Vladimir Putin issues another set of executive orders, and it'll cost billions of dollars to implement them

After his inauguration on Monday, Vladimir Putin signed executive orders instructing his cabinet to make a series of national improvements by the end of his current term in 2024: raise Russia’s life expectancy to 78 years (it’s now 72.5 years), make Russia the world’s fifth biggest economy (it’s now the sixth), and cut the number of Russians living in poverty in half (there are currently 22 million Russians living below the poverty line). Putin also ordered the government to improve housing conditions for at least 5 million families every year.

In May 2012, at the start of his third presidential term, Putin issued several presidential decrees, setting major goals for his administration over the next six years. In late April, Bloomberg reported that Putin is planning a 10 trillion-ruble ($162-billion) increase in spending on health care, education, and infrastructure. On May 8, Dmitry Medvedev told the magazine RBC that Putin’s new “May orders” would cost 8 trillion rubles ($126.4 billion) to implement.