One of the key areas of Putin's speech was a demographic crisis currently facing Russia - and he proposed radical measures to deal with it, including almost doubling child benefits and providing additional financial incentives to get women to have more children.
Igor Igoshin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Budget and Taxes, said: "Even a doubling of child benefits is unlikely to influence inflation."
Putin said monthly child benefit should be raised from 800 rubles to 1,500 rubles ($55) for the first child, and that mothers should be paid 3,000 ($110) a month for their second child. He also said the government should give women at least 250,000 rubles ($9,225) as financial aid following the birth of a second child.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said after the speech that Putin's ideas were "ambitious, but realistic," and added that 30-40 billion rubles ($1.11bln-$1.48bln) would have to be allocated for them, which would require changes in the three-year financial plan.
Igoshin said: "Demographic forecasts suggest that very soon the economy will not have enough workers. So allocating funds to boost the birth rate is in fact an investment which our society greatly needs."
The United Nations has warned that Russia's population - which stood at roughly 145 million in a 2002 census - could fall by as much as a third by 2050, and Putin said it was falling at about 700,000 people every year.
Mikhail Orlov, who heads State Duma's expert council on tax laws, said: "30-40 billion [rubles] is not a large sum for our country - it's unlikely that such a sum will put the Finance Ministry in a quandary."
"If we do not simply increase payments to mothers, but allow these funds to be spent intelligently, this will only help the economy," Orlov said. "If there are enough pre-school establishments, then the money will go there. If the number is not increased, then existing infant schools will raise their prices, and that would boost inflation."
Maxim Dianov, director of the Regional Problems Institute, said the problem facing the country is one of survival. "In this context, it is irrelevant where the funds come from - they must be taken from wherever necessary, from any sector."
"People should understand that, in giving birth, [women] are fulfilling a state task of regenerating the country," he said. "And for them to be aware of this, they should be supported financially."
