Moskovsky Komsomolets: “The Best Gift is a Pipe”
Vladivostok greets Vladimir Putin with 'a slight frost of minus 24 Celsius'.
Vladimir Putin arrived for his New Year's Eve visit to Vladivostok yesterday and is due back in Moscow just before the New Year. He stoically withstood the frost that met him there. "A nice day, a slight frost of minus 24 Celsius and a light wind," Vladimir Putin smiled. In Nakhodka, he officially commissioned one of Russia's largest oil projects.
A snow storm raged before the prime minister's arrival and brought two days of precipitation. It nearly took an army to remove all the snow – health care, education, and culture workers were dispatched to help public utilities workers. Sunday was declared a working day for them. Locals say that the 'snow removers' showed special eagerness on Vladimir Putin's route. Despite the frost, they even painted retaining walls that the prime minister might happen to glance upon. The Primorye Territory's Governor, Sergei Darkin, was among those who accompanied Vladimir Putin. The Governor's term in office expires in February, but he did not look like a lame duck. The prime minister even praised him since the Primorye Territory showed better year-end performance than other regions. Darkin was behaving with ease during the day's top event – the ceremonial commissioning of the Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean Pipeline.
Having arrived to Nakhodka on a helicopter, Vladimir Putin started loading the ceremonial oil tanker by pressing a button. However, the button was virtual and occurred on a mouse pad. Transneft representatives decided to act safely – what if Vladimir Putin was not such an "experienced user" as the president? They draw a red arrow to the left button. "This is intended to prevent Vladimir Putin from confusing the buttons!" If he pushed the wrong one, a context menu would pop up spoiling the ceremony.
"The oil is being loaded," they told Vladimir Putin after he pressed the mouse pad. "Is it already?" he wondered. The tanker that Vladimir Putin loaded will head for Hong Kong.
"This is one of Russia's largest projects. It is even longer than the Baikal-Amur Mainline!" Vladimir Putin said of the ESPO pipeline. Its first stage will span over 2,700 kilometers. "Please accept my congratulations. This is a great New Year gift for Russia," the prime minister declared as he addressed the oil workers. The Audit Chamber has estimated the ESPO super-pipeline at 491.30 billion roubles, or $17 billion, which is four times more expensive than the oil export pipeline to China that Mikhail Khodorkovsky proposed shortly before being arrested...
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said that the West should not be concerned with the ESPO. "This is not a reorientation toward the East," he said. "We have enough hydrocarbons for everyone."
By Tatyana Zamakhina
