MOSCOW, May 7 (RIA Novosti) – President Vladimir Putin lashed out on Tuesday at Russia’s state program to develop the country’s depressed eastern Siberia and Far East over what he said was the absence of state financing sources.
“This program was approved with an expected volume of state financing of 3.8 trillion rubles [$123 billion] through 2025. This is a huge amount of money, of which the Finance Ministry has confirmed only 296 billion rubles. Why was this document approved, if it is unclear how and through which sources it can be implemented?” Putin said at a government meeting.
The new state program for the accelerated development of the Baikal area and the Russian Far East through 2025 envisages over 10 trillion rubles ($320 billion) in spending, including 3.8 trillion rubles from the federal budget, to turn the areas “into a competitive region with a diversified economy and improve the social and demographic situation in the macro-region’s territory,” the government’s press office said previously.
The program also envisages financing from loan funds and private investment, although it is not clear exactly where the non-budgetary funds will come from.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev previously said the development of Russia’s vast Far East area, which is home to just 6 million of Russia's 142 million people, was a priority target for the federal government.
