Key Highlights From Putin’s Address To The Russian Federal Assembly – Part 1

President Vladimir Putin delivered an address to the Russian Federal Assembly today which is a joint session of the two chambers of the Russian Parliament. As is customary in his speeches Putin spoke on a wide range of issues from the economy, to significant measures for reform and advancements in military technology. We note that Putin finished by saying that, “Times now favour those who are prepared to change.” This ties in with our recent tweet, which stated, “The coming paradigm shift is going to require all humanity to change in fundamental ways. If they do not embrace that change it will crush them in the process.” We highlight in two parts the key highlights from this State of the Nation address below.

1. Russia continues to succeed in overcoming many challenges the country has faced lately and crucially maintaining both its unity and stability
2. Rapid development in the near future, underpinned by technological breakthroughs. Failure to do so will see economic stagnation, impact on Russia’s security, loss of talent abroad and is likely to undermine their sovereignty
3. Significant reform which will be challenging but help to provide a creative and free environment for Russian people
4. Strong need to tackle poverty, labour reforms and demographic issues amongst many other key initiatives
5. Undergo an enormous program of urban development in towns and cities based on modern approaches and technology in architecture, transport and communication. This will be done in conjunction with rural development
6. Implementation of a roadmap to facilitating the improvement of living standards via greater prosperity, cheaper bank loans and housing development projects.
7. Infrastructure projects e.g. the construction of a bridge, expected to become operational this year, connecting mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula
8. Upgrading major transport links as part of the OBOR initiative to ensure Russia becomes a key transit route for goods being transported between Europe and Asia. The Kremlin recognises their current deficiencies in this regard and it will also further significantly boost trade with China
9. Within around five years, traffic via the North Maritime Route will increase tenfold. Russia will support this initiative by improving its Arctic infrastructure which will be facilitated by the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet
10. Russia intends becoming the world’s major hub for storing and processing big data, supplemented by huge investment programs in Russia’s energy grid, internet infrastructure and satellite communications
11. Reform of the national healthcare system, the accessibility of medical care in rural areas and improvement in preventive healthcare
12. Tackling environmental issues e.g. clean water and reducing pollution in cities
13. Reforms to the education system, providing students with the skills necessary to provide the workforce that Russia will need to succeed in the future
14. Development of state-of-the-art of scientific centres for fundamental research. Provision of a legislative foundation and support programs to attract the world best innovators and scientists
15. Reform of immigration laws to provide citizenship to talented and skilled people willing to live and work in Russia
16. Enhancements to the Russian macroeconomic policies to maintain record-low levels of inflation and provide businesses with long-term stability and investment opportunities for projects