Following a meeting of the State Council Presidium, President Vladimir Putin signed a list of instructions to improve performance in the forestry sector.

In particular, the Government was instructed to introduce amendments to forestry legislation, setting criteria and standards for defining categories of protective forests and special protective areas to prevent industrial logging in these areas and leasing of forest land for timber procurement. The amendments should be adopted by September 1, 2013.

The issue of designating protected status to these forests was discussed at a meeting of the Government Presidium on April 11, 2013. The meeting focused on commercial logging in the Amur tiger's habitat in the Russian Far East.