(VOVworld) - Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met yesterday to discuss prospects of the Russian economy. They said “Russia will hold a special meeting of government officials, Kremlin administrators, and economic experts”. The two Russian leaders agreed that measures are needed to cope with the complicated world economy. President Putin said: “The global crisis is assuming ever more dangerous contours that will inevitably impact us, too. This happened in 2008 and this is what we are witnessing today. Unlike our friends and partners in Europe and other regions of the world, the Russian economy is still showing signs of vitality and potential further growth”.

Prime Minister Medvedev agreed and added: “Developments in the world and European economies affect our economic progress too, and force us to take a more austere approach to our budget planning and to the budget we are executing this year. I have instructed our Government colleagues to work with the experts to draft proposals on how best to resist the global trends and try to give Russia’s economy some added development boosts.”

Since last year, the Russian economic growth has been slowing and some economic regions have significantly contracted, as indicated by salary cutbacks. But the overall income of Russians has been quite stable.