Yekaterina Vostrikova, Tamara Peresypkina, Svetlana Sibina, Tatiana Pavlovskaya
UFA: Commotion after the Q&A session
The call received by Prime Minister Putin from the mother of a six-year-old amputee stirred up all of Bashkiria.
Ilvira Fayurshina from the village of Karmasan in the Ufa area complained that her adopted son Kostya Irayev, whose leg was amputated when he was three months old, was forced to endure annual examinations at a medical commission to confirm the physical disability.
Shortly after the Q&A session, officials from various ministries and agencies hot-footed it to the Fayurshins' house.
"The law which abolishes the annual survey of disabled people such as Kostya, was adopted in April, 2008," the head of Bashkiria's main office of medical and social expertise Yury Tomilov explained to Rossiiskaya Gazeta. "Last time the boy was examined was in December, 2007. His disability category will now be permanently assigned."
Nevertheless, Kostya will have to be examined once more before the end of the year - as determined before the law was amended.
"All our children have disabilities, which is why we invite experts to the orphanage to carry out examinations," orphanage director Zemfira Urazbayeva explained to Rossiiskaya Gazeta. "Foster parents only need to bring their child to us."
Last month Ilvira Fayurshina did not manage to bring Kostya for examination on the set day. Therefore, he had to be examined according to the standard procedure.
"We spent four hours in a queue at the orthopaedist's in the children's republican clinical hospital," she says. "My son needs to be examined by several doctors, and they work in different clinics of Ufa. It is impossible to visit them all on the same day. And remember that we needed to return home from Ufa in time."
Nominally, Kostya's rights were not violated. But the foster mother, who adopted the boy with her husband a year and a half ago and became very much attached to him, takes it hard.
As for real help, orthopaedic surgeon Timur Psyanchin visited the Fayurshins after the Prime Minister's Q&A session. Six years ago he had operated on a tumor in Kostya's leg. The doctor's latest examination revealed that the boy's growth was progressing well. However Kostya will have to endure another operation. Despite the fact that he has no foot, the bone continues to grow. Unless removed, it will hamper the use of the artificial limb.
OMSK: "To outsource a plumber, we had to call the governor"
After the Q&A session, a Rossiiskaya Gazeta correspondent met with 80-year-old pensioner Nina Smirnova from Omsk, who had called the Prime Minister and asked him whether it is possible to postpone raising utility tariffs till the economic situation improves.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta: Ms Smirnova, how did you manage to get through?
Nina Smirnova: I think it's because of my persistence. I had been trying to do it for three years. And, frankly speaking, I had almost lost hope. But on December 1 I learnt about the opportunity to ask Vladimir Putin a question, and I dialed the information processing centre number immediately. Two days later they called back and told me I would be able to ask the Prime Minister my question in person; they asked me to be ready and said not to worry.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta: Why did you ask about housing and utilities?
Nina Smirnova: I believe that many people are concerned with this issue today. Rates grow much faster than pensions. In Omsk, utility rates are very high. For example, I am a veteran worker and I have a 50% discount on my utility payments; still, I have to pay as much as 1,500 roubles for my flat each month. I recently learned that rates will be raised 20%; and that my pension will be raised only in March. So I asked the Prime Minister whether it is possible to postpone raising tariffs until the economy is steady.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta: And what did Mr Putin answer?
Nina Smirnova: He said that this is one of the problems, and a very common one. 80% of this country's facilities are worn out or are wearing out. He added that if the utility system continues to be under-financed, it will collapse entirely.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta: Do you disagree with it?
Nina Smirnova: I live in this country and I can see what is happening here. For instance, our block of flats was built 55 years ago and it hasn't ever been repaired or maintained. They are always turning off water and heating in the middle of winter. And you can never find out who is responsible. I once had to call our governor to source a plumber. Do you think this is the way things should go?! Apparently, Mr Putin is aware of these problems. He told me that many things contribute to tariffs growth, and one of them is a monopolised service market. He promised to demand that monopolies at least slow down the rate growth of utilities.
GELENDZHIK: "We call Masha Aristocrat."
Vladimir Putin confessed that the most extraordinary gift he had ever received for his birthday was a tiger cub. Five-month-old Masha, who already weighs 32 kilograms, is now in the safari park in the Gelendzhik area.
The question of Masha's future was raised during the Q&A session. Her owner refused to divulge where the tigress lives, motivating journalists to search for her. There are a lot of sites suitable for Masha: there are zoos in Krasnodar, Sochi and Anapa; but for some reason it occurred to us that she might be in Gelendzhik. And it was the right guess.
"Masha is a restive girl," vet Yelena Peretokina says. "At first she tried to strangle a puppy, but then they became friends, and now they play together. Yesterday she turned five months old; we gave her a new ball as a present, and they knocked it around together."
She has up to four kilograms of beef daily, as well as eggs, milk, minerals and vitamins. After taking a walk, she returns to her cage - a spacious open-air room with soft furniture and a mirror occupying the whole wall. "It is so interesting to watch her looking in the mirror," Tatiana says. "She would twist her head as if admiring herself. We call her Aristocrat."
ULAN-UDE: Cinderella gets her fairy tale
Third-former Dasha Varfolomeyeva from the Buryat village of Tugnui will get a real New Year's fairy tale. The girl called the Prime Minister and received an invitation to Moscow for a New Year's celebration.
"We hardly expected to get through. My granddaughters wanted beautiful dresses very much, but it is too difficult to buy them on my pension - 9,000 roubles. Luckily, I learnt about the Q&A session. At first I wanted to ask another question, but then I remembered dreaming about a dress when I was a child, and I suggested asking for dresses," grandmother Anna Varfolomeyeva says.
Since that day the Varfolomeyev's phone has not stop ringing: friends, relatives, Dasha's schoolmates and journalists are constantly calling. The girl's father, Alexei Varfolomeyev, says the next morning officials from Ulan-Ude and a film crew arrived. But the girl, who has caused quite a sensation, is confused by all the attention.
"I need to finish the term first," the girl says. "I have been doing well at school; last term I had only three ‘fours'; the other marks were ‘fives'. I look forward to going to Moscow. My sister Anya and I have already packed our luggage."
In addition to dresses, the girls would like to ask "uncle Volodya" for a tractor - a useful thing for a household.
Until the last minute, the Varfolomeyevs had no money to buy tickets to Moscow, but the whole village collected money for them. Such things do not happen every year, after all! But a piece of good news from Ulan-Ude arrived just in time.
"Buryatia's President Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn ordered that funds be allocated for Dasha's trip to Moscow," Irina Smolyak from Mr Nagovitsyn's press service reported. "We have already included Dasha and her sister in the list of children from Buryatia who will go to the Kremlin for a New Year's celebration.
Yekaterina Vostrikova,
Tamara Peresypkina (Ufa),
Svetlana Sibina (Omsk),
Tatiana Pavlovskaya (Krasnodar Territory)
Statistics
Vladimir Putin answered 72 questions; the audience applauded him eleven times, including his suggestion allowing families to spend maternity capital funds to pay off mortgages beginning in 2009, and reducing foreign workforce quotas; when he invited a girl from Buryatia to Moscow for a New Year's celebration, and once when he promised a caller money for his father's gravestone.
Nation-wide edition
Yekaterina Vostrikova, Tamara Peresypkina, Svetlana Sibina, Tatiana Pavlovskaya
