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
By joining the international campaign against money laundering and legalisation of criminal incomes Russia did not only bolster its reputation but reduced economic crime.
The particularly principled churchgoers who worship at the Life-giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills do not want to pray to the Russian government. They are plunged into embarrassment by the portraits of Vladimir Putin and Yuri Luzhkov that hang in the cathedral’s entrance hall just beneath those of the three Patriarchs of All Russia.
Officials and experts propose even more anti-crisis innovations.
Yesterday, preliminary information from TNS Russia emerged about viewers’ response to the TV coverage of Mr Putin’s appearance at the State Duma, where the Prime Minister described the anti-crisis measures his Government has taken
The programme for the relocation to Russia of Russians living abroad, initiated by President Vladimir Putin in 2006, has practically collapsed. Only 10,000 people have moved to Russia, instead of the expected 300,000 a year. Yesterday the head of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) Konstantin Romodanovsky nonetheless announced that the programme was not on the verge of collapse, and that it was “still fully functional”. Opponents of the project think that its conditions are “only suitable for those people who need to flee or who have nowhere else to go.”
Prime Minister Putin devoted so much time to speaking about social justice as if he had a mind to become the leader of Sergei Mironov’s Just Russia party. Perversely, justice each time turned out to be an antipode of economic expediency.
A Russian-Italian Economic Forum opened in Moscow yesterday. The meeting was not cancelled in spite of the devastating earthquake that had hit Italy (the participants had arrived in Moscow before the disaster struck). Only Prime Minister Berlusconi cancelled his visit. Originally Mr Berlusconi and Mr Putin were to attend the forum together. In the event, the Russian Prime Minister came alone.
Early data published yesterday from the Bank of Russia on the structure of foreign debt show that the rate of repayment of bank and corporate loans has dropped by 40% during the first quarter of the year. The external private sector debt dropped by $28.9 billion during the first quarter of 2009 compared with $47.4 billion in the previous quarter. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared the day before that companies have “in recent months” restructured $174 billion worth of debts, but the Central Bank figures do not bear it out.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Moscow yesterday. On the previous day Mahmoud Abbas met with President Dmitry Medvedev. As a result of the meetings, the Russian leadership pledged to support the peace process in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Putin’s speech at the State Duma.
“The deputy who could have held Mr Putin to account failed to get into the Duma. But one must hand it to the Prime Minister: his anti-crisis programme does not make one blush. How it translates in real life remains to be seen.”
Boris Yelstin first disclosed his income in April 1996 on the eve of the presidential election. He stated that he had earned 552,311.58 roubles in 1994 (here and elsewhere redenomination is taken into account) and 26,784.57 roubles in 1995. The difference was due to the fact that in 1994 Mr Yelstin had received royalties for his book “Notes of a President.”
A Russian-Italian Economic Forum which opened in Moscow yesterday had an unusually high-powered delegation of Italian businessmen. Originally it was to be led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who had to postpone his visit to Russia because of the earthquake. The head of the Union of Rome Industrialists and Entrepreneurs AURELIO REGINA discussed the reasons frictions between Russia and the EU hardly affect Russian-Italian relations with Kommersant’s ALEXANDER GABUYEV.
The first Government report to Parliament presented by Vladimir Putin turned out to be very detailed. The keynote of the Prime Minister’s analysis of the country’s status was: acknowledge the achievements but entertain no illusions. Indeed, 64 million square metres of new housing, a trebling of the number of schools with Internet access and 1,717,000 newborn children – all this is on the positive side of the ledger in 2008. During the economic crisis, the country’s economy has not only survived, but has demonstrated that it can grow. However, Russia is not immune to the world economic problems that triggered the crisis. Being a realist, Mr Putin warned that 2009 would be a difficult year.
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin have reported their incomes for 2008.
The President’s official website yesterday posted data on the material status of the President as well as members of his family. In 2008 Mr Medvedev received 4,139,726 roubles as his presidential salary. With his wife he owns a 367.8 sq m apartment in the Russian Federation (his previous declaration specified that the apartment was in Moscow). He has nine accounts at Russian banks holding 2,818,780.8 roubles and a 4,700 sq m plot of land which he rents. Svetlana Medvedeva earned no income, has an account of 135,000 roubles, two parking places with a total area of 32.5 sq m and a 1999 Volkswagen Golf car. The President’s underage son, Ilya, has no income or property.
Addressing the State Duma yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin cited impressive data on the reduction of external corporate debt. Out of a debt of some $500 billion the companies have paid or rescheduled $174 billion over the past few months. “They did it independently without our support”, Mr Putin stressed.
Bank assets shrank in February for the first time since the beginning of the crisis, the Central Bank admitted. For many banks the trend continued into March. Nevertheless, the Government still pins its hopes on banks in combating the crisis, Prime Minister Putin said.
Last week Dmitry Medvedev appeared to cancel “tandemocracy” when he said that he made all the key decisions. True, he put Vladimir Putin on the same footing as himself. Meanwhile the Prime Minister was busy promoting the Cabinet’s anti-crisis plans. The rest of the country was going about its usual business. The authorities had Mikhail Khodorkovsky on trial for the second time while the KPRF was quietly dragging the Government to the Strasburg Court. In the meantime various sectors of the economy were asking for financial assistance. The Government, contrary to the old Russian custom, asked no questions and splashed out to some (indeed to many), but not to others.
Can you imagine Vladimir Putin reporting to the deputies? Can you imagine our deputies badgering the Prime Minister with probing questions about why the country is slowly but steadily sinking in the quagmire of the crisis? You cannot? And rightly so. It will never happen.
