TASS gets the first question about whether the so-called national projects need to be completed and whether they are properly defined. Putin stresses that the country needs to lay "a new technological foundation." National projects include development of health care, education, infrastructure, agriculture, digital technology, robotics. The president stresses that it is important to monitor the effectiveness of spending on these projects and that there have been problems in this regard. He partially blames regional leaders for not achieving results that average people can feel. "But if we don't set ambitious goals, nothing will be achieved," he said.
Without achieving technological breakthroughs, "the country has no future," says Putin.
Putin begins the press conference by reading out a litany of economic figures. GDP growing, inflation at an "acceptable" level, unemployment falling, hard-currency reserves growing, pensions on the rise, life expectancy is "slightly" up. Now proceeding to questions.
- By Carl Schreck
From RFE/RL's Russian Service:
This journalist from the Stavropol Krai intends to ask when the First Lady of Russia will be announced. (Putin and his ex-wife, Lyudmila, announced in 2013 that they had divorced.)
Putin has entered the hall about eight minutes late and is making a few introductory remarks on the results of the last year.
- By Carl Schreck
Here is the press card showing that Roman Dobrokhotov, editor of The Insider (which helped unmask the alleged Novichok poisoners as Russian military intelligence officers), was accredited to Putin's presser. Security turned him away at the door, he says.