Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reported that work was underway to prepare a draft budget for 2004. President Putin, after hearing the report, noted that the favourable results of the country’s economic development in the first six months of the year had enabled it to go over to finalising Russia’s main financial document for the next year.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov informed President Putin of preparations for an August military exercise in the Far Eastern Federal District, whose active phase was to begin in the middle of the month and to be attended by observers and partners from the US, Japan, and Korea. Mr Ivanov also summed up his latest inspection trips to military districts.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told of preparations for a high-level group meeting to establish a common economic space of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.