President: Q & A

Vladimir Putin believes that the development of the mortgage system will end the problem of dilapidated housing in Russia.

Live on air, a Siberian miner, who lives in a dilapidated house in a dangerous zone where work is carried out, asked the President when the housing problem would be solved.

"The problem has mounted up for decades," said Vladimir Putin, reminding those present that Russia had 89 million square metres of dilapidated housing.

"A few years ago, the state did not allocate any funds to deal with this," the Russia leader said. "Three years ago, only about 200 million rubles were allocated." (1 dollar is worth approximately 30 rubles).

"This year, we allocated 1, 300, 000, 000 rubles from this budget for the first time," Putin stressed. According to him, another 50% should be added to this figure by the regions.

The head of state assured the press that the same figure would be allotted next year.