Andrey Dakhin: "The President of Russia is interested in the economic stability of the regions."

      On August 29, 2026, at 14:41, Politics. The day before, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Nizhny Novgorod on a working trip. He spoke at the ASI forum, then held a meeting with Governor Gleb Nikitin, and afterwards visited the "Volga Arena" at Strelka and conducted a test drive of the new Volga crossover. Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Doctor of Philosophy Andrey Dakhin commented on the president's visit:

      "The history of President Vladimir Putin's visits to the Nizhny Novgorod region is unusual. The fact is that he has repeatedly visited the Federal Nuclear Center in Sarov, the Mulino test site, and Arzamas when a new section of the M-12 highway was opened, but all of this was bypassing Nizhny Novgorod. Therefore, the arrival in the regional center on August 28, 2026, is a particularly significant event for the Nizhny Novgorod region. His personal participation in the VI Forum of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), whose participants the President of Russia congratulated the day before in a remote format, indicates that alongside the Forum, he had other significant tasks in Nizhny Novgorod.

      The logic of events over the past six months suggests that the president is interested in the economic stability of the regions. It is no coincidence that the media covering Vladimir Putin's meeting with the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod region, Gleb Nikitin, noted the topic of "certain problems" due to the influence of the ruble exchange rate on production costs.

      However, the main significant content of this part of the visit, apparently, lies in the fact that, firstly, economic growth is maintained at the regional level: in the Nizhny Novgorod region, industrial production reached 100.2% of the level of 2025 in the first half of the year, and software production increased by 22%. Secondly, that an effective mechanism for solving the demographic problem has been tested in the region: for the first time, the Nizhny Novgorod region has surpassed the national average birth rate."

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