Yesterday, the State Duma of the sixth convocation held its first meeting. I congratulate all the deputies on the start of their work. I wish you every success and would like to assure you of my openness to dialogue on all issues.

Following the parliamentary elections in Russia, various statements were made regarding their results, both in Russia and abroad. Some people were pleased with the elections’ results, others were not entirely satisfied, and still others were not happy at all. It was the same after the previous elections. This always happens.

I would therefore like to stress that we treat any criticism of state institutions and individual officials with the utmost attention and respect. We draw relevant conclusions where criticism is valid, restore justice where laws had been broken, take the necessary decisions in consultation with the main political forces, openly state our position and justify it if the criticism is unfounded.

People have a guaranteed right to express their opinions using all legitimate means but attempts to manipulate Russian citizens, to mislead them and incite social discord are unacceptable. We will not let instigators and extremists involve society in their reckless activities, and we will not allow foreign interference in our internal affairs.

Russia needs democracy, not chaos; it needs faith in the future and justice. The fact that society is changing and people are increasingly expressing their views and making legitimate demands on the authorities are a positive sign, a sign of a maturing democracy. In my view, this is a positive trend that will benefit our country, just as increased political competition, which forces us to work more efficiently and to respond more promptly to the problems of millions of Russian families.

Today I will state my proposals for the near future aimed at expanding people’s opportunities to influence Russian state policy and the decisions on matters that involve their rights and interests. But first, if I may, I would like to talk about the results of our efforts.

I am sincerely grateful to those who have given their support to my work as President of Russia in the past four years. Bear in mind that the start of my term in office coincided with a very difficult period. Everyone remembers the events in South Ossetia in August 2008. Just a month later we faced the most severe global financial crisis. This has left a serious mark on all of our work. The problems generated by the crisis have remained unresolved to this day in many countries. I would like to name our most important achievements of this challenging period and the main results.

First. We have successfully overcome the most difficult period of economic turmoil and returned to pre-crisis indicators. The economy is growing rapidly: by 4% per year, which exceeds the recovery rate in most leading economies. Russia’s sovereign debt remains at a minimum. Our country has become the sixth largest economy in the world. We have fulfilled our social obligations in full. Pensions and wages of most public sector employees grew faster than we had planned before the crisis. Today, there are no pensioners in the country whose incomes are below the regional minimum subsistence level. The average size of the retirement pension has increased by over 50% in the past four years (and this is growth in real terms) and the average salaries of teachers and doctors have approached the regional average.

This year, we had the lowest inflation in the history of the new Russia. It is less than 7% and may even be closer to 6%. Salaries, social benefits and real incomes are the highest since the Soviet period, although they are still far from our targets. There are too many low-income families in the country although in 2011 their number came close to the lowest in 20 years.

The economic crisis has clearly shown that setting aside a part of the oil revenues to make reserves has been and remains a successful policy. Due to these savings the Government and the Bank of Russia prevented a currency crisis. Now the volume of gold and foreign currency reserves is close to the pre-crisis level, while people’s bank deposits have increased by almost 80%. Lending volumes have also grown.

We have provided strong support to manufacturing, construction and infrastructure companies, as well as small businesses. Big companies received funding on the basis of a detailed analysis of development programmes and their readiness to preserve and create jobs.

Agricultural producers also received systemic support. This has allowed the whole industry and the food market to fully recover last year’s losses caused by the drought and wildfires.

The number of unemployed in the past two years has decreased by almost two million people. Today, the unemployment rate in our country is one of the lowest in the world.

Overall, Russia’s anti-crisis policy has been more effective than in many other countries or in previous crises, of which, as we know, there were many. I think we passed this difficult test with flying colours.

Second. We have ensured full implementation of demographic programmes, which became one of the factors in demographic stabilisation. More than 6 million children were born in Russia over the past four years – and that is an excellent figure, a 20-year record. The mortality rate declined even faster than we initially expected.

Modern Russia has the highest life expectancy in its history. It has increased by almost three years since 2006 and has reached just under 69 years. Life expectancy for women – because they take better care of themselves – is nearly 75. We had never had such figures before. Never!

Naturally, we must strive to make these numbers even higher. That is the aim of the new healthcare modernisation programme. All the decisions required for its implementation have already been taken.

Third. A key theme of my Address last year was the policy on motherhood and childhood. A great deal has been achieved in this area. By the end of this year Russia will have 23 perinatal centres. We poured enormous resources into the development of paediatric services. Medical examinations of schoolchildren will now be held throughout the school years. Another hour of physical fitness has been introduced in the school curriculum. A law has been adopted that allows for the use of maternity capital for private housing construction. 38 regions have decided to pay an additional regional maternity capital, as I told you here a year ago.

The regions are entitled to provide free of charge municipally-owned land plots to large families. The tax on charity donations to individuals has been abolished, including assistance to children. Commissioners for children’s rights have been appointed and begun to actively work in almost all regions. Public councils are set up at institutions for children who have no parents or guardians, which help address these children’s problems more promptly.

Fourth. At the peak of the economic crisis, I initiated a shift in Russia's development strategy: the modernisation of our economy. I am sure it was the right decision. Today we can see the initial results in all priority areas of modernisation: we have achieved the highest level of funding for research and development since the Soviet times, built an efficient system of development institutions and gradually decreased the energy intensity of the Russian economy. This means – and I want everyone to stop and think about it – that the share of the utilities costs in family and company budgets will eventually stop growing, and if energy is used rationally, it can even be reduced.

We have launched production of new drugs, including for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. An entire line of next generation products has been developed together with our foreign partners.

We have created supercomputers supporting new competitive technologies in the nuclear and aerospace industries, shipbuilding and automotive industries; completed the development of technical documentation for the construction and operation of a new generation nuclear power station that will be highly resistant to external shocks, as well as have significantly higher economic efficiency rates.

Half of Russian regions already use the services of the GLONASS navigation system and are implementing remote sensing projects. The number of home broadband Internet connections has doubled in the past three years and now the country has nearly 55 million active subscribers. I want to emphasise that this is the highest figure among all European countries.

Television and radio networks are switching to digital broadcasting. This increases the freedom of choice and stimulates competition. As promised, Russia will have more than 20 freely available TV channels by 2015, and the number of channels offered by private broadcasting companies can be measured in hundreds.

A few words about another major modernisation project, the Skolkovo Innovation Centre. I am aware that there were many sceptics when we launched this project, and there are some that remain to this day. But what do the facts tell us? Skolkovo corporate residents include over 300 companies engaged in advanced research and development. A modern technological university is being built, partnership agreements have been signed with leading global companies, which are setting up their research centres at Skolkovo. This is only the beginning but I'm confident that Skolkovo will become an example of the first successful global project in science, education and innovation in 30 years; the first but I'm sure it will not be the last.

Fifth. The political system’s modernisation has made it more efficient. I would like to remind you that I have suggested measures for its development every year in my Addresses. All these measures have been implemented, and I would like to thank the Federal Assembly for it once again.

Yes, we have improved the quality of popular representation and stimulated the development of political competition. Over the past few years the role of political parties in our country has increased. They have obtained the right in case of winning the elections to the region’s Legislative Assembly to submit their nominations to the President for the post of the highest regional official. The parties were given the authority to implement supervision functions. Now, the Government makes an annual report to the State Duma on its efforts. In the regions senior officials report to the legislatures. At the local level, the practice of reports of municipal entities’ heads to representative bodies has been made mandatory. The mechanism of removing municipal officials from office has been introduced.

The parliamentary parties have obtained guarantees of equal coverage of their activities in the state media. Meetings of the State Duma and regional legislative assemblies are being broadcast live online. This certainly increases the openness of the parliament’s work and allows the parties to inform the voters of their positions online. In order to ensure the rights of political parties not represented in the legislature, they have the opportunity to make regular appearances in the State Duma and regional parliaments.

The new procedure for forming the Council of Federation, which came into effect this year, should also be viewed in the context of expanding popular representation. Now only the people who have won federal, state or municipal elections will be able to sit in the Upper House of Parliament. Finally, the electoral threshold in the State Duma elections has been decreased to 5%.