Alexander Grishin
The latest statements by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin show that the Government is turning small business into a strategic sector.
The next three or four months will show to what extent the executive branch ranging between small municipal agencies and the federal Government matches current realities, and to what extent officials can adequately react to specific developments, govern the country, and work effectively.
Most importantly, the upcoming period will show to what extent they can renounce their mercenary interests and act the way Prime Minister Putin orders them to.
During his live December 4 question-and-answer session, the Prime Minister likely discussed the maximum number of high-priority current issues, most of which are linked with the crisis in one way or another.
Although Mr Putin declined to talk about a Russian economic crisis, such multi-purpose euphemisms as "a difficult period," "the mirror of the global crisis" and "crisis phenomena in our economy" can mislead no one.
The Prime Minister talked to people who were probably specially selected, who asked sharp, albeit politically correct, questions for the first time.
Most importantly, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government's principled intention to support small businesses. Moreover, he listed this sector among the three high-priority aspects of the domestic-industry bailout plan.
"And we will demand that the banks provide information on the volume of loans being issued to three sectors - namely, agriculture, the defence industry, and small and medium-size businesses," Mr Putin said.
This implies a 175 billion rouble ($6.3 billion) sum allocated for supporting Russia's domestic industries. Mr Putin later revealed that the rather long list was not confined to these three sectors.
Unlike the defence industry, small businesses will receive much smaller allocations. However, the very principle for selecting the three high-priority sectors (agriculture, the defence industry, small and medium-size businesses), is quite important.
It is quite simple to substantiate the first two aspects of this three-sector system with even the most primitive logic.
The agrarian sector must produce food and help maintain adequate living standards in even the most difficult conditions if Russia becomes unable to import foodstuffs.
The defence industry is a strategically important sector that makes it possible to shield the state and guarantee its territorial integrity in case of possible aggressions and other violent encroachments.
It appears that small and medium-size businesses are dwarfed by these two monsters, since barber and hair-stylist shops, laundries, and cafeterias are a far cry from hi-tech production facilities that turn out strategic bombers.
Nonetheless, Mr Putin placed them on an equal footing, and he seldom makes spontaneous decisions. In fact, Mr Putin's statements and decisions are extremely well thought-out and logical.
Those who think that Mr Putin's statement about hanging Saakashvili was an impromptu remark are mistaken; most likely, it was a deliberate statement.
Incidentally, the reason for this is contained in the following remark by the Prime Minister: "Naturally, small and medium-size businesses are an extremely flexible form of economic activity and react more quickly than others to current labour-market changes. They deserve close attention and every support in this country in the current problematic conditions that are plaguing the global financial system."
Another quotation removes any doubt that the Russian executive branch has started paying serious attention to this economic sector: "It is small businesses that can actively create jobs and new growth points, effectively influence diversification, and make the economy more cost-effective. We now consider all this to be highly important."
Mr Putin made this statement during a live telecast two days before his question-and-answer session.
Incidentally, the Prime Minister repeated these specific decisions that he first had announced two days earlier, at the December 2 meeting of the governmental regional-development commission in Yaroslavl.
"In 2009, the federal budget will allocate an impressive 10.5 billion roubles ($377.7 million) to support small businesses. The Development Bank can contribute another 30 billion roubles ($1.1 billion). We will exercise tough control over the cost-effective disbursement of these assets," Mr Putin said.
In Yaroslavl, Mr Putin set forth a far more detailed plan for aiding small and medium-size businesses than he did during the question-and-answer session.
For instance, a law on abolishing excessive administrative barriers must be passed in order to assist beginner businessmen and those who have not yet made it into the big leagues.
"The law stipulates such a measure as radical as a switch over to the notification procedure for opening businesses in such popular spheres as fast food, retail trade, service centres, and some others," Mr Putin said.
Regional authorities were advised to pass legislation on reducing small-business tax rates from 15% to 5% before the year is out, so that such laws could be enacted starting January 1, 2009.
Also important is a list of state-owned and municipal-owned premises, due to be leased to businessmen, that will soon be finalised.
Due to the lack of premises for businessmen, Mr Putin focused on this important nuance and advocated stable and inexpensive lease terms.
"Whenever appropriate, businessmen must be allowed to buy premises in line with the most advantageous plans. For instance, they could do this under lay-away plans for a period of no less than three years," Mr Putin said.
The Prime Minister decided to focus on another highly important issue - involving businessmen in state programmes at different levels and facilitating affordable and transparent municipal and regional contracts for business-community representatives, so that they could fulfill orders from the concerned executive agencies.
In connection with this, Mr Putin mentioned the most involved issue. "I want to stress that this implies any cost-effective business, rather than simply those patronised by various officials," Mr Putin said.
How can this change in government priorities with regard to small businesses be explained? But for the crisis, the Government would probably fail to address the problems of small businesses.
On the one hand, the Government realises that many Russians will lose their jobs in the next two months. On the other hand, not a single state-owned company or leading strategic enterprise will be able to create the required number of jobs in the short-term and prevent unemployment from reaching critical levels and engulfing everything along the way.
Everyone, especially the incumbent national leaders, has read Alexander Pushkin's famous story "The Daughter of the Commandant."
They probably remember his remark "May God grant we never see again so senseless and pitiless a revolt", concerning the 1773-1774 uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachyov. However, only small and medium-size businesses will be able to offer acceptable incomes to these population strata.
Consequently, small and medium-size businesses are, willingly or unwillingly, turning into a strategic factor of national development and salvation.
Nonetheless, it is unclear whether or not low-level and medium-level regional officials, who are accustomed to abusing their powers, will grasp the Prime Minister's clearly conveyed message.