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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ms Matviyenko, Mr Volodin, colleagues, friends,

First of all, I would like to congratulate the people of Russia, members of the Council of Legislators, and all your colleagues serving in representative bodies on the Day of Russian Parliamentarism. Thank you for your active and constructive cooperation.

The Day of Russian Parliamentarism, as we know, was celebrated yesterday. This significant date reflects the continuity and steady development of our statehood, the significance of your work at this pivotal stage of our country’s development and, of course, the fundamental nature of the constitutional principles of popular sovereignty. These principles help us strengthen our country, overcome challenges and difficulties with confidence, and achieve the major goals we have set together.

We can see that our political, civic, and legal systems are working effectively. Even under challenging conditions, including external pressure, they continue to demonstrate their resilience and, I would stress, their genuine sovereignty. The main foundation of such strength and stability is the independent choice and trust of our citizens.

 More than two centuries ago, our compatriot, the statesman and reformer Mikhail Speransky, observed that a state is governed by “three powers: legislative, executive and judicial.” He also noted that “the origin and source of these powers lie in the people themselves, for they are nothing other than the moral and physical strength of the people.”

It is crucial that today these “three powers” – the three branches of government – remain in balance and work in harmony with each other. This is because the primary criterion behind all decisions, their driving force and core, is the national interest. Not external lectures or pressures, but the firm, sovereign will of the Russian people, and our common desire to ensure the security and future of our Motherland.

The entire parliamentary corps is rising to the challenges of our time. As I have said many times, our parliamentarians are making a significant contribution to our victory. They support frontline troops and veterans, and many of them have personally joined the ranks of volunteers and defenders of the Fatherland. This is undoubtedly a powerful and courageous act that commands special and sincere respect. I am also aware that ensuring the success of the special military operation and supporting the defence industry, as well as the Army and the Navy, remain among your unwavering priorities. Thank you for your deep understanding of your civic and professional responsibility.

For example, all parliamentary factions have helped to seal in law the special, absolutely deserved, high status of our heroes, the participants in the special military operation; the social protection measures intended for their families and relatives are being expanded and finetuned. Please continue this important work in the future, jointly with the Government, the Defence Ministry, other agencies, and the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation.

As a side note, I would like to commend the contribution made by the regional teams, the heads of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and their legislatures – including their active involvement in sending humanitarian cargoes – the volunteer movement, and the supportive assistance to the legislators and their colleagues in the historical regions of Donbass and Novorossiya, which are on their path to being integrated into Russia’s unified social, cultural and economic space.

In addition to federal programmes, nearly every region is implementing its own assistance programmes for the benefit of the participants in combat operations and their families. As I mentioned, it is essential to thoroughly analyse and generalise this experience. While using the best practices, we should establish unified reference standards of support for all regions across the country. Naturally, I understand that this is a challenging task, given the differences between the regions. Nevertheless, we must strive towards this goal. I believe that the Council of Legislators and parliamentary associations in the federal districts can play a coordinating role in this regard. They are also undertaking extensive and important work, which can and must be intensified accordingly.

An additional factor is that war veterans are joining representative authorities at all levels. They are reliable, responsible and principled individuals. They assert themselves through concrete work, real deeds, and tangible initiatives, not mere words.

I am confident that the number of these lawmakers and deputies will grow thanks to the Time of Heroes federal programme and, of course, the personnel projects that have been initiated across nearly all regions of the Russian Federation.

Colleagues, the priority we give to security, defence capability, and countering external threats and risks naturally demands special attention today and is having a significant impact on the current structure of the legislative agenda.

However, as we have emphasised many times, the challenges we face are not a reason to delay action but, on the contrary, an incentive to address the tasks of the country’s long-term development even more dynamically. That is why it is so important that you continue working intensively across all key areas, and I stress, across all of them. These include improving the quality of life for Russian families, addressing demographic issues, strengthening the economy, achieving technological independence, supporting business and entrepreneurial initiatives, developing the regions, cities, and towns of our vast country, enhancing civil society institutions, and preserving our cultural and historical heritage.

For example, over the past year alone, a law on technology policy was adopted, focusing on the development of full-cycle production based on domestic solutions, along with a legislative package aimed at modernising the fiscal system, primarily to achieve a fairer distribution of the tax burden.

I would also like to highlight that additional legal frameworks have been created to attract investment in the restoration and revitalisation of cultural heritage sites and monuments. However, colleagues, many issues remain unresolved, and significant administrative barriers still exist. There is much work ahead. I urge you to continue this work in collaboration with the Government, as well as with the expert and business communities.

Moving on, the legal framework for the advanced, promising, and rapidly growing sector of the economy has been established through the law on the development of creative industries.

Comprehensive legislative packages have also been introduced to address some of the most urgent and pressing issues facing citizens, particularly in the areas of combating cyber fraud and illegal migration.

New measures to support families with children are being introduced. The indexation of pensions for working pensioners has been restored. In total, around 200 socially significant laws have been adopted in 2024.

For the municipal community, the new law on local self-government and its role within the unified system of public authority holds particular importance. I believe this represents a very timely step.

I would like to stress that these are just a few examples of truly significant, system-wide legislative initiatives across various areas of law and regulation.

Senators of the Federation Council, State Duma deputies and regional parliaments are also actively involved in developing long-term planning documents, such as Russia’s Spatial Development Strategy, which was approved by the Government last December. It outlines both general, cross-cutting priorities and the specific features of the country's regions. Our task is to unleash the potential of all constituent entities. I repeat, this is an issue of the country’s harmonious development, of justice and equal opportunities for Russian citizens.

We have a great deal to do. The Government, parliament, regions, and local governments face many tasks, including the implementation of the updated national projects. I would like to ask the parliament to oversee each of them, using all mechanisms of feedback from the public in order to objectively assess how reforms are progressing and to determine the extent to which their results correspond to the expectations of society and the obligations of the state. I have spoken about this many times. I believe e that everyone present here shares this approach. We have not to merely account for the funds spent or the resources deployed, but to present tangible outcomes of our work, evaluating how people's lives are truly being transformed.

As before, special emphasis should be placed on parliamentary diplomacy: consistently explaining and firmly upholding our position while defending the truth. It is important to continue strengthening ties through the EAEU, the CSTO, the CIS, BRICS, and the SCO, as well as with all our friends and like-minded partners, whose numbers are steadily growing across various countries and continents. We are not closing the door to dialogue with Western parliamentarians in North America and Europe. If they choose not to maintain it, that is their decision. However, we remain open to communication, as we regularly discuss these issues with the leadership of both chambers.

Russia is open to mutually beneficial cooperation and supports integration processes based on the principles of respect for each other’s sovereignty and our common history.

Tomorrow Volgograd will host the Great Heritage – Common Future international forum. It was organised on the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Russia and Belarus and is timed to coincide with a sacred date for our fraternal peoples: the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

I cordially congratulate you on this upcoming holiday. We are proud of the heroic deeds of our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. We must be worthy of their heroism. Just like them, we must see our duty in honest service to our citizens, our Fatherland, and the people of Russia.

I would like to wish you all the best. Thank you for your attention. Thank you.