The party leader will talk to activists at regional party conferences
United Russia (UR) has set up a working group to prepare an interregional party conference in Krasnoyarsk on March 30. The party members expect their leader Vladimir Putin to speak to them. This time, the format implies a question-and-answer session rather than a unilateral communication with regional activists in the style of a party congress.
The working group will conduct its first meeting today. Headed by Svetlana Orlova, a member of the Federation Council, it consists of representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development, the Finance Ministry, the Economy Ministry, and the Energy Ministry, to name but a few. Among other things, the working group will collect proposals from all regions in the Siberian Federal District on drafting two year socio-economic programmes.
As Kommersant reported on February 6, Putin already suggested holding eight interregional party conferences in 2010 and 2011. These conferences are to elaborate on the aforementioned programmes at each regional level.
Orlova said that the goal of the working group and the conference is to rationalize all existing federal and regional development programmes and make use of budget funds in a more cost-effective manner. They will make decisions in the way of party programmes such as "Strategy-2020" and "The Development of Siberia and the Far East until 2020."
"We primarily want the proposals coming from the regions to be realised, but they must be coordinated with each other. We need to prevent one region from getting everything at the expense of others. Nobody is going to have a free ride," Orlova warned. By way of example, she quoted the recreational zones in Siberia. Several regions are interested in their development. "For instance, Lake Terletsk is linked with the Kemerovo Region, Altai and Khakassia. This is in summer, and in winter people from Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Omsk, and other regions fly to Alpine Shoria. But we can only have one airport, and we must build the roads to suit everyone," Orlova said. The party intends to supervise the streamlining of projects related to the 2014 Olympic Games under a programme for the development of the South Federal District.
Governors of all Siberian regions (all of them UR members and supporters), mayors of big cities, and UR regional cells will be invited to Krasnoyarsk. UR members hope that the federal delegation will be rather small. It is expected to include no more than 30 representatives of the party leadership and expert community. UR regional departments will themselves be in charge of implementing the programmes.
UR members expect Prime Minister Putin to attend the conference in Krasnoyarsk. His press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed that Putin plans to come, but added that his schedule may be subject to change. Peskov declined to further comment.
A source in Putin's entourage explained to Kommersant that the idea is to enable the leader to come into closer contact with rank-and-file activists. "He is content with regular meetings with the party leadership and UR annual congresses. But he wants to 'synchronize watches' at a regional level so as not only to convey some information to people, but also draw some inspiration from them," the source said. This is why Putin will hold a live question-and-answer session with regional representatives, he explained.
Putin periodically conducts news conferences in this format and meets members of public reception offices. This latest format, which was widely covered by state television networks, can no longer exist in its current form now that the law on parity of coverage of all parties has been adopted by the VGTRK network. Other parliamentary parties will find it much easier to compete with the public coverage of Putin's party undertakings at the regional level.
UR does not deny the link between the conferences and the forthcoming elections, but interprets it in its own way. According to Secretary of the UR General Council Vyacheslav Volodin, if the party carries out this project, the programmes for the development of the regions will be "helpful on the eve of the elections." "We invite all opposition parties to move in the same direction – help people with concrete deeds. The elections will show who has done this better," he said.
Irina Nagornykh