ello (@piers)

#Putin: "Colleagues, good afternoon. **Today we will address two issues, or perhaps one issue in two dimensions, covering two key sectors of the economy: how Russia’s fuel and transport sectors are operating under current conditions and how they are developing**. "However, before we turn to that, as is customary, I would like to address a couple of current matters. "First, I have a question for Mr Kravtsov regarding the results of the Unified State Exam (USE) and the ongoing enrollment campaigns at secondary vocational education institutions. (*Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov reported that this year 750,000 people sat the National Final School Exam (EGE). The average EGE score is growing, especially in the natural sciences. Almost 50 percent of students have scored 70 points or more. The number of students who scored 100 points is growing as well. An outstanding result has been reported this year: for the first time since the EGE was introduced 25 years ago, a schoolgirl from Moscow, Yelena Malkova, scored 500 points in the five subjects she chose for the exam – Russian, advanced mathematics, chemistry, physics and information science. The Minister noted an important trend: an increasing number of students are choosing natural sciences. This year, 24% more students chose physics than last year, 10% more chose mathematics, and 7.5% more chose biology*. (*As for secondary vocational colleges, 880,000 state-funded places are available this year, with over half of them in technical professions. Overall, more than 1.4 million students will enrol at colleges this year. More young people are choosing programming, mechanical engineering, medicine and construction. The new curriculum includes artificial intelligence skills. According to the Minister, the level of employment for college graduates has increased from 58 percent to 80 percent over the past five years*. (*Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko spoke about the digitalisation of public services. He stated that Russia is one of the world’s leaders in this sphere. The Public Services portal is one of the main digital services. As of now, over 120 million people, or over 95 percent of the population aged over 14, are registered and have a personal account on that portal. Over 14 million people visit it every day, and more than 80 percent of them access it via mobile devices*. (*The Deputy Prime Minister reported that a new service, Digital Profiler of a Foreign Citizen, became available on the Public Services portal on June 30. Since then, nearly 5 million people have registered for it. The service is a unified database of information about migrants provided by 16 agencies. The profile includes personal data, information about immovable property and vehicles, education, medical insurance, employment, etc. This has simplified many procedures for foreigners, such as registration, the processing of applications for work permits or temporary residence, employment authorisation, etc. At the same time, the government has comprehensive and regularly updated migration information*. (*Replying to a question from the President, Dmitry Grigorenko reported on technological and legislative fraud prevention measures. The Government has established an interdepartmental task force, which includes representatives of law enforcement agencies. It analyses the statistics and offers protection measures. According to official statistics from the Interior Ministry, the number of fraudulent actions against citizens has decreased by one third over the first six months of 2026.*) VVP: "Let’s move to the main issues on our agenda. Please, Mr Novak." Novak: "Thank you. Mr President, colleagues, continued attacks on our civilian infrastructure, including civilian fuel and energy facilities, have resulted in damage to several refineries. **This has led to a temporary decline in the production of petroleum and diesel fuel**. "Mr President, the Government, acting on your instructions, has taken the following measures to stabilise the domestic market. "First, production at operating plants has been maximised, all available fuel reserves have been sent to the market, the duration of current maintenance and repair operations has been cut, planned repairs have been postponed, a total ban on the export of petroleum and aviation fuel has been adopted, and the capabilities of medium-sized and small refineries have been put to use. "I would like to note that the situation remains complicated despite these measures, which have partially stabilised the market. In particular, forced cuts in fuel production caused changes in the routes of fuel delivery to end users. The demand for motor fuel has increased by about one third. This is a considerable amount; it is one third larger than in the same period last year [...]." Kremlin (8.7.26); p (5) http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/80257