Agenda: Summing up the outcomes of the trip to the Far Eastern and Siberian federal districts, writing off debts under budget loans granted to the regions, and extending the preferential grace period for mortgages when a second child is born.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Government meeting
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks at a Government meeting
Government meeting
Good afternoon, colleagues.
Before we proceed with the agenda for today’s Government meeting, I would like to say a few words about the outcomes of the trip to the Omsk Region. It was the final stop in our big working trip to the Far Eastern and Siberian federal districts.
Development has been gathering momentum in the region. There is a proactive effort to build major infrastructure sites, including transport infrastructure as part of the Rossiya expressway linking St Petersburg and Vladivostok. We must make sure that all the planned work is carried out on time.
We visited several healthcare and educational facilities and made several decisions regarding the hospital and outpatient clinic for the veterans of war to enable special military operation participants to benefit from a patient-friendly environment when getting the treatments or rehabilitation services they need. The Government has included providing all-round support to our heroes among its key priorities.
We learned about this year’s enrolment campaign at the Omsk University. The Government will help this institution carry out equipment upgrades at its main building. We will release more funds for renovating the dormitories.
The region presented its initiative to create an inter-university campus. This advanced educational space is expected to become a point of attraction for talented young people. The Ministry of Science and Higher Education will decide on this matter as part of a contest it oversees.
In September, the first branch of a foreign higher education institution, the Kazakh National University, will open its doors to students in Omsk. Preparations for its opening are about to be completed. We will continue reinforcing our bilateral cooperation in higher education and scientific research.
In the Amur Region, we visited the construction site to rebuild the airport complex and expand the motorway leading to the airport. These facilities matter a lot for the region and its people. On this topic, I would like to ask you (turning to Vitaly Savelyev), Mr Savelyev, and the Ministry of Transport to monitor progress and make sure that this project is carried out on time.
We also visited the customs and logistics terminal, as well as the Kani-Kurgan checkpoint on the border with China. I know that Mr Savelyev has been working hard on this initiative. This checkpoint will serve as a model that we will use when upgrading other facilities, including in terms of the technological solutions which are based on homegrown software products.
Once this checkpoint is completed, it will enable us to increase the volume of cargo transportation across the new bridge over the Amur River. Once again, this is just part of our major effort to develop transport logistics. Within the next three years, the Government has earmarked almost 180 billion roubles for upgrading the border checkpoints, taking into account the forecasted trade flows and our national priorities.
Today, what matters the most is that plans to launch these facilities in this region and across the country are carried out in full and in a timely manner.
While in the Trans-Baikal Territory, we held a special meeting in Chita on promoting grain exports.
We grow enough grain to cover our domestic demand. Let me remind you that Russia is the world’s number one exporter of wheat and barley, and can achieve even more. It is essential that we fully unlock this potential. We will keep supporting our agricultural producers, expanding port capacity and building the necessary infrastructure for storing and shipping these products.
Ms Lut (turning to Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut), I ask you to offer Russian agricultural producers more opportunities for tapping foreign markets.
I know that there are several questions we need to address in this regard. My message for the Government members is that we must be there for our exporters and assist them.
This is something we need for making our economy more competitive, as well as for delivering on the objective as approved by the President for the Russian agricultural sector to increase exports.
We have also inspected a perinatal centre in Chita. The Family national project calls for reequipping this centre already this year. The centre is receiving equipment in order to provide modern treatment for mothers and their babies.
This work continues across Russia. In just six years, advanced equipment will be delivered to 142 perinatal centres, including nine federal facilities.
The Trans-Baikal Territory is also overhauling clinics and establishing many others.
Mr Murashko (turning to Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko), as you and I have agreed, it is necessary to monitor compliance with construction deadlines, so that they would open on time. People consider this very important. It is necessary to collaborate actively with colleagues from the region in this regard.
We focused on issues of improving the healthcare infrastructure during our trip to the Republic of Altai as well. Under the Long and Active Life national project, local authorities have built a hospital admission room using federal funding. Essential and highly popular high-tech medical treatment will become more accessible for local residents.
We had a conversation with the head of this Russian territory, Andrei Turchak, and discussed the implementation of an individual socio-economic development programme in great detail. As per the President’s decision, the programme is to be completed by 2030.
On a separate note, we reviewed the implementation of various significant projects, including those aiming to improve transport connectivity. Roads, bridges and crossings are being renovated. The airport is also being modernised. This is also important because the region continues to receive more and more tourists. People are coming there from across Russia and from abroad. In early July, a new terminal servicing domestic flights opened in Gorno-Altaisk, and last week, a new international air terminal meeting all standards was launched there. Guests of an international environmental conference (that we also attended) were the first to visit it.
Together with colleagues, heads of government from multiple countries, we discussed our perception of joint work to protect the environment in the interests of the current and future generations. We will expand cooperation in this important field.
The President lists environmental well-being as a national goal in our country. We will continue doing our best to achieve this goal. By order of priority, this includes measures to conserve forests, bodies of water, to protect rare animal and plant species and to develop nature territories and reserves. We will also continue to establish a closed-cycle economy.
The Ministry of Natural Resources should expand cooperation with foreign partners in these areas – exchanging best practices and creating incentives for ecotourism (as previous speakers noted) – to help more people experience pristine nature.
I would also like to emphasise that environmental protection and nature conservation are key priorities for our colleagues in the CIS countries.
This issue is equally relevant for the Altai Territory. As I discussed earlier with Governor Viktor Tomenko, the region is using federal budget support to improve transport accessibility and develop the infrastructure necessary for travellers. Undoubtedly, this work must continue.
Colleagues, I ask the supervisors of each track to continue monitoring the implementation of projects on the ground.
I would also like to highlight a separate issue I discussed with the governors of the Amur Region and the Trans-Baikal Territory: emergencies caused by forest fires.
The situation has now stabilised, but firefighting efforts required additional resources – specialists, heavy equipment, and aviation. Naturally, this significantly increased emergency response costs. A directive has been prepared to allocate nearly 1.4 billion roubles to the affected regions, including the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Buryatia, to offset firefighting expenses.
While predicting the fire situation or its intensity remains difficult, I urge regional leaders in fire-prone areas to prioritise prevention measures. Risks to human health and safety must be avoided at all costs. At the same time, it remains critical to ensure efficient spending of budget funds.
Let’s turn to another topic.
The government continues to stimulate economic growth across Russian regions. One key policy is reducing the financial burden, particularly for the regions that actively attract investment and develop infrastructure. In line with the President’s instructions, we offered such regions a write-off covering two-thirds of their federal budget loan debt. The relevant procedure was adopted in February.
Today, eight more regions will be granted this opportunity – writing off over 47.27 billion roubles in federal loans. These include the republics of Kalmykia and Karelia, as well as the Voronezh, Kirov, Kemerovo, Moscow, Smolensk, and Tver regions. These regions previously invested in implementing the national projects, modernising housing and utilities systems, relocating residents from dilapidated housing, supporting industry, and other initiatives.
The debt write-off is expected to positively impact regional budgets, promote economic growth and social progress, and help resolve a range of pressing issues.
The next issue concerns supporting families with children – one of the Government’s top priorities and a matter the President has repeatedly emphasised. Several measures have already been implemented in response to his instructions, and today we are adding one more.
A bill has been drafted to ease the burden on mortgage-paying parents. Currently, when a child is born, families qualify for a six-month credit holiday if the borrower’s income drops by more than 20 percent and loan-servicing costs exceed 40 percent of their average monthly income.
Under the new provisions, families welcoming a second or subsequent child – whether by birth or adoption – will now receive an extended credit holiday of 1.5 years. Interest on the principal debt will only accrue from the 7th to the 18th month, and payments will be deferred until after the original mortgage is repaid. These interest payments will then be settled in equal instalments, maintaining the same frequency as before.
This initiative will provide crucial support for families during the most challenging period when one parent steps back from work to care for the child. We are confident that this policy, alongside other existing measures, will contribute to improving nationwide demographics.
