Vladivostok is Russia’s eastern sea gate. It is logical that when the Far Eastern lands were designated as a priority for development, Primorye was assigned the role of becoming one of the main centres of domestic shipbuilding in the future. And Vladimir Putin went to sea to see another project in this area. From the ship he was shown a site for the construction of a shipyard in Intermediate Bay. It will specialise in the merchant marine fleet.
The Head of State visited Pacific sailors at the Primorsky Flotilla base, where he inspected the corvette “Rezkiy”. This is the fourth in a series of multipurpose patrol ships of Project 20380, built at the Amur Shipyard specifically for the Pacific Fleet. It was accepted into the Russian Navy in September last year.
During the inspection, Putin remembered the marines of the 155th brigade of the fleet, who, according to him, brilliantly perform tasks in the zone of special military operations. The president described the brigade commander, with whom he once communicated, as a modest person: “he did not raise issues of an internal nature.” But there are issues, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief admitted, including the provision of housing. He was told that in the Snegovaya Pad microdistrict in Vladivostok five new houses and social facilities were being built: a school, a sports and recreation complex. Vladimir Putin asked the governor of the Primorsky Territory, Oleg Kozhemyako, not to reduce his attention to this issue.
As is traditional, the general achievements of the Far East were presented to the President by Deputy Prime Minister and Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) Yuri Trutnev and by the head of the Ministry of Eastern Development Alexey Chekunkov. For the third year in a row, the basic indicators of the development of the macroregion significantly exceed the average Russian level. This applies to investments in fixed assets, the commissioning of housing, the income of organizations and the volume of mineral extraction. Over the past year, since the previous economic forum, another 800 billion rubles of private investments have arrived in the Far East, 152 companies have been established and 18 thousand jobs have been created.
Minister Chekunkov spoke about the solution to the housing problems of residents of the Far East. The special mortgage program made its contribution, which has become the most popular tool for supporting young people and families and allows attracting new specialists to the macro-region and the Arctic. “We ask you to maintain the 2% rate for mortgages in the Far East and the Arctic,” Chekunkov said to the president. The program has allowed the construction sector to be significantly accelerated, the minister added. Over the past five years, the volume of housing under construction in the Federal District has doubled.
Yuri Trutnev made it clear that after a period of rapid development, the Far East has come up against some barriers that could slow down the momentum: “The growth in the number of enterprises and new investment projects require new volumes of electricity.” In Primorye, Transbaikalia, Buryatia and the Jewish Autonomous Region, the state of the energy system is already hampering the influx of investments.
At the same time, this does not scare the Deputy Prime Minister from setting more ambitious goals. Trutnev recalled that last year, in a similar report, the Head of State was promised to achieve 10.5 trillion rubles of attracted investments in the Far East by 2030. Now the responsible officials consider this goal insufficient. “I would like to ask you to set a goal of 12 trillion dollars. We will achieve it,” said the Plenipotentiary.
“I am ready to set a target of 15 or more,” Putin replied, “but only based on the realities of the projects being proposed and the support measures that are possible on the part of the government.” And you think that is realistic, right?
“We can handle it,” Trutnev said.
On the same day, the President held a meeting in Vladivostok on the development of infrastructure in the Far Eastern Federal District, primarily energy and transport. The task of developing air traffic remains urgent. It is necessary to modernize the infrastructure of airfields, expand the route network between the regions of the region, develop the aircraft fleet and increase the availability of airline tickets, the President noted. As for electricity consumption, it is growing here at a rate higher than the Russian average, so it is necessary to upgrade the networks. The President also called the development of nuclear power generation in the Far East a promising direction.
Putin also demanded to be informed about the conclusions drawn from the massive blackout in Primorye in August. “Its consequences were felt by almost 2 million people. I look forward to hearing what conclusions were drawn from the situation that arose and what specific decisions are planned to be implemented in the near future,” the president said. He recalled that similar problems with the heat occurred in the south of the country. “Yes, of course, to a certain extent these are natural anomalies, but they happen and we must also be prepared for them,” Putin stressed.
As much as the West tries to isolate Russia from the rest of the world, many foreign guests have come to Vladivostok. China is represented at the Eastern Economic Forum by the country’s vice president, Han Zheng. His visit provided another opportunity to discuss the development of cooperation between the countries.
Vladimir Putin reminded the guests that in October Russia and China will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. This event, according to him, seriously influenced bilateral relations and the formation of modern China. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Kazan to attend the BRICS summit. “I propose to hold a bilateral working meeting in the course of this work,” Putin said.
The Russian leader believes that the current level of relations with China is unprecedented; Moscow attaches great importance to interregional cooperation. The President hopes that as part of joint work at the forum, the delegations of both countries will be able to seek and find new areas of interaction. “China is ready, together with its Russian partners, to fully and conscientiously implement the important agreements between the two leaders,” Han Zheng said in response.
Another long-standing partner of Russia, Serbia, has sent Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Vulin to Vladivostok. Vladimir Putin regretted that trade turnover between the states had declined slightly. “Perhaps it is time to convene an intergovernmental commission, which has not met for a long time – at least two years – and examine the obstacles that arise in this direction and remove them,” he said.
The President of the Russian Federation recalled that Russia plays an important role in supplying energy resources to Serbia, and does so in a timely manner and on very good terms for Belgrade. “We will discuss this as well. There are specific things that need to be addressed,” Putin stressed. In March 2025, for example, gas supply contracts expire. Vulin, for his part, stated that Serbia “has not become and will not become a part of the anti-Russian hysteria.”
Another distinguished guest of Vladivostok flew to Primorye from Malaysia. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told Vladimir Putin that his delegation came to the forum to show its readiness to cooperate with Russia. The countries have a huge potential for cooperation, but they have not yet fully exploited it, he is sure.
And the Russian leader fully agrees with this: $3.5 billion in trade turnover cannot satisfy either Moscow or Kuala Lumpur. Putin suggested using the meeting in Vladivostok to find ways to expand interaction. In addition, Russia hopes to look for new areas of cooperation with Southeast Asia during Malaysia’s ASEAN presidency.
