Freedom, in a word: Putin urged parliament not to focus on bans and punishments
The Russian regions will postpone the payment of debts on budget loans — we are talking about the amount of over 1 trillion rubles. Vladimir Putin supported this idea at a meeting with members of the Council of Legislators on the Day of Russian Parliamentarism on April 27. The president also called on parliamentarians to stop focusing only on prohibitions and restrictions when passing laws. He made it very clear that this is counterproductive and hinders the development of the country. Experts believe that such an emphasis in the speech addressed to senators and deputies may be related to the obvious dissatisfaction of Russians with a number of recent decisions of the authorities, for example, the restriction of the Internet. What statements of Vladimir Putin were applauded by lawmakers and what he said about the upcoming elections to the State Duma can be found in the Izvestia article.
Putin speaks out about bans in Russia
Vladimir Putin arrived in St. Petersburg on April 27. The main point of his program on this day was to participate in a meeting of the Council of Legislators. The annual meeting was again held in the Tauride Palace, where 120 years ago, on April 27, 1906, the State Duma held its first meeting. Before that, the president carefully examined the exposition with the main documents in the history of the formation of the parliament of the last century: the manifesto on the creation of the Duma, the text of the speech of Emperor Nicholas II of April 27, 1906, the minutes of the first meetings. The head of state called this period a new stage in the country's development, which gave hope for large-scale transformations in Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin during an inspection of the exhibition dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Russian parliamentarism at the Tavrichesky Palace in St. Petersburg. On the left: Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko. On the right: Andrey Artizov, Head of the Federal Archival Agency
"In fact, the first model of a bicameral parliamentary system has emerged, which is now implemented on a constitutional basis, is important and effective in a large, multinational and multi—religious country," he stressed, addressing the audience.
This meeting was also notable for the fact that literally five months later, most of the deputies present in the hall will have to fight for their mandate in the lower house again. On September 18-20, elections to the State Duma of the IX convocation will be held in the country. The President limited himself to only two points in the context of the future campaign: the electoral process and the intense competition of candidates should not affect legislative work, and the elections themselves should be conducted in strict accordance with the law, with reliable and transparent results.
Speaking about power, Vladimir Putin even quoted Alexander Solzhenitsyn. These words were heard in the State Duma in 1994: "Power is not a prize in the competition of parties, it is not a reward, it is not food for personal self-esteem. Power is a heavy burden, it is a responsibility, a duty, and work, and work."
In general, Vladimir Putin gave a more detailed assessment of the legislative activity of the Russian parliament. The President urged senators and deputies not to focus on bans and the constant development of some new measures for violators. According to him, the approach should be "systematic, creative, and aimed not only at adapting to current challenges and risks."
— Of course, it seems that this is necessary, it is necessary to protect the interests of consumers in every sense of the word, but it is counterproductive to focus on this alone. Excessive barriers hinder development. These are all temporary, passing phenomena, but Russia is eternal. And our legislation should be flexible, dynamic, progressive, and forward—looking," the head of state explained.
Such a statement may be directly related to the mood in society: people are getting tired of prohibitive initiatives that are generated, in particular, by State Duma deputies, political analyst Dmitry Yelovsky said in an interview with Izvestia. As one of the solutions that people are particularly concerned about, the political scientist named the obligation for graduates of medical schools to work in their specialty for three years under threat of fines. The practice itself does not fit in with the specifics of the modern medical services market, and the measure is even popularly called "serfdom" for thieves, the expert recalled.
— But, of course, the most difficult thing was the restriction of the Internet and Telegram. People have not been clearly explained what is happening, and sometimes there is a lack of normal communication between society and the state. There is no clear answer as to why this is all happening and, most importantly, this decision does not have the name of the person responsible for it. This has already led to an increase in anxiety in society," Dmitry Yelovsky said.
In total, at the end of January 2026, during the period of the VIII convocation of the State Duma, a little more than 2 thousand bills were adopted. At the same time, 234 of them were in the autumn session, said State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in December 2025. Over 2,000 were adopted in the seventh convocation.
In what time frame will the regions be able to repay the debt
At a meeting of the Council of Legislators, Vladimir Putin touched upon more specific issues. In particular, the president supported the proposal of United Russia to postpone the repayment of budget loans by the regions from 2026 to a later date.
Earlier, it was decided to write off two thirds of the entities' debt on such loans, subject to the use of the released funds for investment and socially significant purposes. We are talking about an amount of over 1 trillion rubles for the period up to 2030. According to the president, the regions repay the remaining third of the debt on time — in 2026 it is about 100 billion rubles, but this burden remains high for many territories. The audience, predictably, burst into applause. During the face-to-face meeting, the Chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, thanked the Head of state for this.
On the same day, at a meeting of members of the Council of Legislators, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the total budget deficit of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 2025 amounted to 1.5 trillion rubles, with the largest gap in the donor regions - 1.2 trillion rubles. As Anton Siluanov explained to Izvestia, this deficit was due to the fact that the expected income tax receipts turned out to be less than planned, and more from personal income tax.
— Therefore, the strong regions, whose main source of income is income tax, are more faced with the movement of the income base. Today's task is to ensure that regions with a high level of budget security, donor regions, pay more attention to their budgets," the Finance Minister said.
The President also asked the parliamentarians to support the efforts of their colleagues from the Cabinet of Ministers to stimulate economic growth. The country needs to reach a steady, higher pace, and for this we need a solid legal foundation for advanced industries of technological leadership, he noted. The President has been talking about a decrease in the country's macro indicators for two consecutive meetings with the economic bloc. Russia's GDP decreased by 1.8% in January —February. Manufacturing industries, industry in general, and construction, a key area of the economy, have gone into negative territory.
Otherwise, the institution of parliamentarism has shown stability, sovereignty and willingness to fight for the interests of the country. The proof of this is the rapid legislative provision of social guarantees to SVO fighters and their family members. For example, last year alone, the State Duma adopted 30 such laws, which relate to free tuition, credit holidays, exemption from a number of duties, and increasing the availability of a social contract, including when starting your own business after completing military service.
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