Alexander Beglov briefed the President on the implementation of his instructions on the city’s development. All national projects have been completed in St Petersburg. The past year was not an easy one, but it was successful. To date, 1.347 trillion rubles have been transferred to the budget, up from 518–530 billion in 2018. Tax payments to the federal budget amounted to 3.4 trillion rubles.
Vladimir Putin noted that investments in the city were substantial, totalling 1.2 trillion rubles, and that the industrial production index was substantially higher than the average for Russia.
Alexander Beglov also said that 11.6 million tourists had visited the city and that domestic travel was on the rise. During the New Year holidays alone, 2.5 million tourists visited St Petersburg in just a few days, prompting the authorities to create additional pedestrian zones in the main tourist areas.
Alexander Beglov recalled the task set by the President in 2019 to eliminate the shortage of social facilities, namely schools, kindergartens and outpatient clinics. At that time, the city was lacking 320 of such facilities. The Governor said that the shortage was eliminated in 2024, including with federal co-funding.
The city government has achieved another goal by creating a network of rehabilitation facilities for participants in the special military operation. The largest such network in Russia, it comprises seven hospitals, services in 31 disciplines, and 78 relevant rooms in outpatient clinics. Efforts are underway to combat poverty, with the number of people living in poverty reduced by one third. The number of large families in the city has increased by 39 percent. Since September 1, 2024, all kindergartens in the city are free of charge.
Another item on the agenda concerned the development of the metro and the urban transportation system as a whole, the Moscow-St Petersburg high-speed railway, the St Petersburg Marina federal resort project, the Island of Forts Museum and History Park, the ITMO Highpark Technology Valley, the establishment of educational clusters and Russia’s first experimental plant for colleges, and the construction of bridges across the Neva, which are essential for the city’s development.
Alexander Beglov also reported on progress in the manufacturing of drones and the construction of five waste recycling plants, including two in St Petersburg and three in the Leningrad Region.
The Governor briefed the President on the city’s assistance to Mariupol, the sister city of St Petersburg, where work on 65 facilities has entered the final stage.
Alexander Beglov presented a project of a memorial complex at Pulkovo Heights dedicated to the Battle of Leningrad. The complex will comprise six glory alleys honouring the fronts that took part in fighting for Leningrad.
The six fronts that took part in the Battle of Leningrad are the Leningrad Front, the 2nd Baltic Front, the North-Western Front, the Northern Front, the Karelian Front and the Volkhov Front. Overall, nearly a million servicemen and partisans fought on these fronts, liberating the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions and the Republic of Karelia, creating a bridgehead for the liberation of the three Baltic Soviet republics, defeating the Finnish axis and liberating Vyborg.
The six alleys will converge at the central 40-metre obelisk that will house equipment for projecting a light beam symbolising an Eternal Flame. The complex will also feature a large, themed park and a museum, as well as an exhibition of military equipment.