With focus on domestic issues, Putin reaffirms population growth as top priority at annual address

"Today's address will be mainly devoted to our domestic issues. Naturally, these are issues related to healthcare, social policy, economy; and certainly, I will need to say a few words about foreign policy issues and security," Putin said, as quoted by Sputnik.

"Preservation of people is our top national priority. This priority determines all provisions of the refreshed constitution...Our strategy is to again achieve sustainable population growth, and ensure that average life expectancy in Russia will total 78 by 2030," he added.

Our government aims to ensure price predictability and long-term stability using market regulation mechanisms, Putin said.

"The government's task is to form long-term conditions that will use market regulation mechanisms, and I want to underline this part, and we do have such mechanisms, to guarantee predictability and quality saturation of the internal market," the Russian president said.

He further said the global healthcare system is on the threshold of a genuine revolution, and Russia should not stay away, the Russian news agency reported.

"The global healthcare system is on the verge of a real revolution, and we cannot miss it. The epidemic across the world has strongly accelerated the introduction of telemedicine, artificial intelligence, new approaches to diagnostics, surgery, rehabilitation and production of medicines," Putin said.