Komsomolskaya Pravda: "Putin introduces Kudrin’s stand-in"
Kudrin's deputy Anton Siluanov will now act as Finance Minister.
At yesterday's Government Presidium meeting, before anything else, Vladimir Putin introduced the new acting Finance Minister. Minister of Finance Deputy Anton Siluanov will stand in for the rebellious Alexei Kudrin.
"I will repeat what I have said before: the country is entering the long and critical period of the election campaign, with debates and elections to various government agencies and organisations at the highest level. This is a crucial time for the country and for society. Much depends, both in the economy and socially, on the effective performance of the government. I ask all of you to be even more disciplined and responsible. Following Mr Kudrin's resignation, Igor Shuvalov will take the responsibility for supervising financial and economic matters within the government. The ministry also needs a chief, and Anton Siluanov will step in as acting Finance Minister. He is a competent professional. Both appointments have been coordinated with Mr Medvedev – this was our common decision. I hope that these rearrangements will not interrupt the work of the government," Vladimir Putin said glancing around. Offering no further comment, he went on to the agenda.
Minister of Economic Development, Elvira Nabiullina, reported to the prime minister on the effort to eliminate administrative barriers.
"This is a serious law as it changes the procedure for allotting federal and municipal property for construction. The purpose of this draft law is to make the property transfer process more transparent for investors and the public, and to produce revenue from currently unused land. The new draft law provides a fixed list of cases in which plots of land can be offered without auctions. It stipulates a procedure for the free allotment of land and specifies the users that are eligible for the free land. This will address such problems as attracting professionals to rural and underpopulated areas," the minister noted.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin asked for the prime minister's assistance in creating alternative fuelling facilities at airports since the monopolistic energy companies tend to set unreasonably high prices.
"For example, fuel storage costs 400 roubles at Sheremetyevo Airport but 1,473 roubles at the Mineralnye Vody airport, even though the fuel itself costs much less there. Merely starting this work will stabilise the market. The Federal Tariff Service should also review whether the imposed prices are justified. Obviously, they [the measures] require time, but they are necessary," Sechin looked at the prime minister, who nodded approvingly.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak reported on his efforts to help the regions become more self-sufficient. The regions that show the most growth in their tax revenue receive grants.
"A 10 billion rouble award for economic growth will be distributed this year between the most effective 20 regions. The top region will receive 2 billion roubles and the 20th region 233 million. These sizeable awards will be incentives to create new jobs and businesses, to increase regional and federal budget revenue, and gradually to start thinking in terms of self-sufficiency," the deputy prime minister said.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova reported on the progress in decreasing mortality rates. There is a 15.4% decrease in the national average compared to the same month last year. The birth rate exceeded August 2010's by more than 10%. The increase was the greatest in the Kaliningrad Region, the republics of Altai and North Ossetia, the Novgorod Region and Moscow.
"Good! Nice to hear it," Putin smiled and said it was time to summarise the harvest and farm work. "We can say that we have overcome the agricultural decline caused by the last year's drought and exceptional heat. We roughly estimate the total grain yield at 90 million tonnes against 61 million last year. In addition to supplying the domestic market, Russia will also rejoin the world's leading grain exporters. We certainly owe it to our farmers, but don't forget that the government gave them a hand during the hard times."
This year's federal funding of the agro-industrial complex is 163 billion roubles. The draft budget for next year earmarks roughly 170 billion roubles, according to the premier.
Yelena Chinkova
