Agenda: The outcome of the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus and the working visit to Brazil; the civil aviation industry performance in 2025; preferential lending in the Kuril Islands.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks
Vitaly Savelyev’s report on the performance of the civil aviation industry in 2025
Yury Trutnev’s report on attracting investment to the Kuril Islands
Excerpts from the transcript:
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Vitaly Savelyev at the Prime Minister’s meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Yury Trutnev at the Prime Minister’s meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Meeting with deputy prime ministers on current issues
Mikhail Mishustin: Colleagues, first of all, my heartfelt congratulations to Tatyana Golikova on her birthday. Ms Golikova, we have known you for a long time as a talented and dedicated professional. You deal with issues that are vital for this country, the issues that concern people’s health and wellbeing. I wish you more successful projects and excellent professional achievements, as always. Of course, I also wish you a happy family life, good health and all the best. Happy birthday!
Tatyana Golikova: Thank you very much, Mr Mishustin. Thank you, colleagues. I will keep working hard for the benefit of our people.
Mikhail Mishustin: Colleagues, several important international events took place last week.
The Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus held a meeting in Moscow. We discussed progress in the implementation of the key provisions of the Union State Agreement and started working on a roadmap for the next three years. We also discussed prospects of expanding Russian-Belarusian trade and economic links.
Fifteen bilateral documents were signed.
They will facilitate further strengthening of the industrial, scientific, technological and tourist potential. We will keep creating conditions for the development of commuter railway systems connecting neighbouring regions of Russia and Belarus.
Russia and Belarus will continue to expand their integration levels. This is important for boosting people’s standards of living and creating additional opportunities for entrepreneurs in both countries. I would like to ask you to facilitate close collaboration with our Belarusian colleagues on issues within your remit.
As instructed by the President, we paid a working visit to Brazil, and we held detailed talks with the leadership of the republic.
Participants in the meeting of the High-Level Commission focused on issues of trade and economic cooperation, primarily in industry and agriculture. We discussed and identified the most promising key sectors and joint projects where we will be able to elevate our cooperation to an entirely new level.
We will expedite work in such spheres as energy and the civilian nuclear power industry, transportation, logistics, information technologies, and pharmaceutics. We will continue to expand cultural and humanitarian ties, including through educational, academic and sport exchanges.
We reaffirmed our commitment to joint work during the Russian-Brazilian Business Forum. Our entrepreneurs are interested in strengthening direct cooperation contacts.
Colleagues, Brazil is the largest Latin American state and our strategic partner. We can and should completely unlock the potential of Russian-Brazilian cooperation. We should expand our trade volumes and find new markets for exporting our domestic goods, services and technologies. We should also expand cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) where Brazil plays the leading role.
I would like to ask you to closely follow the implementation of agreements, reached during the visit, in your respective spheres.
Let us now discuss another issue.
Today, employees of the Russian civil aviation sector are celebrating their professional holiday. I would like to congratulate active and retired specialists and all those who have devoted their entire life to it. The current generation of specialists worthily continues the traditions of their predecessors and reliably facilitates air traffic and guarantees flight safety.
This sphere has tremendous significance for the economy and the people, for transportation and for ensuring connectivity of regions in our country which has the largest territory (as the President has specially noted).
In conditions of new challenges, we are implementing numerous measures to retain and develop the network of domestic and international routes. Separate large-scale work is also linked with the modernisation of the airport infrastructure, construction of modern, convenient and passenger-friendly airport terminals.
Congratulations, Mr Vitaly Savelyev. You have managed Aeroflot, our largest airline, for many years.
I would like to ask you to discuss the results in air transport in greater detail. Please, the floor is yours.
Vitaly Savelyev: Thank you, Mr Mishustin.
Mr Mishustin, colleagues,
The aviation industry continues to demonstrate resilience in the face of external challenges, and readiness to pursue new and ambitious objectives.
Public demand for air travel remains strong. In 2025, passenger traffic exceeded 108.5 million.
The route network is steadily expanding. Over the past four years, more than half of domestic air travel has been conducted outside the Moscow hub, which is of particular importance.
We continue implementing three subsidy programmes to support air transportation. The first one focuses on the development of regional connectivity. The second programme ensures accessibility of air travel for socially vulnerable groups. The third programme subsidises flights along socially significant routes within the Far Eastern Federal District.
In 2025, Aeroflot expanded its flat-fare programme to include routes between Moscow and Kaliningrad, as well as nine cities in the Far Eastern Federal District.
In line with the president’s instructions, we plan to renovate and construct at least 75 airfields by 2030. As part of the Efficient Transport System national project, in March 2025, Sberbank and the Federal Air Transport Agency signed the first federal concession agreement for the renovation of Gorno-Altaisk Airport.
In total, we plan to implement 28 concession projects by 2030.
In 2025, we introduced a new domestic automated air traffic management system in Magadan. Mr Mishustin, you personally took part in inaugurating the new control tower at Grozny (Severny) Airport.
Altogether, new infrastructure facilities were deployed at seven airports during 2025.
Passenger comfort depends significantly on modern terminal infrastructure. Last year, eight new passenger terminals were opened: in Novokuznetsk, Mineralnye Vody, Tyumen, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yoshkar-Ola, Izhevsk, Murmansk, and Khabarovsk.
By 2030, we plan to build or renovate 19 more terminals.
Russian aviation is ready for extensive operation of domestically produced aircraft. Tupolev Tu-214 has already been certified. The Ilyushin Il-114 regional aircraft is in the final stage of certification. Certification flights for the Superjet and MC-21 with domestic PD-8 and PD-14 engines are fully underway.
Aeroflot has already ordered 18 MC-21 planes, and negotiations continue for the purchase of 200 more aircraft by 2033.
Last week at the NAIS National Aviation Infrastructure Salon, S7 Group, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) signed a memorandum on the supply of 100 Tupolev Tu-214 aircraft.
We are paying special attention to the development of unmanned technologies. Russia is currently among the world leaders in introducing them.
Class H airspace was introduced last year, becoming an important step for the further development of the industry and the integration of unmanned systems into the integrated airspace.
Over the two years of the project’s implementation, more than 31,000 civilian unmanned aerial vehicles have been produced for various applications.
Four landing pads for civilian UAVs have been built in the Samara Region and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. More than 30 mobile drone ports operate in 11 Russian regions.
The intensity of civilian UAV flights in 2025 increased by 20% compared to 2024.
Prime Minister, colleagues,
On my part, I want to thank the current and former workers of the civil aviation industry for their daily hard work and the contribution they make to achieving Russia’s technological sovereignty and independence.
Congratulations to the pilots, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, ground service workers, airline employees, training organisations and all industry workers on Civil Aviation Worker’s Day.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Savelyev.
Today’s achievements have become possible thanks to the coordinated actions of thousands of highly qualified workers and experts in civil aviation. I wish all workers new heights and success in serving the Fatherland and our citizens.
The next issue on the agenda concerns the Far East, a macro region of strategic significance for the entire nation.
The sustained and systematic work in this federal district resulted in accelerated growth across key economic and social sectors. Most importantly, the outflow of residents to other regions has declined. Moreover, for the first time in many years, more than 24,000 people relocated there.
The birth rate has also surpassed the national average.
Of course, ensuring stable, long-term growth in this region remains essential. In order to do this, the Government has approved the Demographic Policy Strategy for the District until 2030, with a longer-term horizon extending to 2036. Its primary objective is to raise the population of the Far Eastern regions to at least 7.86 million people within the next decade.
The document provides for a comprehensive range of measures aimed at ensuring comfortable and quality housing, well-developed urban and rural environments, and access to high-standard healthcare and education; so that young people could pursue their studies in Far Eastern colleges and universities, and upon graduation, remain in their home regions contributing to local enterprises and institutions, and starting families.
A broad set of initiatives is also envisaged for those planning to relocate to the Far East. These measures are designed to support resettlement, employment, and entrepreneurship. A comprehensive system of incentives has already helped create the necessary conditions for this, including the Kuril Islands in the Sakhalin Region, where a preferential regime and the Kurils priority development territory status are in effect.
Mr Trutnev, you and I visited the islands several years ago, when, if I recall correctly, fewer than a dozen resident companies operated there. Back then, we discussed support measures with entrepreneurs and introduced a new special mechanism to enhance the attractiveness of the business environment.
You have visited the microregion recently.
Please, elaborate on the investment projects currently underway in the Kuril Islands. Which sectors are attracting the most business interest? The floor is yours.
Yury Trutnev: Mr Mishustin, colleagues,
Acting upon your instruction, a preferential regime offering the most favourable conditions for investors was established in the Kuril Islands in March 2022.
To date, under this regime, 55 investment projects are being implemented. Agreements with a total value of 38 billion roubles have been concluded. Of this sum, 16.3 billion roubles have been invested, 13 projects have been completed, and 1,900 jobs have been created.
Admittedly, when compared to the Far East’s figures of nearly 6 trillion roubles and 3,000 projects, these may appear modest. However, for the Kuril Islands, with a population of 24,000, they represent significant change.
Mr Mishustin, I would note that we have summarised the results for 2025, during which one trillion roubles of investment was actually injected into the Far East. These are the highest figures recorded throughout the entire period of our work.
Investor interest is greatest in tourism development. Of the 55 projects, 34 are in tourism, 6 in information technology, and 5 in construction.
Among the most significant completed projects are hotels on Iturup and Kunashir islands, the construction of crab fishing vessels, and multimodal freight transport. A fish processing plant has also been launched.
The construction of a hotel in Severo-Kurilsk is nearing completion, and work is underway to establish a tourist complex on Shikotan Island.
The new hotels, tour operators, and cruise services have spurred an increase in tourist traffic to the islands. In 2025, the Kuril Islands were visited by 58,000 people – nearly double the previous year’s figure.
Tax revenues to budgets at all levels amounted to 2.8 billion roubles.
Our engagement with investors continues. In 2025, a further 15 companies obtained the status of resident of the Kuril Islands of the Russian Federation. As of January this year, three more have been added.
Substantial work is also underway to establish a museum on Shumshu Island dedicated to the Kuril Landing Operation. In August 1945, our paratroopers landed on Shumshu Island and defeated a numerically superior contingent of the Kwantung Army. This battle marked the conclusion of the Second World War.
The work to create the museum on Shumshu Island is being carried out in accordance with the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation. A memorial complex has been opened, a military and patriotic camp organised, and search operations continue. We consider this work crucial for preserving the historical memory of our Motherland.
Mr Prime Minister, our efforts to attract investments to the Kuril Islands will continue.
Mikhail Mishustin: Thank you, Mr Trutnev.
It is most important that the Kuril Islands are developing not only in sectors traditionally considered key for this territory, such as the fishing industry, but also through projects in tourism. This region holds considerable appeal for our travellers.
I accordingly request that the dialogue with our business community continue, with a focus on attracting further investment.
