Agenda: scaling-up support for the border regions, offering social support to medical workers providing healthcare services to special military operation participants in the Kursk Region, ensuring the stable operation of energy infrastructure in the new regions, federal budget performance in the first six months of the year and the Strategy for Youth Policy Implementation until 2030.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks
Dmitry Chernyshenko’s report about the Strategy for Implementing Youth Policy to 2030
Excerpts from the transcript:
Government meeting
Government meeting
Dmitry Chernyshenko delivers a report at the Government meeting
Government meeting
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, colleagues.
Last week, the President held a meeting to discuss the situation in the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions and issued a number of instructions to the Government.
Specifically, we must provide assistance to small and medium-sized businesses, establish mobile communications, and ensure online access where needed. We also need to create safe places for children to study, and get these territories ready for the heating season.
Colleagues, it is crucial to promptly implement the Presidential instructions.
The Government is expanding support for the border regions. An additional 15.5 billion roubles have been allocated to the Kursk Region, with the bulk of these funds earmarked toward buying housing for citizens who have lost their homes or are temporarily unable to live in their own homes.
We also continue to supply free meals and otherwise fund temporary accommodation centres, both stationary and mobile. People need to feel safe and have access to essential supplies.
We have begun paying compensations for property loss to residents of the region. Every affected individual should receive this financial help. We are allocating additional funds towards this end, and making one-time payments to those who were forced to abandon their homes.
It is imperative to ensure access to healthcare for residents of the Kursk and Belgorod regions. Many of them are now seeking medical help outside their regions, which increases the financial burden on regional health insurance funds. More than one billion roubles have been allocated to cover these expenses.
Our measures are systematic and provide targeted assistance to people.
Colleagues, I urge you to minimise bureaucratic procedures, and to promptly address concerns people may have, and pay attention to everything around you.
There’s one more signed document regarding support for healthcare professionals who take care of the personnel wounded during the special military operation.
In accordance with the instruction issued by the President, extra social payments have been introduced for them. This primarily concerns doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as the Belgorod, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. They receive a bonus payment based on the amount of work, their job description, and hours worked.
Today, we will extend this measure to the specialists working in the Kursk Region, where this extra payment will become available for more than 2,500 people starting in August. These are the people who are doing everything they can to save lives and keep our defenders healthy.
It is crucial to ensure that the allocated federal funds reach the people without delay.
It is also important to ensure that medical professionals have everything they need to treat the patients. The Government will allocate nearly 600 million roubles to the region to purchase essential medical equipment. This funding will allow buying over 430 different items, including mobile ultrasound units, lung ventilators, endoscopic equipment, and much more. This equipment is crucial for diagnostics and therapy and should be brought to the region as soon as possible.
The Ministry of Health should keep these matters under control.
Government meeting
Now, on to today’s agenda.
The President emphasised that residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, must have dignified living and working conditions.
To achieve this, a programme for socioeconomic development is being implemented in these Russian regions. Activities are underway to improve the efficiency of the energy infrastructure.
Earlier, approximately 6 billion roubles were allocated for the purchase of electrical equipment and over 1 billion roubles for rebuilding distribution grids.
Today, we will allocate an additional 2 billion roubles for creating a material and technical reserve. These funds will help promptly fix malfunctions of the power supply system, conduct timely maintenance, and buy modern domestic units and components to make sure residents, industrial, and social facilities in the new regions have access to a stable power supply.
Today’s agenda also includes the execution of the federal budget for the first six months.
The work to implement the goals set by the President continues. We are focusing particularly on improving the social sphere, healthcare, and support for families with children, economic growth, and state security.
Over the first six months, revenue increased by almost 40 percent to over 17 trillion roubles. Importantly, non-oil and gas revenue has grown by more than a quarter which is indicative of the resilience of the economy and the efficient interaction of various sectors. New jobs are being created, which means that the manufacturing and service sectors can feel the budget is stable.
Thanks to a disciplined approach, total spending amounted to about 18 trillion roubles, almost 3 percent more than a year before.
These positive trends should be maintained in the second half of the year, and delays in bringing the funds to implementers should be avoided.
Colleagues, please make sure you work closely with the regions and business representatives, and focus on the interests of specific individuals, prioritising their needs and initiatives.
On to the next subject. The Government has approved the Strategy for Implementing Youth Policy for the next six years.
As the President noted, expanding opportunities for the young people to rise to their full potential is among the key state policy priorities and strategic goals.
There are nearly 38 million people in Russia aged 14 to 35. Thinking about their future is important for ensuring national security, which calls for the combined efforts of the government agencies and non-profit organisations and, most importantly, the involvement of young people in the decision-making processes.
Our numbers showing youth involvement in the volunteer activities, more than 15 million young people as of last year, are among the highest.
We will continue to support the driven and caring citizens who are willing to work for the benefit of the country.
Key areas include supporting the volunteer movement and patriotic organisations, providing additional opportunities for training and skill enhancement to find fulfilling work, expanding access to high-quality online content, including cultural and educational initiatives, promoting the Russian language as a basis for cooperation on international platforms, creating and developing rest and recreation infrastructure, wellness, and, of course, sports, as well as improving the tourism environment so that young people can explore our country and learn more about it.
The credit for drafting the strategy goes primarily to Ms Golikova. I would like to thank her for the effort.
Mr Chernyshenko oversees youth issues now.
Mr Chernyshenko, please update us on the priority tasks at hand.
Dmitry Chernyshenko delivers a report at the Government meeting
Dmitry Chernyshenko: Mr Mishustin, colleagues.
In keeping with the Presidential instructions, we have drafted the country’s very first Strategy for Youth Policy Implementation.
The President came forward with this initiative following a State Council meeting.
Government entities, non-governmental organisations, the business community, as well as vice rectors in charge of youth policy in their respective universities have all contributed to drafting this document. Importantly, young people were also part of this process.
Getting feedback from them and hearing their initiatives and proposals was instrumental for us.
We reviewed this strategy within the State Council Commission on Youth Policy, as well as in the State Duma. I would like to thank Tatyana Golikova, as well as First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Kiriyenko who assisted and accompanied us in our efforts throughout the entire process.
This strategy is designed to create an enabling environment for young people to unleash their multiple talents. It targets various social and age groups by covering people between 14 to 35 years old, from high school students to young specialists, just as you have said. This provides for a segmented approach to working with them.
By 2030, Russia is expected to establish an entire framework for working with young people in order to educate and raise new generations of responsible and patriotic citizens. It is essential that they share the traditional spiritual and moral values as set forth by the President in Executive Order No 809 and believe that they can live up to their aspirations without leaving Russia.
The strategy contains a series of performance indicators. By 2030, at least 75 percent of young people must take part in youth projects and programmes, while at least 45 percent of young people must contribute to volunteer and community work. This is one of the main indicators.
The Youth and Children new national project will be our main tool when carrying out this strategy. It includes a wide range of measures covering the youth audience in all its segments. The undertakings contained in this strategy cover the way young people live their lives in various ways, including values, the sense of national belonging, patriotism, family culture, healthy lifestyle, education, science, creativity, employment, professional development, and volunteering.
By implementing the strategy, we can also reinforce Russia’s positive image and give the Russian youth movement a stronger voice on the international stage by reaching out to young people abroad and encouraging them to take part in our initiatives and projects.
The key government agencies in charge of the youth agenda will work together on this national project, including the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
Mr Mishustin, in keeping with your instructions, we will approve an action plan for this strategy in early 2025 and every region will have the corresponding plan at its own level.
We will work with the regional heads on this strategy taking into account their unique ethnic, cultural and religious profiles. This strategy will offer a foundation for our national youth policy.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Chernyshenko.
I would like to ask you to keep a close eye on all these undertakings. This strategy covers all young people and children who will start their academic year this coming Monday. It also covers graduates who are about to choose their future profession, as well as those who decided to continue their education, got their first jobs or are defending Russia as part of the special military operation. There are also those who are about to become parents – they are also part of this strategy. It covers everyone.
It is essential that they get the support they need. They are the future of our country.
