Specifically because of certain issues they have with kazakhstan, with russia, sanitary regulations. But overall, it increased just like some other countries. I wont mention specifically right now, but there was a huge increase for belarus. Their exports to russia have increased dramatically. This is a very useful and beneficial process for all the members of the eau. With every culture, yes, there are certain problems because we need to comply with sanitary regulations. There are certain unresolved issues with that. We provide necessary assistance to our friends to help them set up a sanitary control system. We expect our partners will also help with that, including financial and administrative and professional assistance so that there is a sanitary control system as well. So we dont have any imports coming that would be hazardous or dangerous in any way to our people. There are ways to do that and it can be taken care of quite quickly. Drt channel. Accused of mortal sin in the west. Russia today. Thank you. Good afternoon, mr. Putin. Id like to talk about democracy. In the context of the president ial election in the u. S. American politicians love to talk about politics. That is what makes the u. S. Exceptional. Sometimes they say that other countries are not democratic enough so they share and spread their democracy. These very same people who are so proud of american democracy, common American People started saying that they were betrayed in the aftermath of the president ial election. Whats wrong with democracy . Is democracy a good thing . Another question that im concerned about personally recently, a person was convicted for seven years for treason. Do you think this is adequate punishment for the text she sent about the military train . President putin as far as the Court Decision is concern, our courts are independent in russia just like any other country. But, i do believe that this verdict was quite tough. Im not sure of the details. Was it just a text she sent . She wrote what she saw and everybody saw that. This means it was not that big of a secret. Im not quite sure into the details. I will look into this matter, the accusations against her, the charges brought against her in court. That is number one. Number two, your question about democracy. Yes, there is an issue. We have been talking about this for quite a long time. Our u. S. Partners have been ignoring this matter. The problem is the system in the u. S. Is archaic. Dont have direct elections. They have two steps. First, there is the Electoral College and then they elect the president. In certain states, they even have preferences. It is not clear why they have that. It is up to u. S. Lawmakers to say why they have that. I dont know. Maybe because they provide preferences to certain states, but it is up to American People to sort this out. It is not up to us. The ruling i think it is until january 20, right . The democratic party, they clearly forgot have forgotten the essence of what this means to be democratic. They have been using administrative clout without shape. Like, encouraging people to disobey voter decisions, electors to vote faithlessly. Like i said earlier, i believe it is a great country and they will make necessary decisions, learn the lessons and the next electoral cycle lets go over there now. Lets go. For example, a question about chess. I think we need to change the subject. Lets talk about chess now. Thank you for this chance to ask a question. The all of russia was cheering when he was going through the matches with the current world champion. So, the support was promised not only during the Big International event, but even at the regional level. There should be a tournament established. In my native land, we dont see any support for chess. We have a very good chessplayer, but when he suggests that we should have a chess club, he gets the reply that there are other priorities. The question is how will we develop chess in our country in the near future and will we maybe have support for chess clubs and such . President putin first and foremost, i dont think i should interfere with decisions made by local authorities like curriculum and things they should do, things they should add. It is a sensitive issue related to chess as part of the mandatory curriculum or even as an addition. It is up to local authorities or maybe even a specific school to decide that, but we certainly should be proud of our history in chess. We know that we have had people, top chess players, and the players we have today, we are proud of our chess players. You know, we have this talented school in sochi. We have a chess section there. We need to develop chess throughout russia. I really expect in your region, i really hope people will Pay Attention to chess. They will support the chessplayer you just mentioned and everybody who loves chess. As for sergei, he really played well but Magnus Carlsen is the top layer of our time. Our chess player was good as well. He performed very well. Hes a real fighter. I really believe that he will win sooner or later. What is your question about . First row please. Thank you. To crimea and back. So, one of my colleagues here asked about this bridge, but there is no official name. Some people call it the crimean bridge, the russian bridge. So, the question is which do you prefer . Which would you suggest . And, again, back to stalingrad. The bridge is going to be completed very soon. What is the next big project here . President putin well, as for the name, it is up to the people. Perhaps you could do it in an opinion poll or referendum. The most important thing is to build it. Naming is secondary. If you call it the cass bridge, let it be. It has its own issues that needs to be resolved. It has to be energy dependent, selfsufficient in terms of Energy Supplies. It is very important. Certainly, that has to be with our relations with the eu, the european union. They have to make the decision that the Baltic States need to join their Energy Alliance and that causes problems for us in terms of Energy Supplies. It requires Additional Resources to build a new supply line. Im not sure why they are doing it. Previously, we didnt have any issues in terms of Energy Supplies to the Baltic States. Everything has been running smoothly. Our European Partners always tell us we need to come together, we need to move closer to find common ground, while exactly the opposite is happening here. Theyve disrupted our relationship in a sensitive area as to energy. Certainly, we will resolve this issue. Ensure energy independence. You might have heard we plan to supply liquefied natural gas. We plan to build a power plant. We might use smallscale nuclear plants. This is one of the key areas to develop in. We need to have some kind of an Energy Resources to drive the economy. Road construction, infrastructure certainly, there are a lot of issues. There are others pending. The most important thing we need to provide is the use of the opportunities which is really close to our union partners. It is to be economically aligned to the economy in terms of preferences that the region has. So you have a free trade zone and preferences. Instead of those, you have it from the federal government. It needs to be all aligned so that you are sustainable without any disruptions to the manufacturing sector, to infrastructure. In terms of crimea, one of the problems is Energy Supplies. An oil company has finalized its project. The Oil Pipelines of crimea are fully connected with the oil network, the Pipeline Network of russia. In the next few days, we will announce that. Russian oil and gas will be supplied to crimea. Today, right now, we have winter so crimea consumes 1300 megawatts. 800 used used to be supplied by ukraine. Its proprietary capacities generate about 1000 or 1100 megawatts. But, in the next two or three days, we will start supplying the russian natural gas and we will Start Construction of two power plants in crimea with a capacity of 470 megawatts. The total generating capacity will be around 2000 megawatts. As you can see, the peak consumption is 1000 megawatts. It will be around 800 megawatts extra capacity. For the future, that will be needed for development of economy. The other Cultural Center for manufacturing, tourism, recreation, construction of the hotels. So, this is a landmark event for crimea. I hope this will be good news for them. Good afternoon, mr. Putin. Now, the International Community is fighting terrorism. First and foremost, with the organization that calls itself Islamic State. Unfortunately, people in russia are called in the same way including mass media, but we know terrorism has nothing to do with islam or states. Dont you think it should be logical and right to forbid the mass media to use Islamic State as a name . President putin what kind of media do you work at . Do you need to bend anything . I think it is wrong to bend anything. Certainly, islam should not be put together with a terror well, you have a person from the region. Lets have a question from russias north. Good afternoon. You visited our region a number of times. You opened some projects. Lets be honest it will remain one of the drivers of the russian economy. We have a lot of projects, but we dont have enough roads. There is a project with the russian railroads, etc. You are the person to ask, when is the construction going to start . Another question. Right now, the taxes of the region get redistributed to the neighboring regions that are having a hard time. Is it permanent or temporary . President putin you just said we need to implement that project. Will you be able to do it on your own . No. You need support too. The practice by the finance ministry which calls for leveling out the income of different regions is the appropriate one. There might be regions that get extra income thanks to mineral resources. We need to also keep in mind that all of this belongs to the people. All of the russian people. You can only ensure their rights through that leveling out practice. Evening out the incomes of regional budgets. So that the redistribution is necessary to keep economic growth. You are absolutely right we should not have any freeloaders in russia. We need to stimulate regions to increase their tax base. I dont want to go into detail. There are a lot of ways to do it, but it has to be done. We have been trying to do that. We will continue to do that. As for the specific project you referred to, when . Well, once its deemed economically viable, feasible if they realize it is going to generate revenue we will launch that project. It is a project that the russian economy really needs. It will help diversify our network. It will provide a new capacity for rail transportation and the connection to the port. The port is up and running. We were going to set up one of the biggest enterprises in russia. Perhaps it is one of the biggest investment projects in the world at this moment. Novatak and its partners, european and chinese, and investors from japan and other countries, have been able to move forward on schedule. It is really surprising given the climate and conditions they are working in. Despite the problems that some are trying to create, i dont know why someone is trying to create those problems. I can see the project will be implemented. As we implement this project, certainly, infrastructure will be needed. We will come to that, the sooner the better. Someone from the east. Good afternoon, mr. Putin. Kurdistan 24 channel. I have a question. As you know, kurds play a key role in fighting international terrorism. And russia is playing a very major role in the middle east now. So, what is russias stance on the fact that the iraqi kurds have it taken steps to independence . Kurds have their own difficult past. I can only reaffirm that the kurd units have been courageous in fighting international terrorism. They have been really efficient in the battles. We proceed from the premise that we need to act in accordance with international law. Ultimately, the rights of the kurds, legitimate rights will be insured, but what will be the form . It depends on iraq. And we will be in contact with baghdad and kurds, but we will not interfere in the Diplomatic Affairs of iraq. Lets go with an online publication. Thank you for this opportunity. We talked about patriotism today a little. This word has been used a lot this year. So, the question is, is the state may be overzealous in terms of patriotism . There was the incident in moscow and onsk. It is hard when hooliganism can be called patriotism. Should we take our hooligans and call them patriots . As for the animal torture, you talked about the rights of the pet owners, but there are some animals that dont have owners. They should be taken from the streets. The girl should have a harsher punishment for their action. That wasnt the main take away from my statement. As i said, we need to find the most humane principles. We must provide some kind of civilized system. In instances where wild animals attack children, local authorities cannot turn a blind eye to it. As for patriotism, the russian Government Supports patriotism. We have no other unifying force. Should we differentiate between good and bad hooligans . No. We need to distinguish between common sense actions from the scum that you have around it. We should not only rely on the phobias we have from the media space. We need to remember that incidents with the exhibition, perhaps no one would have paid attention to it if it is not been attacked. The photographer was charged in the u. S. , but he thought he could do in russia what is unacceptable in the united states. The response was not that civilized, but certainly you have a different Government Agencies that need to take decisions. The Community Needs to have some kind of checks and balances. We talked about that at the recent council. It was the council on culture. There have been other questions about the ban of Jesus Christ Superstar opera. That was in onsk, right . Hey only sold 46 tickets and that is why the organizers of that opera decided not to go ahead with it. It is possible to bend things in the modern world so you do not go down that road. We need a constant dialogue with the community. Education maybe. Channel one, mr. Putin, there are on three hospices available in our country. Moscow hospice has been available for only a you years for only a few years. The construction is very slow. It is only due to Charity Funds that this is proceeding and some hildren dont have enough time to wait while it is completed. Maybe the government should help considering it is about children. Probably. The project was initiated by charities. Certainly a sensitive question. We always support a project like this. Just recently, i granted an award to a priest who devoted all his life to it. Certainly, the government is oing a lot in this area. If a Charity Starts a project, then they have to finish it. You cant really start something and then ask for help, but to buy large but we certainly need to focus more on it. You represent channel one and i hope that the municipal authorities will pay more attention to it. Stop juvenile justice, what s meant by that . Good afternoon. In a meeting there was a statement that without a public discussion, juvenile systems will not be designed after the estern standard. Our system is the same as in scandinavia. In article 116, your decision was implemented in a very strange way. So, now the standard is that there are individuals to whom different standard are applied