NOVOCHEBOKSARSK, October 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will spend 73.9 billion rubles ($1.85 billion) on a new federal program to develop physical education and sports in 2016-2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.
"Provisionally, there are plans for 73.9 billion rubles to be allocated at the prices of the corresponding years for the federal program by 2020," Putin said at the session of the Presidential Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport.
The Russian president reminded that the previous federal program for sports development expires in 2015.
Addressing the issue of promoting physical activity among young people, the Russian leader proposed to outline criteria for awarding sports categories and titles and to increase the number of school-level sport competitions in the most popular sports, such as soccer, hockey, volleyball and basketball.
"I believe, [sport] competitions between schools are very interesting and unite the children around their teams," Putin said.
According to the Russia opinion research agency VCIOM, in 2013 33 percent of Russians practiced sports at least once a week, as opposed to just 20 percent in 2006. The number of those practicing sports and physical activities among the schoolchildren stood at 55 percent.
