Kommersant: “Wildfires bring people and authorities closer”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made personal contact with a blogger for the first time. Mr Putin responded to the diatribe made by a dacha owner from the Tver Region, who used coarse language on the website of the radio station Echo of Moscow regarding the authorities' carelessness toward fire safety. His complaint, in a simplified form, was as follows: "Under the communist government, now criticised by everybody, our village had three fire ponds, a watch bell to ring in case of fire and (oh, what a miracle!) a fire engine, although only one for three villages, but it existed. And then the democrats came. The first thing they did was fill the ponds with earth, then they somehow did away with the fire engine and replaced the watch bell with a telephone, but it does not work because they forgot to connect it." The question aimed at the prime minister was: "Where does our money go? Why should we build an innovation centre in Skolkovo when we don't have fire engines? I don't want a telephone in the village, I want fire ponds, and give me my watch bell back and dig out a pond, I will take care of it personally and fill it with water myself." At the same time, the writer made another proposal: "Exempt me from taxes and deductions into the Pension Fund, I won't survive until the retirement age, but I will use this money to buy a fire engine for three villages and so sleep easier."
Having received this message, Echo of Moscow Editor-in-Chief Alexei Venediktov forwarded it to the prime minister via the government website. In the note attached, he asked Mr Putin if he knew that the people were "outraged by the government's attitude to fighting fires," and he wondered how the prime minister would respond to that, not even the sharpest example of the people's indignation. And the prime minister unexpectedly replied with a rather cutting message: "Dear user, today, along with every other Muscovite, I am breathing in the smoke of forests burning around Moscow, and I have read your criticism with great interest. To be fair I should point out that Russia did not experience such hot weather for 140 years, which means not even under the communist government. And this can excuse (although only partially) the authorities which are facing a calamity of such scope for the first time. Nevertheless, on the whole, I agree with your remarks," wrote Mr Putin. He also highlighted the style of the message: "Of course, you are a surprisingly direct person. Well done. And certainly you are a gifted writer. If you earned your living by writing, you could live in Italy like Lenin's favorite writer Maxim Gorky, and yet even there you would not feel safe because both Europe and the USA may face such natural disasters, too." And the prime minister promised: "When your address is available you will be able to get a watch bell from the governor without delay."
As to why Vladimir Putin responded to the letter, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the government staff delivers to the prime minister all "outraged messages" sent to the government website. Despite the coarse language, the letter clearly expressed a cry from the heart of many citizens and was remarkable for its inimitable style. "We thought the prime minister would only review the message, but he said he wanted to answer personally and at once wrote a letter by hand," Mr Peskov said. As for the somewhat offended tone of the letter, the press secretary said: "the government has never shirked its responsibilities and it is hardly fair to blame it for the situation. It was an act of God."
By Irina Granik
