Zee Beam News

BRIEFLY MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - Russia has created the necessaryconditions for a vital change in living conditions, President Vladimir Putin said at a Thursday meeting of the Council of Legislators. "We have every prerequisite needed for drastic change in social and economic living conditions. We should use them for a qualitativeincrease of our citizens' well-being," he said. The amount of local funding for education, health care, housing andagriculture exceeds federal budgetary allocations in a number ofregions, Putin said. "Alongside funds assigned for national projects, this money ensuresan efficient solution of social problems," Putin said. "Concentration on major areas will eventually result in theirmodernization," he said. "This is a strategic task, so I ask federal departments andregional authorities not to forget about it," he said.