By Pyotr Netreba
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin moved into a new office in September, as planned. Yesterday he moved from the third to the fifth floor, into the refurbished Prime Minister's area to chair the first meeting of the Government Presidium after his leave to review the stock market crisis. In the new and brighter office the financial crisis looked as good as over.
Vladimir Putin went to the fifth floor of the White House for the first time yesterday in the capacity of Prime Minister. The prime ministerial area was closed for repairs in March, in the final days of Viktor Zubkov's premiership. The most striking change is the prevailing colour. Since 1993, when the interior was done to suit the taste of former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, the dominant tone of the prime ministerial area was brown. Now it has been repainted to look more like the Kremlin interior, with white and yellow the predominant colours. The builders raced against the clock to complete the job by early morning on Monday, and the missing pieces of furniture were hastily moved up from the third floor, which the Prime Minister occupied previously. The most noticeable external change was the newly installed metal detectors at the entrance to the area and the disappearance of wooden showcases in the lounge of the government conference room and the reception hall. Previously metal detectors were placed only at the entrance to the Prime Minister's personal study. The showcases in the Prime Minister's area featured pieces of art and other documentary expositions. Now that they have found themselves in the immediate proximity of Mr Putin's office, it was decided to dismantle them.
The Government members had to get used to the new interior simultaneously with the Prime Minister who, as is his habit, was two hours late for the meeting. The Government members began settling down in the chairs. Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, who was the last to arrive at the White House, made for his usual seat on Vladimir Putin's left, which was now occupied by Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Staff Sergei Sobyanin. But Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who sat next to Sergei Sobyanin, was quick off the mark to direct Mr Kudrin to his new seat to the left of Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov. Education Minister Andrei Fursenko, who was one of the first to arrive at the White House, and had already found his seat, quipped that the next stage would see the construction of a swimming pool and an ice slide on the ground floor. The President of the Central Bank, Sergei Ignatyev, who had never attended the meetings of the Presidium before, entered the room just before the Prime Minister. He plopped into the first vacant chair that caught his eye, right across the table from Mr Putin, an ideal position from which to answer questions from the Presidium members about the financial market.
Mr Putin opened the first Presidium meeting in the new office by addressing the issue of the crisis, rather than the agenda of the day. "The financial authorities have reacted promptly to the situation in the world economy and have taken measures that have yielded a positive effect. The situation has stabilised, in fact the market has been restored," he said. Nevertheless, Mr Putin issued a directive that all the promised measures to combat the market crisis should be followed through and named one further measure whereby the VAT would now be paid in instalments.
"I recall the discussions in the former years and constant questions, why do we need such huge reserves. This is the answer: in order to feel secure," Mr Putin explained. This time nobody was in the mood to challenge the Prime Minister over the issue of reserves. Mr Kudrin announced that proposals regarding the payment of VAT in instalments would be tabled that same day and all the necessary amendments to the 2008 budget would be prepared by October 1. He promised that the 2009 budget would also be amended in October.
Thereafter nobody referred to the crisis and each participant proceeded to report on his/her own work. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov and Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Tatyana Golikova reported that they were ready to provide all the World War II veterans with cars or 100,000 rouble compensation in 2008-2009. Agriculture Minister Alexander Gordeyev announced that a record harvest had been brought in. Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin gave an account of his Latin American tour, which took him to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. "Our companies may take part in a consortium to work in Venezuela and other countries in the region," Igor Sechin said and then paused and gave Mr Putin a conspiratorial look: "With your permission, I would like to report some details to you personally later." Mr Putin returned the look and, completing the open part of the Presidium meeting, issued an instruction to Mr Kudrin that might well have been top secret: "Fulfil the Defence Ministry request to compensate the costs incurred during the military actions in the Caucasus. The request is well grounded." No one asked any questions of Mr Ignatyev, and he left the Presidium's room together with the journalists without waiting for the discussion of the agenda. Asked by our correspondent why he had been summoned to the White House, the head of the Central Bank replied succinctly: "To communicate."
The closed part of the Presidium meeting lasted less than the open part. Before long, Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko came out to tell the waiting journalists that the only new appointment made by the Presidium was Igor Sechin, who would chair the Government Energy Commission. The former President of RAO UES, Anatoly Chubais, was not on the Commission. However, it transpired half an hour later that President Medvedev had another job for him.