Russia’s Accounts Chamber released on Dec. 24 their plan to bring Russians out of poverty with a series of projects over the next five years. President Vladimir Putin, at his Dec. 17 annual marathon press conference, referred to the problem of around 20 million Russians living in poverty, and called for pulling over half of them out of poverty by 2024, reducing the percentage of Russians in poverty from 13.5% to 6.5%. “It is bad, of course, that 6.5% will remain, but we must proceed from reality; I think this is realistic. The goal is ambitious, but it can be accomplished.”