Natalia Antipova from Astrakhan
Astrakhan will celebrate its 450th anniversary in early October, and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came here yesterday to see jubilee preparations. He met with local authorities and visited construction sites. Regrettably, some of the projects will not be ready by City Day. As far as Izvestia knows, the celebrations are being organised by top-notch stage decorator Boris Krasnov, a Muscovite, who intends to make the city an epitome of pageantry. Astrakhan has been promised a gala concert featuring celebrities ranging from the Igor Moiseyev Dance Company to pop icon Filipp Kirkorov. It is a pity that they will not appear at the new Music Theatre, which the city knows as Astrakhan's La Scala, and which is still under construction.
"It will be the most gorgeous theatre in the Caspian region!" local authorities told Mr Putin yesterday, adding that they were negotiating with orchestra conductor Valery Gergiev, folk singer Nadezhda Babkina and soap opera star Anastasia Zavorotnyuk for guest performances.
The Prime Minister also visited the construction site of a sports and entertainment centre seating 7,000, with a gym that can be converted into a concert hall, a pool, and football, volleyball and basketball grounds. There is also a ground for gorodki, the Russian version of skittles. On his way to the site, Mr Putin crossed Lenin Square, now under reconstruction. A Lenin monument has been left intact here so as not to irritate Communist-minded townspeople, local authorities explained. The reconstruction is funded by St Petersburg, the city where Lenin started the Bolshevik Revolution, and Putin's birthplace.
"We made decision on the celebration of Astrakhan's anniversary three years ago, proceeding from the positive experience of jubilee preparations in St Petersburg, Kazan and other Russian cities," Putin said during the meeting.
All in all, 26 billion roubles were earmarked for jubilee preparations-11 billion of this from the federal budget, he said. Besides the construction and reconstruction of 650 projects, the ambitious programme includes roads and an airport to repair, citizens to move out of decrepit housing, and flood protection facilities to build.
Putin made it clear to municipal authorities that they should not relax after the jubilee: "We have launched a programme for social and economic revival of the city that should continue after the celebration. The job done now is a starting point for further development of the city and the region. We should not rest on our laurels."
"What about the airport?" he asked Transport Minister Igor Levitin.
"The entire equipment will be assembled to open the airport by October 1," the minister replied.
"Is the equipment Russian?"
"Yes," the minister said-and went on with an unexpected revelation: "There are some problems with the airport. The state holds a 51% block of shares, while the other 49% belongs to obscure minorities."
"What do you mean by obscure? Are there no agencies to clear up the matter?" Putin asked with surprise.
Astrakhan Governor Alexander Zhilkin joined the discussion to say that one of the crucial minority holders had been found in prison-at which Putin appeared even more astonished.
"I think he will cede his stock. We've been coaxing him, at any rate," the governor said, hurrying to save his face-but, judging by his disconcerted look, he had seen that it was too late.
