VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
While driving to the construction site of the Nizhne-Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stopped at a petrol station, where holiday makers from Russia's Far East were refuelling. They asked the prime minister why he had chosen a Lada Kalina car for his journey down that new motorway. Vladimir Putin replied that he did not regret opting for the Lada Kalina, referring to it as "a very cozy, comfortable and reliable car." The prime minister recommended Ladas to his impromptu audience.
Vladimir Putin stopped at the Moscow-Vladivostok stele on the Amur-Khabarovsk border to talk to a group of women, who invited him for a tea. During their conversation, the women complained to the prime minister that they lived in rundown houses. Vladimir Putin asked Amur Region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako if there was a plan to provide new homes for the people living in those old houses, to which the governor replied positively. The prime minister was told that these women and their husbands had participated in the construction of the first stage of the Verkhne-Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station. "So, many generations of energy workers will live in this village," Vladimir Putin said.
The prime minister particularly emphasised that new accommodation provided under social housing programmes should be in compliance with the minimum space standards of 18 square metres per person.
Vladimir Putin was also asked about increasing bread prices. "This is a speculative growth cycle; some people simply want to cash in on circumstances," the prime minister replied and instructed regional antimonopoly authorities to look into this issue and find the reasons for the increase and tasked the administration with taking appropriate measures.
