MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described the signing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the United States as one of the highlights of 2010.
"This year has been marked by a very serious event - we and Americans have managed to sign a crucial treaty - the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," Medvedev said in an interview with the directors of three federal television stations on Friday.
"This document will act as a cornerstone of security both on the European continent and around the world over the next few decades," the president said.
"I am very pleased that we are moving forward in the ratification process," he said.
The president said he associates the year 2010 with "five images."
"The long-lasting event but one that is very important for us is the exit from the global economic crisis. This year we were not falling down, we were growing, with difficulty, with problems, with flaws. But nevertheless, this has been quite substantial growth - we are reaching a growth rate of approximately 4% of the GDP. This growth has elements of economic modernization, and therefore life modernization," Medvedev said.
"A new outlook on the problem surrounding children and Russia's demographic development" is yet another highlight of this year, he said. It was the central topic of the president's annual State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly in 2010, offering a whole host of measures, he recalled.
"Are they sufficient? I do not think so. We will try to improve these institutions, these measures, but at any rate this is a central link of social development. Without the right policy toward children we have no future," the president said.
The president also recalled the "fires, these abnormal phenomena, which shook our country this summer."
"It was a very difficult situation both psychologically and physically. It affected our economy, our growth rates reduced somewhat, and in a number of case the situation surrounding food products got more difficult. And people died in the course of that event," the president said.
Finally, the president recalled the 65th anniversary of the victory of World War II in 2010. "This is our special date, this is what makes us Russian citizens, turns us into modern people, while at the same time not letting us forget the past," the president said.