Putin hopes Medvedev will be able to win Duma support

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he hoped Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is to report about the government’s work to the State Duma lower parliament house later this week, would be able to reach consensus and win support of all Duma factions as concerns the ways of Russia’s further economic development. “I hope you will be able to win a State Duma consensus. Naturally, there are different points of view there, different approaches to the development of the economy and the social sphere, but I am sure the government will be able to find optimal solutions relying upon the Duma majority,” Putin said at a meeting with the prime minister. Medvedev, in turn, said he agreed that the situation in the global economy was difficult. “Taking into account the development of the global economy and the European economy, which naturally influences the development of Russia’s economy, we are forced to take rather rigid decisions about the budget for the next period and about the execution of the current budget,” he said. “Regrettably, there are competing tendencies, recessions in the economy, but still there are a number of favourable positions we must take advantage of,” Medvedev added. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to hold a meeting with the government’s economic bloc officials and officials from the Kremlin administration to discuss Russian economic prospects against the background of the negative tendencies on the global market. Earlier on Monday, Medvedev told Putin that he had instructed the government “to involve experts to draft proposals on how to withstand the global tendencies and to give an extra impetus to the development of Russia’s economy.” He offered the president to “meet to speak about the development of the Russian economy in the immediate perspective with due account of existing tendencies.” Putin, in turn, suggested that officials from Russia’s economic authorities, the Kremlin administration and experts be invited to such a meeting to exchange view on the matter and try to find optimal options.