Putin took part in the forum “Business Russia”. Main statements

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the forum-conference of the public organization “Business Russia”. During the conversation by video-conference, the head of state discussed a number of topical issues with business representatives and government members.

What topics did the president comment on:

Attacks on refineries

The latest attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian refineries did not cause significant damage, but before the strikes, Kiev should have thought about the consequences, the president stressed.

“Yesterday they tried to strike at some refineries, now they have hit some places, nothing of such significance. Nevertheless, they continue. The same goes for e-commerce platforms. They took the first step and we started to respond. You shouldn't have started. It was necessary to think about the consequences before taking this step. Let's not talk about it now. The purpose of our meeting is quite different, Putin said.

New investment cycle

Russia faces the task of launching a new investment cycle, the leading role in this belongs to business.

" Russia faces the task of launching a new investment cycle, increasing investment in innovative companies, industrial, logistics, creative, tourism and other projects that are focused on increasing the capacity of the national market, as well as on growing global demand. I would like to repeat once again: the main, leading role in this work, of course, belongs to business, Putin said.

Raising long-term money

The President supported the idea of creating growth funds and direct investments in the country to attract long-term capital. At the same time, he urged to carefully work out the rules of such funds to protect citizens’ funds and pension savings.

“We must behave here, on the one hand, offensively, and on the other hand, be very careful,” Putin said.

The 2008 crisis

In 2008-2009, Russian companies that had taken loans were on the verge of bankruptcy due to the global financial crisis, and the state had to take risks to save them.

Entrepreneurs, and large companies, came and said, well, take for one ruble, for one dollar, the entire company, which yesterday was worth tens of billions. You know, it came to that, he said.

The President pointed out that the authorities eventually decided to support the business, requiring the owners to take responsibility for labor collectives.

Connection of domestic business with Russia

Russian entrepreneurs have proved that their plans and interests are closely linked to Russia. “Our entrepreneurs (...) prove that their knowledge, skills, interests and plans are firmly connected with Russia,” Putin said.

An important condition for the development of competitive business is a strong and sovereign country.

Stock market development

Russia has not yet fully achieved its goals for the development of the stock market, Putin said.

“One of our tasks is to stimulate and strengthen our stock market. Unfortunately, we are not yet fully achieving the goals we set for ourselves, although it is strengthening nevertheless. In any case, it is stable and reliable. But, of course, we set ourselves more ambitious goals, the president said, commenting on the statement of HeadHunter Deputy Director General Maria Komarova. She proposed to develop a concept of an ecosystem of growth funds, the investments of which will bring us closer to the goal of increasing the capitalization of the stock market to 66% of GDP by 2030.

Implementing AI in e-commerce

Yandex and Sputnik need to configure their work in such a way as to use artificial intelligence in the platform economy and e-commerce, Putin said.

“We have another great competitive advantage. This is the development of big data systems and artificial intelligence. And with the help of AI, you can actually track every buckwheat pack <...> We need to think from this side. And this is a very peaceful and promising use of these technologies. It seems that they can be combined. Talk to Yandex and Sber. Maybe they will be able to adjust this work accordingly, the head of state addressed the Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.