Yesterday, Prime Minister and United Russia (UR) leader Vladimir Putin met with other executives from his party – Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, Secretary of the UR General Council Presidium Vyacheslav Volodin, and First Deputy Duma Speaker Oleg Morozov. This meeting was unusual because it was fraught with intrigue. Officially, the meeting had nothing to do with the head hunt of "heretic" Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the Federation Council, whom UR members all but accused of betrayal for criticizing the government's anti-crisis measures. Although the meeting's agenda was planned in detail, journalists hoped that Putin would answer the question that burned in the minds of the entire political elite: did Mironov offend Putin or not?
Yesterday's arrival of UR members in the Novoye Ogaryovo residence was routine. All of them were in a good mood and were chatting nonchalantly with Vladislav Surkov, first deputy head of the presidential Executive Office. They were waiting for Putin to arrive. This time, they were more emotional than usual, and maybe that explains the cryptic dialogue that followed:
"Get ready," Surkov said with a grin.
Volodin shrugged his shoulders jokingly and lifted his hands in dismay:
"We are the victims."
Morozov stopped the information leak, pointing to reporters with indignation:
"Be careful, this is the press!"
"That means that Mironov will be on the agenda," the press reacted.
"No, he won't. Why discuss him behind his back? We've already expressed our position," Volodin said, this time without a smile.
"Behind whose back?" journalists asked in surprise.
At this point Putin came in and everyone calmed down.
He started reading a long report about the government's successes ( the birth rate growth, for one, almost reached 3%, while real incomes went up by 1.9%, and the GDP and industrial production are again on the upsurge). He also lauded the good performance of parliament, which reviewed 500 bills during the past year.
"The government will continue to implement essential anti-crisis measures, primarily to develop domestic demand and to support employment. We will pay special attention to such industries as construction and carmakers, which were the hardest hit a year ago as the crisis reached its peak.
The prime minister said that the invigoration of the economy will be carried out at a fast pace.
A total of 30 billion roubles will be allocated from the budget for the purchase of cars at federal quotas. Another 11 billion roubles will be spent on old cars under the cash-for-clunkers programme (to be started in March).
Gryzlov reported that his party is successfully preparing for the municipal elections and has almost fulfilled its nomination plan.
"Our plan is to nominate candidates for 90% of seats, and so far we have nominated them for 83% of seats. But we will fulfill it," Gryzlov promised.
UR members criticized the opposition for occupying "a patently losing position" by nominating so few candidates, which meant that there was no need to be concerned over one-party regional parliaments.
True, at this point Putin observed that power should be matched with good intentions.
"We should not promise everything to everyone, we should not make promises just to pull the wool over the eyes of the people, get into power and then start dealing with our own problems and probably some others as well," Putin warned the UR party.
As for Mironov, his name was not mentioned once at the meeting (or rather, the part of the meeting attended by the press)...
By Vladimir Vorsobin