Izvestia: ‘WE WILL FIND YOU!”
How Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's promises are followed up
Dasha Varfolomeyeva from Buryatia will attend a New Year's party in Moscow, pedophiles will not escape tougher sentences, infant-feeding centres in Nizhny Novgorod will not be closed, and an additional 50 billion roubles will be allocated to support the labour market. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made these pledges during his question-and-answer session, and many are already being fulfilled.
Some decisions were prepared in advance (a draft law on pedophiles and measures to support the mortgage market), but were published immediately after Putin's talk with the people. In some cases, officials acted surprisingly quickly to carry out the Prime Minister's recommendations.
Perhaps the most stirring moment of the December 4 session was a call from nine-year-old Dasha Varfolomeyeva of Buryatia. The girl complained to Putin that she and her sister lived on their grandmother's pension and were dreaming of Cinderella-style dresses. The Prime Minister answered: "I invite you, your sister and grandmother to celebrate New Year's at a Christmas-tree party in Moscow. When you come, we'll decide about gifts." The local authorities began equipping the Varfolomeyevas for the trip to Moscow the next day. Buryatia's President Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn helped with travel expenses. Yury Petrov, the administrative head of Buryatia's Mukhorshibirsky district, where Dasha, her sister, and their grandmother live, said that "when our United Russia envoy comes back from Moscow, we will decide who will help them - the Government or the district authorities." There is no doubt that the girls will be sent to the New Year's party without delay. The grandmother, however, is unlikely to go - she is disabled, so somebody else will accompany the sisters.
The authorities in Nizhny Novgorod, which planned to close infant-feeding centres starting next year, also responded quickly. Putin had described the decision as "unwarranted", prompting regional governor, Valery Shantsev to hold a special meeting the next day. Nizhny Novgorod Mayor Vadim Bulavinov then reported that he had decided to revert his order to close the centres as of January 1, 2009. Mr Shantsev instructed him to look more closely into the economics of such centres.
Moscow did not sit on its hands either, and responded to Putin's wishes promptly. During the session, for example, pensioner Nadezhda Mukhanova complained that her pension was 3,500 roubles, while firewood cost 10,000 roubles (complaints about small pensions were voiced throughout the session). Putin agreed that "pensions must undoubtedly be raised" and promised to look into the situation in the region. The firewood issue could not be solved yet, but pensions are already being raised. The law was, of course, drafted in advance, but during its first reading, the State Duma decided to increase the base pension by 8.5% on March 1, 2009 and by 26.5% on December 1, 2009.
A group of Duma deputies led by First Deputy Speaker Oleg Morozov also submitted a bill on tougher punishment for pedophiles. The proposal to that effect was made in one of the questions addressed to Putin. The deputies proposed that pedophiles be sentenced to ten years (instead of the current four years) and be banned from holding certain offices for 20 years.
Putin also offered his own solutions. During the session, he heard several people express concern over staff cuts and plant closures and outlined steps to save jobs and retrain workers in the regions. One of the Government's decisions was to earmark 50 billion roubles and draw up special programmes to support the labour market. This sum will be in addition to the funds provided to finance employment agencies in the regions. On Friday, the Government also announced measures to support the mortgage market (Izvestia wrote at length on this subject yesterday).
The regions are expecting that issues raised during the question-and-answer session will be addressed in the near future. People in Volgograd, for example, hope that the city will now finish the motorway it put on hold in 2001. At any rate, City Mayor Roman Grebennikov, who raised the matter during his talk with Putin, is scheduled to meet the head of the Federal Road Agency this week. There were also requests to help a youth conscript join the Kremlin Regiment, to contribute money for mounting a grave-stone to a veteran father, and to give the Order of Mother's Glory to a mother of eight children. Putin encouragingly promised all these people, "We will find you".
