What Putin said in his annual message

1. The Russian armed forces are fighting in Syria primarily for Russia. Among the militants in Syria, many come from Russia and other CIS countries. They must be destroyed on the distant approaches to the Russian borders, otherwise they will penetrate inside Russia. Plus, in Syria, the Russian military is gaining experience in using weapons in combat conditions - and this experience is “invaluable.”

2. The Turkish people are kind, hardworking and talented. But it will not save from sanctions. Vladimir Putin, in his speech, divided the Turkish authorities and the people of the country, which should reduce anti-Turkish hysteria in Russia. At the same time, responsibility from Turkish President Recep Erdogan for downed Putin did not shoot the plane. On the contrary, he believes that Allah punished the "ruling clique" in the country, depriving it of reason and reason. “If someone thinks that [...] they get off with tomatoes or some restrictions in the construction and other industries, then they are deeply mistaken,” the president said. Ukraine - the main foreign policy topic of 2014 of the year - was practically not mentioned in Putin’s speech.

3. Corruption is an obstacle to the development of Russia, it is necessary to improve the freedom of entrepreneurship. These are traditional theses for such speeches, but they have an unconventional context: a couple of days before the message, a large investigation of Navalny’s activists about corruption in the Prosecutor General’s Office came out. Vladimir Putin did not say anything about the investigation - and did not even hint that he was acquainted with him. He was more interested in other news: according to the calculations of business organizations, from cases initiated under economic matters, only a small part reaches the court, while those involved in such cases are virtually guaranteed to lose.

4. Do not just sit and wait for oil prices to rise. This thesis looks like an answer to oneself: at a large press conference in December 2014, Vladimir Putin repeatedly repeated that even with the worst case scenario, oil prices would be low for just two years. A year has passed, oil is still cheaper than 12 months ago, and now the president chose not to talk about oil or gas, but about non-oil exports (it needs to be increased, including via the Internet), and agriculture (the villagers had a good harvest ).

5. Part of the message was devoted to non-structural initiatives.The president for the hourly speech offered a few of the most diverse things. For example, he urged to reduce the number of jurors and give Far Eastern harbors a special status. The President ordered to extend the maternity capital program for two years, and the amnesty of capital for six months; exempting corporate bond buyers from taxes on coupon income and even improving Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Previously, "Forum" wrote that Vladimir Putin signed the decree according to which the salary reduction by 10 percent for the head of state, the prime minister, as well as other persons occupying certain state posts, will be maintained for the year 2016.

At the same time, as 26 reported on 2015 in November, Russian statistics, over the last year, the salaries of Russian officials grew by an average of four percent.

According to the income statement, in 2014, Putin earned 7,6 million rubles (151,5 thousand dollars), the salary of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was a little over 8 million rubles (160 thousand dollars).