During the past two years, Vladimir Putin repeatedly stressed his special attention to and personal patronage of the efforts to keep up and somehow improve the pitiful situation concerning the overall social position and living standards of retired and disabled people, such as those receiving pensions of different kind.
Those efforts cannot be denied. But what should we, as ordinary Russia-loving people, think and say now as we look at projections for the next three budget years, the opening years of Putin's regained presidency?
It is well known that budget expenditures, first of all at the federal level, play a paramount role in financing spheres most vital for family life. According to official statistical publications, in 2011 more than 28 percent of federal budget money was spent on social policy — an item covering pensions as well as various grants and allowances, including those going to young mothers.