On the 1st of December, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly of Russia, in Kremlin’s St. George Hall in Moscow.
The representatives from both houses of the Russian Parliament, the federal Government of Russia and other high-ranking officials gathered there.
Way to democracy
Vladimir Putin started with declaration of a “way to democracy” chosen by Russia. “We are united nation and we have only one Russia,” he stressed.
“Our efforts are aimed at support of traditional values of a family,” said Vladimir Putin. “Natural population increase is going on and it is more than in other European countries,” the President added.
In this context, Putin pledged to continue construction of perinatal centers in Russia: “Our doctors save newly born infants in the most complicated situations,” said Russian President. He stresses that regional clinics were operating better then, their number increased and the medical services provided by doctors had become more qualified.
NGO’s activity
Vladimir Putin touched upon an issue of charity and non-governmental organizations. In this context, the President assigned to the Russian Government to complete formation of legal framework for NGO’s activity.
“A peculiarity of present days is a deep involvement in charity. Sometimes, one is surprised to see people with a low income responding to their internal need to give a support to the helpless,” Vladimir Putin said. He also asked the Public Chamber to bolster volunteers’ and charity projects and called on the heads of the Russian regions to engage commercial entities in providing social services.
US-Russian relations
Putin announced that Russia was ready to cooperate with the new U.S. administration and stressed that Russian-American dialogue served the interests of the whole world.
“Russia is ready for cooperation with a new U.S. administration as well, it is important to normalize and begin to develop relations on an equal footing and on a mutually beneficial basis. Collaboration between Russia and the USA in the field of solving regional and global problems serves the interests of the whole world. We have shared responsibility for ensuring international stability and security,” said the President, delivering his address in Kremlin.
Russia’s cooperation with its eastern neighbors
Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of relations between Russian and Japan: “We count on a quality progress in the relations with our eastern neighbor – Japan. We welcome aspiration of the leadership of this country to develop economic ties with Russia, to launch joint projects and programs,” he noted.
Speaking about the Russian-Chinese cooperation, Putin described them as the pattern of a mutually beneficial interaction.
“Under present challenging conditions, Russian-Chinese broad partnership and strategic cooperation have become one of the key factors ensuring global and regional stability,” he said.
The President added that such cooperation “sets the pattern of the world order’s relations, which are not built upon the idea of one party’s domination, whatever strong it is, but rather on harmonic inclusion of all the states.”
How Putin sees Russian-EU dialogue
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes it possible to establish a dialogue with the European Union similar to that carried on within the framework of formation of a large Eurasian partnership.
According to Putin, further deepening of cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union, interaction with other CIS states was and remains a priority of Russian foreign policy.
“Russian idea of formation of a multi-level integration model in Eurasia is of considerable interest. We have already started discussion at different international and regional levels. I’m convinced that such dialogue is possible with the the European Union’s states as well, where an independent subjective political and economic policy is in growing demand. We see it from the elections results,” stressed Vladimir Putin.
