Flight rate: Putin urged not to lose momentum in airport development
Thanks to the modernization of 75 airports, their capacity will exceed 40% by 2030, and at least 250 billion rubles have been allocated from the budget for reconstruction. This became known on July 2 at a meeting between Vladimir Putin and members of the government. There are serious developments in the field of railway transport. Thus, a report on the construction dates and parameters of new high-speed highways (HSR) will be prepared by the end of March 2026. An expert examination of the first stage of the high-speed railway, which will connect Moscow and St. Petersburg, is expected by September 15. Other topics include social security for veterans of the military and support for their families. The Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation has already proposed to provide training quotas for widows of military personnel. How often do soldiers return to the front after rehabilitation and how many tons of products have been shipped via the northern route this year are described in the Izvestia article.
What benefits will the widows of their fighters receive?
Vladimir Putin held a meeting with members of the government in the late afternoon of July 2. At the beginning of the meeting, a number of operational issues are traditionally considered: for example, the president first addressed the Deputy Minister of Defense, the head of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, Anna Tsivileva.
Members of the government are participants in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin (the meeting is held via videoconference). In the center: State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anna Tsivileva
— When meeting with family members, first of all families who lost their husband and father during a special military operation, I was asked a question about widows and their education — specialized secondary and higher education, women raised the question of how to create conditions so that they could study and receive the necessary They either need retraining or primary education," Vladimir Putin said.
The Deputy Minister proposed to extend the quota for education to the widows of the deceased soldiers of the SVO. Today, the current legislation provides such benefits only for the participants of the special operation and their children. According to Anna Tsivileva, the foundation receives numerous appeals from the widows of fallen soldiers who want to work to raise their children.
Speaking about social security, Anna Tsivileva noted that many members of the SVR, despite their severe injuries and disabilities, decide to remain in the service. In this regard, she asked to extend the powers of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation to support veterans of their military to active military personnel who have been seriously injured.
— Defenders of the Fatherland undergoing rehabilitation, for the most part, demonstrate high motivation to return to the front. This is confirmed not only by their words, but also by their specific actions — many sign repeat contracts, despite their injuries. For example, there are more than 19,000 Cossacks fighting in the SVO zone alone, and a significant part of them are fighters for whom service has already become a conscious choice dictated by a sense of duty, patriotism and loyalty to comrades," Yuri Ataman, Deputy ataman for rehabilitation, adaptation and career guidance of SVO participants, told Izvestia. Alyoshin.
When will the first high-speed highway be launched in Russia
Other topics include transport infrastructure. Vladimir Putin asked Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Saveliev to report on the implementation of the Moscow-St. Petersburg high–speed railway. This is the first of five high-speed traffic projects: after that, it is planned to build similar roads from Moscow to Yekaterinburg, then to Adler, Minsk and Ryazan. The HSR is considered a line for the operation of trains with speeds from 200 to 400 km/h. The road to St. Petersburg will be fully operational in 2028. The journey time will be 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Vitaly Saveliev added that the HSR construction program will be "seamless" and will immediately switch to other projects. Proposals on the timing and parameters of high-speed railways in Russia will be submitted by the end of March 2026, the Deputy Prime Minister promised. The Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed rail project is currently fully structured, funded and is at the final stage of highway design, he said. The conclusion of the state expert examination is expected by September 15. According to the estimates of the Deputy Prime Minister, passenger traffic on the HSR will amount to at least 23 million people by the end of 2030.
We also discussed the start of work on the northern delivery, the reception point of which is located in 21 regions. These are measures to deliver food, medicines and fuel to remote villages and regions, including the Arctic, which remain cut off from the mainland for several months in winter. This year, the volume of northern imports is 3.4 million tons, as of July 1, 1.5 million tons of products have already been delivered, or 44%, the head of the Ministry of Regional Development Alexei Chekunkov told the president.
— The execution is on schedule, taking into account the fact that the bulk of the import is carried out during the navigation period, when the northern waters are ice—free, - said Alexey Chekunkov.
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is also monitoring the provision of uninterrupted northern supplies, said First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova. It is known that the amount of support for recipient entities will be determined by August 1: currently, hard-to-reach regions are experiencing an increase in the cost of financing the import of fuel and energy resources, due to rising loan rates, the head of the Ministry of Regional Development noted. He added that in 2025, separate limits of treasury loans for the implementation of northern imports totaling 13 billion rubles have been set for 14 subjects. The President asked to pay close attention to this issue.
— The weather is like this now, tomorrow it will be different. It seems like summer hasn't started yet, and then boom, it looks like summer is coming, it's going to be hot. And then — a knock, frosts again. And if we're late for something, but we don't deliver, we'll just have problems. Therefore, I urge you to promptly monitor everything related to timely financing," the president urged.
More than 90% of the volume of northern shipments is provided by water transport. Against this background, the Ministry of the Far East Development, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Rosatom and shipowners, are developing a fleet renewal program used for these purposes.
— 444 vessels are involved in the implementation of the northern delivery — 172 sea and 272 river vessels. The quality of this fleet directly affects the cost of freight and the reliability of supplies," Alexey Chekunkov added.
How is the airport reconstruction process going?
Roman Starovoit, Minister of Transport, delivered a report on the main topic of the meeting — the development of the airport backbone network. Earlier, Vladimir Putin stated in his message to the Federal Assembly that in six years it is necessary to modernize the infrastructure of at least 75 airports. At least 250 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes in the form of direct budget financing. According to the Minister, airport capacity is expected to increase by 40% by 2030. Vladimir Putin stressed that their backbone network in Russia should develop dynamically, without losing momentum.
The introduction of an infrastructure levy on airlines was also discussed. Earlier, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation proposed to introduce such a fee from September 1, 2025 to finance the reconstruction of the terminals. It is planned that the airports, the list of which will be approved by the government, will be grouped in order to reduce the growth of the tariff burden. The Government will also set the amount of the fee and allocate funds for the reconstruction of selected airfields. At the same time, this initiative will not affect passengers.
— The introduction of an infrastructure fee only in groups will allow accumulating funds for the modernization of the airfield infrastructure and will not lead to a significant increase in the cost of air tickets. The relevant draft federal law providing for the possibility of levying an infrastructure fee has been prepared by the government, and the bill is planned to be adopted in the spring session," the minister said.
In general, high passenger traffic figures remain in 2025: Russian airlines transported almost 50 million people in the first half of the year, Roman Starovoit said. According to the Ministry of Transport, as of June 1, almost 2 million passengers were also transported under the subsidized transportation program.
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