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Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit will present his report on the main topic: development of the basic airfield network.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon,

Our main topic is the development of the basic airfield network. We will get down to it after exchanging the latest operational updates. First, I would like to ask Anna Tsivileva on the social support system for our military personnel who were injured during the special military operation and have remained in active duty. When I met with family members – particularly those who lost husbands and fathers in the course of the special military operation – I was asked about access for education for their widows. The women asked about opportunities to study and receive vocational or higher education, or retraining, or obtaining a first qualification.

Ms Tsivileva, is there any progress on the first and second issues?

State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Anna Tsivileva: Mr President, colleagues, good evening.

It is true that many participants in the special military operation decide to continue their service in the Armed Forces or other law enforcement agencies, despite their heavy injuries or disabilities. This is a special category of veterans that require state support.

Today, the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation provides veterans of the special military operation, who have sustained disabilities and discharged from military service, with cutting-edge rehabilitation equipment. We also offer supplementary payments through electronic certificates issued by the Social Fund of Russia, adapt living spaces to meet the individual needs of our heroes, and even provide specially equipped vehicles with manual controls. We also provide athletic prostheses for participation in adaptive sports among many other things.

I suggest expanding the mandate of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation to include active-duty personnel of the Defence Ministry and other security agencies who have been injured during the special military operation, recognised as combat veterans, and have acquired a disability.

I previously raised this matter during the meeting of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport under your chairmanship, Mr President. At that time, you supported our initiative, which provides for amendments to the Executive Order on the foundation establishment. I believe this decision will be correct and will create comfortable conditions for our defenders of the Fatherland – both for work and service, as well as for sports and the patriotic upbringing of young people.

Moreover, you are absolutely right, Mr President – we are also receiving numerous appeals from the widows of fallen heroes who, despite their profound loss, maintain an active stance in life and wish to work in order to raise their children. They have a significant demand for educational opportunities. However, under effective legislation, educational benefits are only provided for participants of the special military operation and their children.

Therefore, I propose extending this support measure to include the widows of fallen participants of the special military operation, granting them the right to admission to higher and secondary specialised educational institutions under a separate quota. This would not only support the families of heroes but also enable them to build a worthy future.

Thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: You know, both the first and second points certainly need to be implemented. I support this and ask you to work it out with colleagues, and with government agencies if necessary.

However, regarding the widows of our fallen soldiers, our comrades, we should examine this issue more broadly. A woman may pursue education, and perhaps she has children – but how will she sustain herself and support her family? I understand she will receive all due payments. Nevertheless, we must carefully consider how to ensure the educational process and what additional measures might be taken to support them. I do not have any specific proposals at the moment. This idea simply occurred to me as we were discussing it. I believe there are certain grounds for this idea.

We do, after all, speak of supporting young student families when they have children. And in general, we assist people pursuing education in numerous ways. Well, this is a special case.

I repeat: perhaps what already exists is sufficient. I simply ask you to analyse this together with colleagues from the Government and then report back to me. Alright?

Anna Tsivileva: Very well, it will be done.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

The next question is from a completely different sphere. I asked our colleagues from the Government, including the Transport Ministry, to prepare a draft regarding the construction of the Moscow-St Petersburg high-speed railway line and to request conclusions from the Main Department of State Expertise (Glavgosexpertiza) by July 1. Mr Savelyev, will you report on the progress, please?

Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev: Thank you. Mr President, colleagues,

You launched the construction of Russia’s first high-speed railway from Moscow to St Petersburg in February 2024, following a meeting in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. As per your instructions, we have organised systemic work to implement this high-speed rail project.

A design office has been established at the Transport Ministry, where the Transport Minister can review the current issues of the project’s implementation on a weekly basis. The technological and technical aspects are discussed with the expert community within the working groups of Russian Railways and the Transport Ministry’s Science and Technology Council.

We discuss our differences and key strategic forks of the project at the Government’s Coordinating Centre once a fortnight. I chair these meetings, which are attended by representatives from the concerned federal executive bodies and by the heads of constituent entities and organisations. Since I last reported on this project in December 2024, the Government has completed the key financial and organisational procedures for implementing the project.

(Vitaly Savelyev reported that the design of the project’s route was in the final stage, and that the design documents had been submitted for coordination to Glavgosexpertiza. The project involves over 5,200 professionals, including the staff of the High-Speed Transport Academy of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT), which was established in 2024 within the Advanced Engineering Schools federal project of the Ministry of Education and Science to train personnel for high-speed rail projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that many of the technological solutions proposed for this project had never been used for the construction of transport infrastructure in Russia before. He added that the construction of a 129-kilometre-long pilot section of the route from Zelenograd to Tver was of critical significance for the project. That section will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2027 and will be used as a testing range for the national high-speed train that is being created by the Sinara group at the Ural Locomotives plant. The first two trains are to be ready by the time the rail sections are completed.)

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov oversees the creation of high-speed rolling stock. The work is proceeding in accordance with the contracts that have been signed.

There are plans to deliver 43 high-speed trains by 2030. In all, 28 trains will operate on the route by the end of 2028, and their number will increase stage by stage in accordance with the supply contract. Each train will have a maximum speed of 400 km/h, as well as an operational speed of 360 km/h. The new mainline will reduce travel time between both cities to two hours and 15 minutes. At least 23 million passengers are expected to use the route by late 2030. <…>

Mr President,

The Government is carrying out systematic work to develop and commission the infrastructure for the high-speed rail line and rolling stock within the timeframe you have set. Let me remind you that the Moscow–St Petersburg line is the first of five high-speed rail projects approved by you.

Following test operations on the sixth and seventh segments, we will be able to assess the prospects for further development of the high-speed rail network. According to your approved plan, new lines will connect Moscow with Minsk, Yekaterinburg via Kazan, Adler and Ryazan.

By 2045, the total length of the high-speed network will exceed 4,500 km. We are already working on the design and planning of these future routes and will be ready to present the key parameters.

Up to 300 high-speed trains will operate across the entire network, providing long-term, stable orders for the machine-building sector for decades to come. The future high-speed network will improve the quality of life for our citizens and connect major urban areas with a combined population of over 100 million people.

Thank you for your attention. That concludes my report.

Vladimir Putin: All right, thank you. Mr Savelyev, I still have the same question: when will the design phase be completed and the review of the Department of State Expertise issued?

Vitaly Savelyev: Mr President, overall, we are currently 2.5 months behind schedule, but this will not affect the final commissioning date. We expect to complete the expert review by September 15.

We are working on it together. There are some issues, but we are resolving them.

Vladimir Putin: All right, good. So, the deadline is September 15?

Vitaly Savelyev: Yes.

Vladimir Putin: Very well. We have various sources of funding, including the federal budget, regional contributions, non-governmental funds, and so on. Are they all confirmed?

Vitaly Savelyev: Yes, all sources have been confirmed and all contracts have been signed.

Vladimir Putin: Good, thank you. Regarding every project you just mentioned as part of the entire construction of the high-speed railway, when do you think you will be able to present proposals on deadlines and parameters?

Vitaly Savelyev: Mr President, we have some preliminary figures. This is the total scope of capital investment for the infrastructure and the number of trains required. We have gone through essentially every one of the four remaining projects.

We will conduct a more elaborate and in-depth examination once the 129 km section connecting Zelenograd and Tver has been launched and train trials have been completed. It is very important to check the railway tracks’ functionality and the train’s operation since we have no operational experience with this type of train.

Mr President, I think we will present more specific proposals within a year. We already have an outline for the next railway. We could report on our group’s progress even earlier as we all work together.

A large number of people are participating in the project. We are constantly holding meetings at the coordination centre. We have a general understanding of how the infrastructure will develop and how many trains will be required. But we simply need to understand how all this will work together so that we can cascade and scale up the project.

Vladimir Putin: You said within a year. This means around next spring, correct?

Vitaly Savelyev: I think next spring we will be able to report to you because the work is underway, and we will have more detailed specifications for each project. We will propose the order of completion to you based on our capabilities. We will have the personnel who will gain working experience, including engineers, companies and enterprises.

We certainly must not stop because it would be wrong to suspend the Moscow – St Petersburg High-Speed Railway construction project and put it on hiatus. We must create a seamless programme that can be further extended to other high-speed railway projects.

We see how China is developing. They build 3,000−4,000 km per year. It is the biggest construction project in the world. China has built over 40,000 km of high-speed railways. We are studying the experience of European countries so we are aware of the risks they have faced.

Mr President, we are working hard. Right now, we only need to make sure that the train will operate properly at high speeds and that the tracks will function normally, especially on elevations of 12 metres and higher in some areas.

Vladimir Putin: Good. You are absolutely right. Next spring will end at the end of March 2026. By that time, I hope to receive specific proposals on the deadlines and parameters of each project as part of the high-speed railway.

Vitaly Savelyev: Very well, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. 

To be continued.