Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay particular attention to the topic of increasing the income of Russians in his message to the Federal Assembly.

As the head of state TASS said, he is currently working on the topic of the message, but it is too early to disclose the contents of the document.

“There are options, but no final decisions have been made. Issues related to overcoming stagnation in the sphere of citizens' incomes, reducing the number of people living at the minimum wage level, and overcoming poverty, ”Putin said.

He noted that “these decisions should take place,” and said that he was very concerned about the stagnation of real incomes of the population.

“We are worried, I am very concerned about the stagnation in the real incomes of the population,” he said.

Recall that the president’s message to the Federal Assembly is provided for by the Russian Constitution. Article 84 of the fundamental law states that the head of state annually addresses the main directions of the state’s domestic and foreign policy.

In 2020, Putin will deliver a message to the Federal Assembly on January 15 at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.

“The state must help people”

In past messages to the Federal Assembly, Putin also focused on poverty reduction. In 2019, the head of state indicated that solving demographic problems, increasing life expectancy, and reducing mortality are directly related to overcoming poverty.

The President drew attention to the fact that in 2000 there were 40 million Russians below the poverty line, and in 2019 - 19 million Russians. Putin noted that at some point this figure was reduced to 15 million, but subsequently the dynamics worsened.

As the head of state said, “families with many children, single-parent families, families with people with disabilities, as well as single pensioners and people who cannot find decent work, well-paid jobs,“ because they simply do not have or are short of poverty qualifications. "

The President emphasized that poverty “literally crushes a person, deprives him of life prospects”.

“The state should help people, help get out of a difficult life situation,” the Russian leader concluded. He cited the example of several regions that were able to improve poverty alleviation indicators through the so-called social contract, when the state helps people by providing assistance in continuing education and employment and financial issues in exchange for their obligations.

Putin also mentioned issues of citizens' responsibility in taking consumer and microloans, asking the Bank of Russia and law enforcement agencies to put things in order in this area.

“I emphasize: both in solving the problem of poverty and in developing the system of social support, it is important to reach every needy family and to understand its problems. In no case should one be denied assistance just because the life circumstances of a person “a little” somewhere and somehow do not fit into the formal criteria of one or another of our programs, ”the head of state concluded.

Fundamental issues of economic development

Putin dealt with the theme of confronting poverty and improving the welfare of citizens in other speeches. He dwelt on these issues in detail during a large press conference on December 19, 2019.

The president was asked about the increase in welfare of citizens, Putin replied that this was one of the current problems.

“Indeed, in recent years we have seen a decrease in real incomes of citizens, and this is very bad. This is one of our problems, which we certainly must solve, but we must solve it on the basis of growth in labor productivity and GDP growth, this is completely obvious, ”Putin said.

At the same time, the head of state noted, funds from the reserve funds should not be spent to solve such problems, since in this case the money can quickly run out.

“Therefore, we need fundamental issues to solve the development of the economy and on this basis to raise the level of wages,” the president said.

He also recalled that last year’s wage level “has grown a bit, real incomes are growing a bit, for the third quarter we are obviously observing this.”