Via Marina Litvinovich's LJ and Putin's official site, kremlin.ru (in Russian): monthly payments to families with children in Leningrad region have been increased from 81 to 351 rubles per child - from nearly $3 a month to nearly $13. In Ukraine, a new mother would receive almost $900 the first month, and then $70-$80 every month for the next year or so. The total should be $1,800, I guess. Very, very nice, thank you.

(Leningrad Oblast is the official name of the area surrounding St. Petersburg. I don't know why it hasn't been changed. Also, back in 2002, if you wanted to go to Nijniy Novgorod by train, you had to buy a ticket to Gorky, which is what Nijny used to be called in the Soviet times. I've no idea if this is still so.)