Vladimir Putin tells students about his principles.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin celebrated the Students’ Day as a student at Chuvash State University. However, instead of grinding away at his studies, the prime minister was offered homemade patties. During the hour-long meeting, the students managed to discuss with the prime minister all the problems that worry the young.
Students celebrated the Students’ Day loudly in Cheboksary, belting out songs and joyfully playing the accordion. Hardly had the prime minister’s cortege stopped at the university entrance when a welcoming group of students started singing a popular song: “Rye is golden and flax is curly… I love you, Russia, my lovely.”
“That’s wonderful,” Vladimir Putin said, taking a traditional Chuvash patty with potato and meat that someone was insistently offering him.
Amid a storm of applause and accompanied by the republic’s president, Nikolai Fyodorov, and Education Minister Andrei Fursenko, the prime minister entered a classroom that the welcoming party had turned into a reception area. An international group gathered at the table. Students from Kenya, Haiti, India and other friendly countries were talking lowly to each other in broken Russian.
“Good afternoon, friends,” Vladimir Putin greeted them humbly.
His blue checkered sweater, more typical of a British student, perfectly matched the informal atmosphere.
“I would like to wish you a happy Students' Day on behalf of all students and all Tatyanas here,” a Tatyana said. “You used to be a student yourself. How did you celebrate this holiday? Maybe you even had some traditions.”
Vladimir Putin pondered for a second and in a moment, it was clear why.
“There wasn’t such a holiday when I was a student. The Russian Students' Day was officially registered in a decree I signed in 2005.”
An uncomfortable pause followed. But Vladimir Putin saved the situation:
“We celebrated the end of the exams and the start of winter holidays.”
The young people giggled. Then a girl in austere black glasses tried to put the conversation on the serious track again:
“There is a TV series about a school that is widely discussed…”
“I'll be honest with you - I haven't seen this series. I just don't have the time. And since I haven't seen it, I would rather not give you the answer they used to give in Soviet times: I haven’t read Solzhenitsyn, but I denounce what he wrote. We have a lot of problems - that's a fact. A lot of people have problems and a lot of organizations, too. We are aware of these problems and try to solve them.”
A Haitian student joined the conversation: “Let me thank Russia for its help to my country.”
“We will certainly do our best to help you, as we did during the first days of the tragedy, when we sent our rescuers and medical crews. And we decided to provide scholarships from the federal budget to those who paid for tuition here,” the prime minister promised.
“When dating girls today, young people often forget to be romantic,” a girl said flushing.
“Do they?” Vladimir Putin asked cunningly.
“What is the most romantic thing you have ever done for a girl?” she took heart to finish the question. “If it's not a secret…”
“Of course it’s a secret,” Mr. Putin replied, without being embarrassed. “However, I think that it's best not to discuss it in public. I’m sorry.”
“How did you celebrate New Year?” another girl asked.
“I celebrated it at home,” the prime minister replied simply. “By the way, I need to call my daughters for today's holiday. I haven't had time to call them yet.”
“You bought a Niva car not so long ago…”
“I keep it in Sochi, but I drive it.”
“How do you like it?”
“I won't hide the fact that the car I bought is more powerful because it has an Opel engine,” the prime minister admitted.
“You travel so much. Which architectural monuments impressed you the most?” an architect-to-be asked.
“The Kremlin.”
A girl named Katya spent a good ten minutes telling the prime minister about her achievements, that she would soon graduate from the design department and that she was already an entrepreneur – she manufactured women’s clothes.
“Does it work well?” Vladimir Putin asked, smiling and captiously looking at the girl’s austere business suit and lace lapel.
“It does,” Katya answered seriously and then began effusively telling Vladimir Putin about her business problems.
He advised her to set up a small innovative enterprise at the university and added that the government would try to foster high technologies in small and medium businesses by its monetary policy this year. Vnesheconombank will invest 100 billion roubles into the issue.
Meanwhile, the foreign students were conspiring around a typical question for Vladimir Putin. A student from India braced himself to finally say at the end of the meeting:
“When you became president, world-famous politicians and journalists asked: ‘Who is Mr. Putin?' That was a common question then. Now everyone understands that you are great.”
“You know, since you are a foreigner, I can imagine that your vocabulary is not as rich as a Russian person’s, and I can give you some leeway for using this definition. However, I'm still alive and believe that we simply must work every day like St. Francis on the plot of land allotted to us by the Lord. Besides,”great' or ‘not great' it’s a question for future generations to decide.”, the prime minister replied.
by Anastasia Savinykh