RBK daily: "The Anti-Crisis Accountant"
In the Belgorod Region, Vladimir Putin acted as an emergency dentist and an accountant. To begin with, he brandished a dental drill in front of the local governor's face; next, he made an unsuccessful attempt to balance the budget for a visiting village head. In the end everyone was satisfied.
On his way to the National Forum of Rural Intelligentsia in Gaivoron, Vladimir Putin dropped in at a hospital in Golovchino, Belgorod Region. On hearing about the aspirations of the local doctors to have a mammograph, an electrocardiograph, and a new dentistry room, he pushed Governor Yevgeny Savchenko into the dental chair and, with drill in hand, said, "If you fail to provide this new equipment, I will come here in person and treat everyone with this thing!"
Putin arrived at the forum in high spirits. He is sure that the countryside can be revived. "For that we have to begin with the roads." His words were drowned out by loud applause. In Russia, 46,000 populated localities do not have paved roads. "This means that ambulances will not be able to get through in the muddy season, school buses will get stuck. I won't even mention the impossibility of accessing decent leisure activities. People often feel they are cut off from the rest of the world," Putin said.
He promised to save schools with few pupils and to provide more assistance to medical personnel on the ground. Roman Borovkov, the head of a rural community from the Vladimir Region, said that they were short of funds.
"How much of your own revenues are in your budget?" Putin asked. Borovkov replied that only 4 million out of the 13-million-rouble budget was their own income; that 4 million was used up on housing and amenities, in particular to repair and maintain the boiler station and subsidise businesses. "But what exactly are you subsidising?" Putin asked. "The tariffs, though they are not insubstantial, don't cover what the businesses pay to buy furnace oil," Borovkov replied. "You're still burning furnace oil?" asked Putin, clearly taken aback. "We shut down the boiler station and have installed gas boilers in every house," said Borovkov. "Do you hear that? They've shut down the boiler station, but he says they're still subsidising it," laughed Putin, taking out his notepad.
"Another 2 million roubles is spent on the upkeep of the local administration," Borovkov continued. "What is the average pay and how many employees are there?" asked the prime minister. Twelve employees at a salary of 8,000 roubles each is a long way off 2 million roubles. Putin said with a laugh: "Let me balance your budget for you. What are you spending the remaining 6 million roubles on?" "We spend it on culture: we have four cultural centres," said Borovkov. Putin stopped torturing the administration head and explained to the governors that federal funds allocated for rural development should be for complementing regional revenues, not replacing them.
Putin promised teachers that their wages would soon rise to the national economic average. "At least there is not one single governor who has not promised me that they will do this next year," he said. He also corrected a teacher who said that the teacher was the number one person in school, arguing that the most important person in school is the pupil. Everyone was forced to agree. Putin was asked to pose for a photograph with the rest of the audience because otherwise "the villagers wouldn't believe us," but he politely refused.
Inga Vorobyova, Belgorod Region
