United Nations, 11 May: For the first time in decades, Russia's education budget has exceeded the national defence spending this year, Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said on Friday [10 May] as she addressed the 27th special session of the UN General Assembly on children.
President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government "are closely watching" the interests of children. "The president issued a special decree declaring the survival, upbringing and education of children a task of paramount importance," Matviyenko said.
"We are close to finalizing the guidelines of state social policy to improve the conditions of children. It specifies a programme of action for the next ten years," she said, adding that the Cabinet of Ministers had also endorsed a list of urgent measures in that field.