Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the first session of the ninth State Duma on September 30. He congratulated lawmakers on their election victory, stressing their great responsibility to voters.
“Both the high turnout and the results of the campaign have once again confirmed the strength of our multiparty political system and the unity of the people in the face of historic challenges. People voted for their country, for Russia, and showed their resolve to fight for the homeland and for our future,” Putin said.
Putin noted that the first session fell on a special day, the fourth anniversary of what he called the entry of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions into the Russian Federation, which Moscow declared annexed in 2022. He said nearly half of the Duma’s members were new and that participants and veterans of the “special military operation” had received broad support from voters.
Putin urged lawmakers to prioritize strengthening the country’s defense capabilities and supporting servicemen and their families. He said the federal budget for the next three years would be one of the key laws of the autumn session, and recalled the single preferential regime he proposed for the Far East and the Arctic, which is due to take effect on January 1.
Putin also said Russia neither needs nor expects external financial assistance, describing such aid as humiliating, and said the country’s financial system and economy were on a confident footing. He urged lawmakers to adopt a balanced and realistic federal budget free of populism, stressing that macroeconomic stability must be maintained while national projects are funded and all of the state’s social obligations are met.
