Vladimir Putin travels to St Petersburg for his birthday.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin turns 58 today. He will spend the day in his native city of St Petersburg, although no party will interfere with his busy working schedule.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RG that the prime minister will travel to the north-west of the country as he usually does on his birthday, but otherwise October 7 will be a normal working day for him. His daily schedule includes a meeting with St Petersburg trade unions on the labour market situation, and another meeting with rectors of leading universities. The prime minister won't make it to the family celebration until the end of the day.
An obviously busy man, Putin met with Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov the day before his birthday. The two senior officials had an involved discussion of the draft federal budget for 2011-2013, already approved by the government and submitted to the State Duma. The document will go to the upper house of parliament next, in line with the current procedure.
Putin began outlining the country's prospects for the next three years, although Mironov must have read the draft. National defence spending will grow by nearly 20% in 2011; spending on the environment 28%, education 16.5%, culture and cinema 10% and sports 25%. Having cited these general figures, Putin must have recalled that his vis-à-vis headed the upper house, which is more focused on regional interests. "We are launching a healthcare modernisation programme next year. This will primarily concern Russian regions. The programme provides for the modernisation, reconstruction and renovation of healthcare facilities in the Russian regions, the retraining of personnel, etc. Tremendous allocations are stipulated, totalling 460 billion roubles in the next two years," Putin said.
There are road construction projects, too. In addition to regional road construction funds, the government plans a direct allocation of 34 billion roubles for road maintenance in regional capitals. "This is an obviously attractive project. I hope that Federation Council members will treat these issues with the attention they merit and work constructively," he added.
Mironov looked genuinely interested. Roads have long been "a chronic headache, as well as a long-term objective of our house. We are happy to know that a federal road construction fund has now been established. It is also very good that regional road construction funds will be established," he responded adding that Russia "will get nowhere without roads." The speaker did not specify where exactly Russia needed to get, but he was probably referring to the economic modernisation plans.
Mironov also warned Putin that the upper house will "assess everything in a constructive and critical manner, primarily in the context of regional interests," that is, the new budget will not be approved smoothly. He said he will propose a series of initiatives for the second reading of the budget, not only as speaker but also as the leader of A Just Russia party, and hopes that some of their proposals "will deserve careful attention."
"I have instructed the government's economic bloc, as well as other colleagues and government members, to work constructively with all of the parliamentary parties, including, of course, A Just Russia," the prime minister said.
That, however, did not satisfy Mironov who also asked Putin to instruct Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to meet with members of A Just Russia. Putin agreed.
By Pier Sidibe