By Igor Naumov
The new Cabinet does not need weekly meetings, even with restricted attendance.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin put an end to weekly Government meetings. Even its presidium will not gather regularly. The latest meeting was on August 25. Last week's meeting was cancelled as the Prime Minister was away-first in the Far East and Uzbekistan, and then in Astrakhan. He will travel around Russia this whole week, too, and will have no chance to attend a Government meeting.
The Government presidium will not gather again before September 15, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Nezavisimaya Gazeta yesterday. The Government did not meet every week under the previous "technical" prime ministers, either. It had a short break after it finished the budget draft in August to submit it to the State Duma. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov cancelled at least one Cabinet meeting when it was clear that no ministry or agency had anything worthwhile to discuss. But the time-out lasted only a week. When the prime ministers were absent from Moscow for longer, Dmitry Medvedev, then First Deputy Prime Minister, chaired the meetings. Now, the Government has a three-week break.
Its long unscheduled vacation has not upset the federal executive work. Mr Putin disapproves of red tape and bureaucratic talk. The new Prime Minister is far more efficient on his trips around the country, for which he brings a huge retinue of officials.
"Almost the whole Government is here," Transport Minister Igor Levitin told Nezavisimaya Gazeta in Vladivostok a few days ago. Really, several deputy prime ministers and many ministers accompanied Putin for discussions of the city's preparations for the APEC summit in 2012, which put the routine event on a par with a Government meeting.
Things were similar in Astrakhan, where Central Bank president Sergei Ignatyev and Pension Fund chief Anton Drozdov attended the meeting, though several deputy prime ministers were absent.
Alexei Makarkin, deputy director of the Centre for Political Technologies does not think that a three-week break in Government meetings will be to the detriment of the Russian economy. After all, the Government presidium was re-established only a few months ago, and Russia managed well without it all those years. The expert thinks Mr Putin needs the presidium as a tool to influence the Government without bothering with routine matters while controlling siloviki and the Foreign Ministry-something previous prime ministers were not able to do.
Prime Minister Putin prefers to settle problems quickly, as he meets with ministers or his deputies, Makarkin says. This concerns the rescue operations in South Ossetia, the scandalous AirUnion bankruptcy and other pressing matters.
"The Government and its presidium don't make decisions by voting at their meetings. Russia has a strong politician for Prime Minister, and he has the say. It is not so important, after all, what format his decision-making might take," the expert remarked.
