Meeting with Sberbank CEO German Gref

Vladimir Putin: How are things going, Mr Gref?

Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank German Gref: Everything is going quite well for us. A decision has been taken to pay out 850 billion rubles in dividends – the largest in our history. We hope that, provided market conditions remain favourable, we will report record profits by the end of the year and, with luck, distribute 50 percent of them as dividends. We are not reneging on our commitments and will honour them in full.

I would also like to say a few words about our programmes. We have just adopted a major programme to restructure assistance for entrepreneurs and citizens in the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. We are rolling out restructuring measures, including payment deferrals and credit holidays for individuals who have suffered property damage or personal injury, and for entrepreneurs as well, of course. We understand that the situation in Crimea is difficult at present, and we will do everything we can to help businesses stay afloat during this period.

We are currently running extensive programmes to support the regions. You asked us to try to maintain all regional programmes, and we are doing so. Today, we are running various charitable programmes in 31 regions, focused on urban development and support for children’s institutions, orphanages, and specialised residential care facilities for children with neurological and psychiatric conditions.

We are also paying close attention to two other areas. The first is education – an initiative undertaken at your instruction. To date, School 21 campuses have opened in 31 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. There is a waiting list; we plan to open another 20 campuses by the end of this year.

Then there is engineering education. Training in modern artificial intelligence technologies is, of course, in great demand right now. We are seeing a large influx of people – young people and, indeed, people of all ages. Our oldest student is 61. There is strong demand for this; the programme in question was adopted just in time.

And finally, support for participants in the special military operation. In collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, we have launched a card that serves both as an ID for special military operation participants and as a payment tool; we have also created a special savings account for these participants that offers a higher rate of interest on their deposits.

I would also like to say a few words about healthcare. We are currently doing a great deal with artificial intelligence in medicine. We have rolled out the latest ATMs with built-in diagnostic capabilities: by placing their fingers on the sensor and looking at the ATM’s camera, users can detect changes in their health, and we provide recommendations if further medical examination is required. This technology has become widely adopted.

Our project involving digital rural health posts has been taken up widely across the country; we are currently manufacturing them in large numbers and deploying them in the regions.

Vladimir Putin: How does it work?

German Gref: We traditionally think that rural health posts are stationary facilities, with a paramedic and a set of equipment. Those who feel unwell should go there.

We have created a kit, which is a rather heavy suitcase that has all the necessary diagnostic equipment. A paramedic can use it to do an ECG or an ultrasound. The equipment is very simple to use, and paramedics can easily handle it.

It has a portable X-ray machine, which is like a camera and easy to use. In short, all the equipment of an ordinary district outpatient clinic has been included in that kit. Those who feel unwell, the sick people, no longer need to travel anywhere. The digital paramedic centre will come to their place.

The regional authorities usually buy such kits, while we train medical personnel to use them, and these paramedics only need a vehicle, an electric bike or some simple vehicle to get around. They will take all the necessary measurements and load all this data into artificial intelligence.

By pressing a button, they can connect with a relevant specialist for an online consultation. The AI and the doctor provide their conclusions, and the doctor guides the paramedics’ subsequent actions, telling them what to do next, either providing medical assistance to the patient or, if the situation is serious, calling an ambulance to take the patient to a district or regional hospital.

We began this experiment in a digital village in Izhevsk. It turned out that the share of patients who used the digital rural paramedic centre reached 120 percent within three months, because some patients used such centres two or three times. We eventually upgraded the system, and now we have a small district hospital in a suitcase.

The Health Ministry is providing invaluable assistance. We are grateful to them; we are doing this together. All the equipment in that kit has been certified, and the AI system has been certified too, “passing” the exams for a general practitioner and other specialties.

Vladimir Putin: Who can use this service?

German Gref: All people, but mostly village residents.

Vladimir Putin: Should they be your bank’s clients?

German Gref: No, this has nothing to do with the bank. It is our joint programme with a given region, and every village resident can make a phone call, and a digital rural paramedic centre will come to their place.

We are now preparing the Artificial Intelligence Journey – our conference which is scheduled to take place this autumn. Thank you for supporting us every year. It goes without saying that there were tremendous changes in terms of AI applications over the past year. It went beyond serving as a question-and-answer system and moved into agentic territory, meaning that it can perform tasks and evolved into what is called physical AI. There is rapid development momentum in everything dealing with moving artificial intelligence into the physical world, including robots, autonomous mechanisms of all kinds and machinery.

We have not been complacent and have achieved a lot. It will be an honour for us to report to you about what was done over the past year to develop this technology.

Vladimir Putin: Very well.

German Gref: In November of this year, we will be ready to demonstrate new humanoid robots, and many other things.

Vladimir Putin: There was a separate briefing by your specialists afterwards.

German Gref: Yes. Thank you very much. It was very impressive.

I think that it is great that you invested so much time in exploring this technology. I do not think that there is another head of state who…

Vladimir Putin: Thank you to your team for doing this professional work and investing resources. I am convinced that this effort will yield positive results in the future.

Thank you.

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