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Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev gave the main report on additional measures to develop the Far East.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Let us talk today about additional measures to develop the Far East, but we will start with a more urgent event. It is drawing to a close, but we need to review it and consider what to do with the World Cup facilities in the future. Let us talk about the preliminary results. Ms Golodets, please.

Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me recall that the decision to hold the World Cup was made in December 2010, and it took place from June 14 through July 15, 2018. 32 countries competed in 64 matches.

This tournament has broken many records in various areas. 3,031,768 people watched the matches. The attendance was high at all matches and almost reached 100 percent (99.8–99.9).

About 806,000 foreign citizens received Fan ID cards, and in all, about 3 million foreigners visited this country over this period. The highest number of tickets among foreigners were bought by fans from the United States, Brazil and Germany. These three countries led in the number of guests. The World Cup was visited by 25 presidents, seven representatives of different monarchies and 11 heads of government. About 7.7 million people came to the fan zones.

The championship was a turning point in breaking a great many stereotypes about our country. This is probably the first time that the people who attended the championship were able to form first-hand opinions about our country. Several million positive testimonials have changed the image of Russia as an open, technologically advanced and hospitable country. Even absolutely anti-Russian media, such as ‘The Times,’ admitted that this championship was unprecedented in its beauty. This is a major achievement.

The development of infrastructure is, of course, the most important achievement for Russia, with 269 new infrastructure sites built as part of preparations for the championship, which will continue to be used in the future. This includes 12 stadiums and 95 new training grounds, of which, according to the new Championship Legacy Concept, 64 will be used to promote children's football in our country.

The airports in the 11 host cities have been renovated, and a new airport, Platov, was built. The new airports led to tripling passenger traffic in Volgograd, and doubling it in Samara, Rostov, Saransk and Yekaterinburg.

Russian Railways’ rolling stock received major upgrades: 75 new trains were purchased and 13 terminals and seven stations upgraded.

This represents a major boost for expanding tourism in our country. We expect the infrastructural changes, including the construction of new hotels, which increased by 15 percent in the host cities, to provide a stable base for higher numbers of tourists, both domestic and international.

Importantly, an innovative technology – the Fan ID card – was developed and proved its consistency.

Mr President, you have already decided to extend Fan ID validity until the end of the year. However, we would like you to issue additional instructions. We discussed this when working on the Concept, but we want the Fan ID approach to be extended to other cultural events held in our country. We will soon be holding the Student Games in Krasnoyarsk, and next year is the year of a major musical event in our culture, the Tchaikovsky Competition. This technology would very much help us accommodate guests, especially from other countries.

Vladimir Putin: I discussed this with Mr Medvedev yesterday. It is a good thing to do, so we will go ahead and do it.

Olga Golodets: Of course, the festivities would be incomplete without our team’s success. The remarkable performance by the Russian team deserves our gratitude as fans. We hope that together with the football professionals, we will be able to lay a new platform for promoting children's and youth football in our country.

The concept is in place, and we will report on it in the coming days.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Kolokoltsev, what about security?

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev: Mr President, colleagues,

The Russian Ministry of the Interior has fulfilled in full its task of ensuring public safety during the World Cup. We used over 100,000 of our employees. The relevant measures were taken during the football matches and Fan Fests.

Russian police officers were polite and tactful. Fans who committed minor offences received minor penalties. The International Police Cooperation Centre and the tourist police performed well.

Suffice it to say that due to interaction with our foreign colleagues and information exchanges, over 3,000 foreign citizens with previous sports event related violations were denied entry into Russia. They were not allowed here, and this also improved the safety of the tournament.

Due to our measures, no serious violations of public order were recorded during the World Cup.

Given that foreign tourists with Fan IDs may be staying in Russia until July 25, we continue to operate in an enhanced mode.

I would like to note that the introduction of the Fan ID cards and the system of access control helped in the efficient provision of public order. These were developed in Russia and were praised by both FIFA and the fans themselves.

I would like to ask you, Mr President, to give instructions to preserve the security infrastructure at the stadiums in order to use it during other sports events.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Mrs Skvortsova, what can you say for the Healthcare Ministry?

Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova: Mr President, colleagues,

A medical aid scheme with a response time of under five minutes was deployed in all 17 Russian regions where World Cup events were held and teams stayed and trained.

In total, 6,500 healthcare workers provided medical aid, with 4,500 working directly at the facilities. Everyone had additional training in line with the FIFA-approved emergency aid protocols.

Volunteer and student medics helped us a lot, including in emergency situations when translation was needed.

There were 170 stationary medical offices at 12 stadiums and in fan zones, with 280 mobile medical teams patrolling spectator and festival zones. Each team was comprised of three specialists: an emergency medicine specialist, a trauma specialist and a paramedic. There also were 202 paramedic teams, including 68 intensive care units, for medical evacuation.

Medical aid for the entire FIFA team, including footballers, journalists and spectators, was provided at 147 medical institutions, including 14 hospitals authorised by FIFA.

During the World Cup, over 15,000 people, including 1,300 children, sought medical assistance. Participants in entertainment programmes, volunteers and people working at the facilities were seen most often, over 7,000; followed by spectators at 6,879. In addition, medical aid was provided to 547 FIFA team members, including 57 footballers and 366 journalists. Aid was provided on the spot in 92 percent of the cases, while eight percent of the patients were taken to inpatient facilities and 277 were hospitalised.

I would like to note that all the host cities provided medical aid fully and in good time, including hi-tech medical care in emergencies, such as endovascular therapy for acute coronary syndromes (the patients have already been discharged, with only one remaining at the inpatient facility, but improving). A patient with a sudden subarachnoid haemorrhage into the ventricular system had most complicated emergency neurosurgery in Samara: his life was saved, and two weeks later, the patient went home with almost no neurological defects. A foreigner who had a car accident in Saransk was operated on by two surgical teams, with a very good outcome, and also went home.

Of 57 footballers who sought medical attention, 53 received it on the spot, four were hospitalised and two were operated on due to various traumas. The Russian national football team received medical and psychological treatment according to their individual support plans designed by the Russian Federal Biomedical Agency.

I would like to say, Mr President, that the FIFA medical inspection noted the high standards of medical support during the championship. We received a letter from FIFA Medical Officer Efraim Kramer saying that there had been nothing like it in all of FIFA history and that he recommends our standards be used in other countries. He has already sent a medical delegation from Qatar, the next country to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. People are studying and borrowing from our experience, to be able to use it in organising and hosting the 2022 World Cup.

Vladimir Putin: The festival was reallya success. We will return to this, especially in the context ofusing the World Cup legacy. Now I would like to again thank everyone who took part in organising this grand event. This applies to both those who are here now and those who are not.

(Addressing Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko) Mr Mutko, I would like to express my gratitude to you. You are not directly involved in this work at present but everyone knows that you were there at the start of this journey and did a lot to prepare for this championship.

Festivals have their place, but we still have current matters that demand urgent attention. I mean, first of all, the aftermath of floods in several regions, in many regions actually. In some places, water reached not just critical but record levels. Let us speak about this.

Mr Zinichev, please.

Minister for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Natural Disaster Relief Yevgeny Zinichev: Mr President, colleagues,

Low-pressure systems with pouring rain, hail and strong winds formed in several regions of Russia in July this year. As a result, some communities and farmland were flooded and bridges, railway tracks, motorways and other infrastructure were eroded. Emergencies were declared in some of these regions. We employed forces and facilities of the Emergencies Ministry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal National Guard Service, the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision and other authorities. In all the regions, we employed about 2,000 people, over 700 pieces of equipment; over 600 people and 100 pieces of equipment from the Emergencies Ministry.

Today, the situation in Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories is stable; crews are now cleaning the rubble. In the Komi Republic, the officials are now providing assistance to 280 residents in eight apartment buildings; they are repairing the damaged roofs. Volgograd continues to restore the embankment near Volgograd Arena. Power and street traffic in Tula, Bryansk and Belgorod regions has been restored.

Trans-Baikal Territory suffered the most, beating its 1991 records. Starting July 8, as a result of prolonged downpours and snowmelt in the mountains, the river levels have risen in 10 municipalities, flooding 30 townships with over 5,000 residents in over 730 buildings.

At this point, we see a consistent, positive trend. A total of 20 buildings remain flooded, with 35 bridges damaged.

We are working to eliminate and minimise the consequences of the flooding, so there have been no fatalities. A total of 465 children were evacuated from camps and returned to their parents; about 2,000 people were evacuated in advance. There are 94 people waiting in four temporary shelters. A total of 21 such facilities with a capacity of up to 1,500 people have been created.

Today, hotlines are receiving calls around the clock. Experts from Rospotrebnadzor [the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare] are now taking water samples. The current sanitary and epidemiological situation is normal. Roads are being cleared, dams are being strengthened, water is being pumped out, buildings are being drained, large areas are being cleaned.

Unfortunately, according to forecasts, a storm with more precipitation is to move into Trans-Baikal Territory in the third week of July. But we believe there might be a slight decline in the current flood situation.

Commissions continue to evaluate the situation in the region. The preliminary damage was estimated at over 1 billion rubles. However, it is too early to talk about the final figures, since the situation is still developing. Over 164 million rubles were allocated from the budget of Trans-Baikal Territory and its road funds. Over 18 million rubles have already been allocated to the affected citizens, at 10,000 rubles per citizen.

Now, regarding the forest fire situation.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, please.

Yevgeny Zinichev: The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Krasnoyarsk Territory are suffering the most from forest fires; a state of emergency was declared in those forests. As the Federal Agency for Forestry reports, there are a total of 276 fires on a total area of 1.5 million hectares in these constituent territories. According to forecasters, the probability remains that the number of areas affected by fires will increase.

The Emergency Ministry’s fire and rescue units were on alert to protect residential areas and commercial buildings with 600 people and 50 vehicles, including five aircraft and three helicopters to contain the fire; there were 250 discharges of 2,500 tonnes of water in total.

According to Emergency Ministry data, in the last 24 hours the total area of possible smoke contamination included over 20 residential areas with a total population of 850,000. We have been monitoring the possible presence and concentration of hazardous substances in the atmosphere from satellites. The ministry’s crews and equipment are constantly on call.

This is my report.

Vladimir Putin: Listen, I am still concerned over some issues: there are many problems in Trans-Baikal Territory, all emergencies; or the situation in Yakutia, which has submitted the necessary applications for funding, but has received no money.

Yevgeny Zinichev: We only received the request two days ago.

Vladimir Putin: But this is a new application. The first one was submitted in mid-June, and the Finance Ministry failed to allocate the funding.

Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov: The requested amount did not correspond to the level of federal emergency funding as defined by the government resolution. We have revised the request, and now it has been filed with the Emergency Ministry, and we will allocate the money needed. There is money for this in the Emergency Reserve Fund.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Siluanov, we will have to agree that this sounds strange: they asked too little. You made them revise it to ask for more, and now you have to allocate it. Maybe you should not have used such a formal approach. You should have turned to the government and discussed the situation. We are losing time, aren’t we? How objective is their request? If you say “too little,” they will add more.

Anton Siluanov: …An emergency situation: regional, municipal, or federal, so based on this…

Vladimir Putin: I understand. You should have told them, “decide for yourselves.” But you have revised it and come up with a larger sum, and now we will have to allocate it. I am asking you to reconsider this process and, what is more important, more quickly. They need the funding, and they need to get to work.

Mr Medvedev, please consider this.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: Yes, Mr President.

Several days ago, we were working on the situation in Trans-Baikal Territory and discussing what had happened to the bridges and other facilities there. We will see what we can do, but it looks like we will have to allocate funding for restoration. As Yevgeny Zinichev has just said, 35 bridges were damaged.

Vladimir Putin: It is hot there right now, everything seems fine, but we know how quickly it gets cold.

Dmitry Medvedev: Of course.

Vladimir Putin: So you should act quickly.

Thank you.

Mr Manturov, how did INNOPROM 2018 go?

Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov: We saw a large number of foreign delegations this year with 170 countries represented. South Korea had the largest representation with 105 leading companies, many of them were presented in Russia for the first time. I would like to take the opportunity and relay the words of gratitude from the heads of the South Korea delegation for the partner country status awarded to them this year.

This year INNOPROM’s central theme was the digitisation of manufacturing, as this trend is designated as one of the long-term priorities in our economy. The exhibit part of the expo was filled by over 600 international companies, and the number of samples of automation and robotics products doubled compared to last year.

By positioning INNOPROM as a specialised venue for the world’s high-tech businesses, we have managed to raise the share of the professional audience and company leaders of different levels to 76 percent.

Overall, INNOPROM reached its maximum in terms of visitors – about 50,000 people in four days. This is the reason why the construction of a modern 26,000-square metre convention centre is underway in Sverdlovsk Region. This will make it possible to expand exhibition infrastructure and to carry out the joint initiative with UNIDO and the United Arab Emirates that you announced at the St Petersburg Economic Forum – to hold the GMIS-2019, the Second Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit at the INNOPROM venue. Nature-like technologies will be the core theme of the summit. In fact, it will be the first global discussion on the need to restore balance between the bio- and the technosphere.

Vladimir Putin: Are you referring to 2019?

Denis Manturov: Yes, 2019, from July 8 to 12.

Mr President, you laid it out in your speech back in 2015 when you addressed the 70^th UN General Assembly. The summit will deal with the search for new methods of treating severe diseases, expanded application of artificial intelligence, environmentally safe solutions for power generation and waste processing.

Together with the summit’s organisers we launched a countdown at the GMIS website and began preparations for this large-scale international event.

In our view, INNOPROM’s strengthening positions and the announced global summit will improve Ekaterinburg’s chances to host EXPO 2025. Voting will be held this November as part of the bidding process. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: And do you think everything is being done to prepare our bid for the vote in Paris? What is gong on there?

Denis Manturov: We have been actively arranging presentations at all international venues using every possibility available. We have made a huge number of visits, especially to the countries of Africa, Latin America, Europe the Middle East. In fact, the Middle East is very supportive, our colleagues and partners.

Vladimir Putin: Are we competing with Baku and Osaka?

Denis Manturov: Yes, Baku and Osaka, they are also hard at work. But we expect that our position – especially with regard to the first question you posed on the results of the FIFA World Cup, on the results of all those events – gives us a good foundation, a good chance of winning this bid campaign.

Vladimir Putin: All right, thank you very much. Let us move on to the main topic.

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