Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

I read your letters. To be honest, they surprised me. It is clear that the Russian economy, social environment and culture have suffered significant losses in the 1990s and have not yet fully recovered. During the Soviet era, around 300-400 hours of animation were filmed annually; at present, there are only 20 hours. But I would like to direct your attention to the following: in 2000, a total of 200 million roubles was allocated to the Russian film industry...

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

I read your letters. To be honest, they surprised me. It is clear that the Russian economy, social environment and culture have suffered significant losses in the 1990s and have not yet fully recovered. During the Soviet era, around 300-400 hours of animation were filmed annually; at present, there are only 20 hours. But I would like to direct your attention to the following: in 2000, a total of 200 million roubles was allocated to the Russian film industry. This year, that allocation is 4.6 billion roubles. And it is the job of the agency in charge to decide what percentage of the funds to allocate to which projects. I have just spoken to Mr. Zhukov, and he could not name …

Alexander Zhukov: Two hundred and eighty.

Vladimir Putin: Two hundred and eighty million roubles were allocated for you for this year, is that correct? Certainly, this is an insubstantial amount, completely insufficient, I agree. This is the reason for our meeting today. As I understand, there are many other issues that must be discussed in addition to this one.

It is unfortunate that these issues continue to arise, because everybody in our country loves animated films, myself included. I am certain – and this is simply how things are, a fact of life – that generations of Soviet, and later of Russian people, were raised on our remarkable animated films. These are great traditions. Our animated films are good and gentle, beautiful, colourful. They don’t just inform, but also educate, in the broadest sense. Above all, I’m talking about a foundation that helps shape an individual perspective. Our animated films depict kindness, good versus evil, loyalty and truth. It can all be found in our animation. It is unfortunate that we must devote our time to the routine work that we have gathered to discuss today.

I would like to offer the floor to Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev, who will present to you his position on the issue, and report on developments and state objectives. I would then like to hear your thoughts so we can make certain decisions.

Mr. Avdeyev, please.

More to be posted soon...