Vladimir Putin Quotes
Take, for example, Lithuania. Do you know, what was its population in the Soviet times? It was 3.4 mln people. It was a small country, a small republic. And what is it now? I have looked though the recent statistics, today the population of this country is 1.4 mln people. Where are the people? More than half of the citizens have left the country.
Putin, Vladimir. "Interview to Bloomberg." President of Russia, 5 Sept. 2016.
This was the first issue of the publication. Population shortages vexed governments as much as population surpluses.
One of the worst problems facing Russia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union was the health care system. There was not yet a private sector to replace the Communist system and the health care system broke down and the lifespan of the average Russian actually went down significantly during that period. As an example, there was no way to purchase and import pharmaceuticals nor distribute the ones that were available.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who is serving as the current president of Russia since 2012, previously being in the office from 1999 until 2008. He was also prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. As of 2021, Putin is the second-longest serving European president, after Alexander Lukashenko.