VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Import duties for foreign aircraft and component parts may be reduced if domestic aircraft manufacturers fail to meet their targets, said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during his visit to Ulyanovsk yesterday. These coercive measures will not hinder the country's aircraft industry, but will encourage air transportation growth, the Prime Minister said during the meeting dedicated to civil aircraft production. Participants didn't seem too sure, however, that Russia's aircraft industry has a bright future ahead.
The United Russia party has not given up its ambition of conferring the status of national leader on Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister and leader of the party. For starters, they decided to promote him to the role of the country's top human rights champion. Mr Putin's public reception offices have been opened in all the Russian regions. Anyone can come to the office to complain about the actions of the governor or the mayor and get legal advice.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spent a day in Astrakhan to have a look at preparations for the city's 450th anniversary, due October 5. There is no chance to commission many planned projects-modernisation of the highways, the bridges and the regional airport among them-before the deadline, so Mr Putin demanded construction and reconstruction to proceed at the previous pace after the celebration.
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.
During the Beijing Olympic Games President Bush made another of his many blunders when he patted the female captain of the American beach volleyball team on her bare back with his hand. It was not his idea, he was asked to do it by the team. This is thought to be a good omen. If the president pats the team captain before a game, the team is sure to win the gold medal (which, incidentally, came true). In this instance, the girl mischievously turned her back to the President and thrust out her butt.
Last week, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin paid a two-day working visit to Tashkent. His talks with the Uzbek leadership produced important intergovernmental documents on the expansion of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Astrakhan yesterday. The city will celebrate its 450th anniversary in a month, and federal jubilee allocations are being channelled into the social sphere, transport, economic development, and protection of historical monuments, including the Astrakhan Kremlin. Federal funding started only two years ago, and construction is well underway. So Putin inspected mainly sites during his visit.
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.
Autumn started with celebrity ratings. Vanity Fair followed Forbes in compiling a list of the world's most influential people, putting Vladimir Putin at the top and forcing previous leader Rupert Murdoch down a spot.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a package deal in Tashkent yesterday. He secured the consent of Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov to the building of a new gas pipeline in his country and to the European price formula for the gas bought by Gazprom, but Mr Putin failed to include Uzbekistan's support for the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the deal, as our special correspondent ANDREI KOLESNIKOV reports.
