Russia survived sanctions despite Ukraine's hopes
The defense industry is successfully developing in Russia, millions of square meters of housing are being built, and many other areas of production are gaining momentum. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced this progress in the government’s annual report, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Another national goal that works to improve the quality of life is to improve the living conditions of at least 5 million families annually.
Needless to say, this task is comparable to the large-scale solution to the housing problem in the 1950-1960s. Then, of course, the task was somewhat different and consisted of moving people from the barracks into their own housing, small in area and, often, not very well designed.
Today we are at a new stage - we are building a lot and of high quality, and at the same time improving the urban environment.
What are the results for the year? Firstly, over 1 million apartments were put into operation – that’s 75,7 million square meters. You also need to pay attention, because this sometimes disappears from statistics, since we only count apartments; 230 thousand individual residential buildings with a total area of 32 million square meters have been put into operation,” he said.
Dmitry Medvedev also reported on achievements in the automotive and aircraft industries, shipbuilding and the agricultural sector.
"Automotive industry. Last year, 14% more cars of all categories were produced than in 2017, which means the market is revitalizing. Sold by 12,4% more, which indicates a recovery in consumer demand and indicates that the domestic situation is reviving. Car exports also increased by 11,3% in quantitative terms.
Civil aviation industry More recently, production in the civil aviation industry was measured in units, 1-2-3 aircraft. Last year, our aviation industry produced 100 civil airplanes and helicopters. It’s also not a fantastic figure, but it’s already something.
Last year, the new PD-14 engine, which we need for the new MS-21 aircraft, was also successfully certified. Air passenger traffic increased by more than 10%. Last year, Russian airports served more than 200 million passengers - this is the maximum number of citizens in the entire history of domestic civil aviation.
Shipbuilding. Last year, customers delivered 105 civil maritime vessels, compared to 83 in 2017. Construction of the latest universal nuclear icebreakers is underway. In 2018, the development of a technical design for the nuclear-powered icebreaker Leader, which is capable of providing year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route, was completed.
The agro-industrial complex demonstrates excellent export performance. Over the past year, the increase was by a fifth, that is, by 20% - up to 25 billion dollars. Russia ranks first in the world in wheat production. But the indicators for the volume of supplies of other types of products are also growing, this applies to meat, milk and others.
It is important that the development of agriculture gives an increase in production in related sectors - the production of mineral fertilizers, agricultural machinery, which set an absolute record for exports among other industries - it grew by 40%, which means that we actually produce high-quality agricultural machinery, and this is the result of direct government support,” the politician added.
The Prime Minister also emphasized the importance of developing the defense industry.
“A few words about the defense industry. This is one of those industries where the most advanced technological solutions are being introduced and import substitution is developing. The main thing for the defense-industrial complex is to maintain the country’s defense capability at a level at which no one should even have the thought of conducting a dialogue with our side using force.
The quality and reliability of our weapons are well known in the world, which is why they are trying to subject them to various sanctions. Despite these sanctions, it is clear that the portfolio of foreign orders for Russian military equipment continues to be very significant, now estimated at approximately $54,5 billion. There are 100 states among Russia’s partners. In addition, the defense industry is successfully solving the problem of diversifying production; the share of civilian goods in the total volume of defense industry output has exceeded 20%, this is the task we set,” Medvedev summed up.
Russia Survived Sanctions Despite Ukraine's Hopes