MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Security Council will meet early in June to focus on ways to implement the demographic initiatives that the president outlined in his state of the nation address, the council's secretary said Thursday.
In his annual address to parliament Wednesday, Vladimir Putin urged government to address the growing demographic crisis in the country, whose population the president said was declining by 700,000 people a year.
"The president said the Security Council should convene for a special session in early June to discuss demographic problems," Secretary Igor Ivanov said, adding that the session would draft a plan of action for the next decade.
"It is a complex project that concerns almost every ministry and agency," said Ivanov, who is a former foreign minister.
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.
Ivanov said that considering that the program would be expensive because it had to be worked out in a way that would not undermine the country's financial stability. He also said it would be a long-term project.
"If we implement the program properly, it will only bring real results in 10 years, if not more," Ivanov said. "It will not be just a one-time investment."
Every budget will have to include allocations for the project depending on the financial situation in the country, he said.
The plan is to include specific figures and identify financial sources, Ivanov said.
When asked whether plans to cancel conscription deferrals for young men with children under three and pregnant wives would clash with the president's demographic initiatives, Ivanov said the conscription service would be reduced from 24 to 12 months.
"I do not think it will badly affect the demographic situation," he said, adding that the reform would enable young people to look to the future with more confidence when they returned from the army.
In his address, Putin said that monthly child benefits had to be raised from 800 rubles ($29.5) to 1,500 rubles ($55) for the first child, and mothers should be paid 3,000 ($110) a month for their second child, a substantial sum given that the mayor of Moscow raised the minimum public sector wage in the capital to 4,100 rubles ($150) at the start of this month.
The president also instructed the government to give women at least 250,000 rubles ($9,247) in financial aid following the birth of a second child.
