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
Gas transit via Ukraine did not resume yesterday; mutual recriminations between Russia and Ukraine continue. The parties to the conflict are preparing to go to court while anti-Ukrainian sentiments are mounting among the victims.
The United States has slashed the refinance rate to a historical low - 0%-0.25%, the European financial authorities have cut it to 2.5%, and the Bank of England has approved a 2% rate. Japan, where the refinance rate has been traditionally low, has reduced it to zero, and China is also cutting the rate in an attempt to keep the national economy in the growth zone.
Every Wednesday starting today, Rossiiskaya Gazeta will feature the opinions of the Director of the Centre for Current Politics, Alexei Chesnakov, on the key events and problems of the week.
Director of the Priority National Projects Department Boris Kovalchuk has officially left his post after handing in his resignation. However, the delicate situation surrounding the national projects, which have not made any visible progress, suggests that Mr Kovalchuk's resignation gives him a chance to move to another job without disgrace.
The key events of 2008 - presidential elections, coercion of Georgia into peace and the world financial crisis - determined the influence of Russian politicians. Each of the three "waves of influence" strengthened the positions of one of the elites: first the politicians who cast in their lot with the new President, then the defense and security lobby (siloviki) and finally, in the autumn, the economic lobby.
Yesterday, Russian gas still did not reach consumers in Europe. Gazprom did open the valve, but Ukraine was not ready to transit gas and called the move a "provocation." The way events were unfolding looked like a farce. When the flow of gas for freezing consumers in Balkan countries was stopped at the Ukrainian border, the President of Ukraine said that his country did not block the transit. According to Naftogaz, the flow of gas through Ukraine was blocked due to the "unacceptable transit terms."
Europe is still freezing. The resumption of Russian gas supplies via Ukraine, announced for yesterday, has not taken place.
Yesterday, the Government's Presidium held its first meeting in 2009. The Presidium approved the cabinet's agenda for the first six months of 2009, discussed a range of current issues, including the gas dispute with Ukraine, and adopted an important decision to set up a state agricultural corporation - a national grain company. It will incorporate not only the state grain producers, but also the largest private grain producers and traders.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has announced Russia's intentions in the current gas conflict with Ukraine. In a Sunday interview with the German television network ARD, Mr Putin advised Europe to lend money to Kiev for payments to Gazprom and soften its position on the construction of alternative pipelines. He expressed Russia's readiness to take part in operating and privatising Ukraine's gas transportation network. However, experts believe that Kiev is not prepared to lose control over this network under any conditions whatsoever.
Russia has announced the end of the gas war with Ukraine, promising to resume gas export to Europe at 10 a.m. Moscow time today. By 16:00 on Wednesday, gas should start flowing out of Ukraine. However, the conflict is far from settled. Gazprom threatens to cut off transit if Ukraine continues to siphon off gas for technical needs. Kiev does not conceal that it would do so.
Starting January 16, a new website will become available for Russian internet users - "Employment in Russia." Minister of Healthcare and Social Development Tatyana Golikova reported the news to Prime Minister Putin at yesterday's meeting of the Government's Presidium.
The presidium of the United Russia parliamentary party instructed the Duma Rules Committee yesterday to develop regulations on the special procedure of holding the Government Hour while the Prime Minister is in attendance. His address is envisaged under presidential amendments to the Constitution.
Putin will deliver his address at the usual time though in a different capacity. The State Duma is changing its format of communication with officials. The heads of state-owned corporations will now also be invited to answer questions during Government Hours. In a departure from tradition, the Prime Minister will address Parliament in the spring.
A three-hour "Conversation with Vladimir Putin" was broadcast live for free, Rossiya TV Channel told the Communist Party, which then responded by demanding free air time for its own leader as well.
President Dmitry Medvedev told the federal government last night not to apply the gas transit protocol signed by Ukraine until the Ukrainian side retrieves its reservations to it. The protocol concerns international monitoring of the flow of Russian gas across Ukraine to Europe.
As the new year began, civilian staff of the Irkutsk Aviation Engineering Military Institute and some of the students' parents held a hunger strike to protest its closure. But the protest proved of no avail. The oldest and only aviation institute east of the Urals was closed down and is now being transported by military planes to Voronezh. Few at the institute suspected such a development only six weeks ago. But things moved with lightning speed.
President Medvedev expressed dissatisfaction yesterday with the Government's performance. According to the President, anti-recessionary measures are being applied more slowly than necessary, and the tasks with which he commissioned the Government last autumn have only been a third completed. The Kremlin argues that it is not at odds with the Government House. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Putin is criticising officials for the same failures.
The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine is continuing. Yesterday, Ukraine signed the protocol on control over Russian gas transits to Europe. The international observers have already left for the gas measuring stations. It turned out, however, that Ukraine had added clauses to the protocol, causing Russia's indignation. Moscow decided to declare the document void.
According to the well-known universal law of Central Election Commission Chairman Vladimir Churov, Prime Minister Putin is always right. But does this axiom hold during a global economic crisis?
When the gas crisis was at its peak, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with foreign journalists to explain to them the Russian position once again. Izvestia quotes the most interesting parts of his interview.
