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
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the presidium of the council on the implementation of national projects and demographic policy yesterday. It was clear from his speech that the national projects, which have been mentioned less frequently recently due to the crisis (compared with the run-up to the presidential election 1-1.5 years ago) were still on the agenda in spite of the budget deficit. In fact, he indicated that the national projects would develop even faster during the crisis. Public health, in particular, will improve.
An audit conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office has found that most of the money contributed by the Russian Venture Company (RVC) to funds has been deposited with major banks. The Prosecutor General’s Office says it amounts to a “gross irregularity” and ineffective use of government money. Based on the results of the audit, Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika has submitted to Vladimir Putin proposals on further regulation of venture activities to enhance the responsibility of officials and questioned the practicability of the company continuing its activities. In the opinion of the Prosecutor General, the current activities of the RVC do not correspond to the company’s mission.
Civil servants will soon be driving around in Russian-made Volga and even Zhiguli cars just like ordinary mortals. As MK has already reported, Vladimir Putin ordered them to switch to domestically produced cars or foreign cars assembled in Russia earmarking 12.5 billion roubles for the purpose. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has already approved a list of car brands that could be procured for the state. We have tried to find out how realistic this plan is.
The Presidium of the People’s Democratic Union (NDS) will adopt an anti-crisis plan proposed by the movement’s leader, Mikhail Kasyanov, on February 25. Like the Solidarity movement, the ex-premier calls for the resignation of the Putin Government and an early parliamentary election in December this year.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday chaired a meeting on the preparation for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He effectively presented private business with an ultimatum: start financing Olympic facilities or surrender them to the state. Also, as our special correspondent ANDREI KOLESNIKOV reports, he was trying to find out, without success, where the displaced Sochi inhabitants would live.
The doping scandal at the recent biathlon world championship was touched upon at yesterday’s meeting of the Government Presidium. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin urged the need for the Government to control doping in sports. “I would like to draw the attention of the National Olympic Committee and the ministries and agencies, of the Government as a whole, to the fact that we have no right and will not put the responsibility only on the athletes. Organisers must be aware of their own responsibility,” the Prime Minister said.
One often reads that Dmitry Medvedev can become an independent and major political figure only if he sets himself up in opposition to Vladimir Putin. It is not hard to notice that those who speculate on this topic are mainly looking for breaches in Russian statehood rather than being concerned with strengthening it. The game they play is aimed at setting the President and the Prime Minister, the Kremlin and the White House against each other in order to achieve a paralysis of power Ukrainian style.
The economic crisis broke a cycle of creating ideological doctrines offered to the public through the country’s main political party. It can be acknowledged that the attempt to unite society behind United Russia’s programmes did not come to pass. Incidentally the idea of joining forces is more appropriate today than ever before, and only consolidation can alter the negative trends in the social-political sphere. By the summer the public will feel the full burden of change in their daily lives. However our politicians are not hurrying to offer new unifying ideals.
What caused the current global crisis and how has it affected Russia? How can we survive it? Can we come through the crisis changed, with a reinvigorated and dynamic economy? How can we guarantee the system’s stability, the conditions and framework of our path out of the crisis? I am grateful to the newspaper Izvestia for the discussion of the crisis and means of overcoming it, which is what has prompted me to write about these ten theses.
On February 18, the Right Cause movement will be officially registered as a political party. The party members decided to mark the occasion by introducing a new state holiday, Freedom Day, which the party proposes to hold on the day of the abolition of serfdom in Russia. But the opposition believes that “in Putin’s Russia, it is pretty odd to celebrate the abolition of serfdom.”
"The governors who lost their posts were not effective administrators. It is good to change the management sometimes. We have many regional heads who obviously should be dismissed, beginning with [Sergei] Darkin. Therefore I do not see big politics behind these resignations. This should have been done long ago. Vladimir Putin could not take risks, but Dmitry Medvedev has to do it because of the crisis. Besides, he is starting to feel like he is in command now."
By proposing the candidacy of Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev for the post of Governor of the Voronezh Region, President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed the rumours about Mr Gordeyev’s impending resignation which have been in the air since May 2008. Mr Gordeyev was appointed Minister when Vladimir Putin became President in August 1999, and he is the first Minister of Mr Putin’s second Government to be leaving the White House. For almost ten years, Mr Gordeyev was not only a Government member, but also a representative of the agrarian lobby in the White House.
Last Tuesday, the day after the Munich Conference, Russia's representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called a press conference to express his views on the "resetting" of Russian-American relations heralded in Munich by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The Russian representative said he was very pleased that Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, who attended the forum, had not been given the floor.
Early opinion polls show that while financial reserves are dwindling, confidence in the Prime Minister and the President is not.
Legendary killer Alexander Solonik was known to have had a soft spot for the Austrian pistol "Glock 17". The personnel of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee will now look every bit like the heroes of Hollywood thrillers, as last week Prime Minister Vladimir Putin extended the list of weapons that prosecutors and investigators were allowed to use. They will now be able to carry 9-mm Glocks, Chezetas and Berettas under their armpits.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul came to Russia on an official visit Friday. Ankara and Moscow are important economic partners for one another. Mutual trade between them stood at about $34 billion last year. As President Dmitry Medvedev noted, that indicator has increased 35 times in the past 10 years, but the two countries have more ambitious plans.
Economic relations between Russia and the European Union need political support, Russian Prime Minister and leader of the United Russia Party Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Head of the European People's Party - European Democrats Jozeph Daul on Friday.
Below is another in our series of articles under the common heading "Where Our Money Ended Up". In the previous issue we assessed the cost to the Government of bailing out the banking system and the amount that the banks got during the course of that operation. Today we will look at which companies and why have been designated as "strategic".
The Constitution vests the President with colossal powers and leverage. Besides, the Kremlin walls have always possessed a kind of magic due to which the incumbent of the top office in the land, however weak he may be, builds up political muscle by the hour and quickly becomes the unchallenged leader in the country. Is Dmitry Medvedev the first exception to that rule or does he just need some more time?
Through cautious actions and half hints... Dmitry Medvedev has been getting rid of his image of docile partner of his influential predecessor... It has been suggested that their relations have soured under the pressure of the economic crisis gripping the country.
Russia is a unique country and civilization. Its uniqueness lies in the enduring peaceful coexistence of various ethnic communities and religions. Unlike the U.S., Russia is not a "melting pot"; it has managed to work out a common Russian identity while preserving the cultural and national characteristics of each ethnic community.
Surgutneftegaz has again changed the schedule for modernising its oil refinery in Kirishi (Leningrad Region). The company will delay the commission of a hydrocracking facility for a year and of a catalytic cracking installation for two years with plans to convert to Euro 5 fuel production only in 2017. Meanwhile, government-endorsed technical regulations compel the oil companies to convert by 2015. On February 12, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called upon them to comply with the schedule.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting on the development of the oil industry in the town of Kirishi, Leningrad Region, yesterday. The Prime Minister made no bones about the fact that the oil industry, “with all due respect”, would not continue to enjoy the benefits it was counting on, certainly not by comparison with other industries. Our special correspondent ANDREI KOLESNIKOV thinks that can be regarded as a sensation: the participants in the meeting apparently expected something very different.
Russia has avoided the shock of the crisis, Vladimir Putin said at a Government meeting.
Last Thursday your newspaper carried an amusing article titled “Rich Russians Don’t Moderate Their Appetites Even in a Crisis”. “In the morning they beg the Government for money and in the evening they relax on overseas islands and buy property abroad,” Andrei Lavrov writes. He cites as a vivid example of such egregious behaviour my purchase of the British newspaper Evening Standard. “Meanwhile, in Russia the weekly magazine Ogonyok, which has more than a hundred year-long history, was shut down,” the author laments.
It came out yesterday that there are two bidders for a stake in Polyus Zoloto, the largest gold producing company in Russia. In addition to Suleiman Kerimov’s group, which claims 37% of the shares, VTB-Capital has filed a bid with the Federal Anti-Monopoly service for 50% less 1 share. Unofficial sources say that VTB-Capital is also acting in the interests of Mr Kerimov. However, VTB did not reveal this fact to the bureaucrats and the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service may thus turn the bank down. Suleiman Kerimov’s bid is to be considered by the Foreign Investment Commission, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin visited the Russian aircraft-building corporation MIG yesterday and presided over the first meeting of the Council of General and Chief Designers, leading scientists, and experts in the field of high technology set up by the Russian Prime Minister in October 2008. “I simply wanted the people who generate the main ideas and organize this process to feel that they have a direct link to the country’s leadership,” the Prime Minister said when opening the meeting.
Government assistance of nearly 200 billion roubles promised by the prime minister has not yet reached the automakers. By now, only two resolutions have been signed: one on state purchases of automobiles totalling 12.5 billion roubles and one on subsidising auto loans worth 6 billion roubles.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is convinced that defence-industry enterprises must receive state contracts from ministries as soon as possible. "It is already mid-February, and time is ripe for signing contracts," Mr Putin said, while opening the February 10 Government meeting.
Europe should not put Russia down again because it is weakened itself.
In a letter recently posted on the Internet the teaching community complains about the problems that beset the Russian education system and points to gaps in legislation. The letter is addressed to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Like true professionals, the teachers did not just present their demands, but also suggested ways of addressing the task.
The Government is trying to find ways to compensate for falling car sales. This year government ministries and departments will spend 12.5 billion roubles on purchasing cars and commercial vehicles from Russian manufacturers.
The traditional Munich security conference was attended by a record number of world leaders. It was addressed by US Vice President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and European Union leaders Jose Barroso and Javier Solana, among others.
The G20 meeting in London in April is expected to produce a decision on changing the rules of financial market regulation, above all to improve the work of banks.
On February 9, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin requested a draft resolution on new car loan subsidised interest rates for the purchase of Russian-made cars. The government intends to earmark 2 billion roubles for this purpose promising to compensate 8% of the annual interest. The list of eligible cars includes not only Ladas but also foreign models assembled in Russia. This means that about 64,000 new car buyers will be able to apply for subsidies, while the Kaliningrad-based Avtotor and Taganrog assembly plants (TagAZ) will find themselves out of play.
On February 9, the Ministry of Finance said Russia had not received an official request from Kiev to loan $5 billion to Ukraine for financing its budget deficit, but that both sides had held consultations on the issue in Moscow the previous week.
Russia's Finance Ministry will be authorised to accredit rating agencies, organisations that assign credit ratings for issuers of certain types of instruments, such as companies, national and regional governments, or non-profit organisations, thus assessing the issuers' credit worthiness.
The first meeting of the Political Council of the Solidarity opposition movement on February 13 will discuss a plan to combat the economic crisis. The movement’s leaders have already declared that the “main component of the Russian crisis” is the Putin Government and have urged President Dmitry Medvedev to fire him at once.
Russia's Ministry of Regional Development is seeking damages over the failure to build St Petersburg's flood protection system on schedule.
The United Russia party is fine-tuning its contacts with Europe’s conservatives, who are represented in the largest political group in the European Parliament. The leader of United Russia and Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin is helping to convince Europeans that it’s worth cooperating with the Russian “bear”.
Amid the ongoing economic downturn and falling raw materials prices, the oil lobby is demanding tax breaks for the industry. Vedomosti has learned that Vladimir Putin might meet with oil industry representatives this week to discuss the possibility of replacing the mineral extraction tax (MET) and the oil export duty with a tax on windfall profits. Taken together, the current taxes account for one third of the country’s budget revenues.
United Russia is preparing for the elections of eight regional parliaments in March. The campaign is the first since the onset of the world economic downturn, which is sure to influence its outcome. We have discussed the possible impact of the crisis on voting in the regions, as well as the governing party’s response, with First Deputy Secretary of the Presidium of the United Russia General Council and Chairman of the State Duma Labour and Social Policy Committee, Andrei Isayev.
The Government has decided who will deliver support to the economy
Kommersant has learned the details of a meeting on the restructuring of the banking system held by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on February 3. Those at the meeting were presented with a list of 81 core banks and two options of government support: the bailout of 4-5 or 30 banks, respectively. However, because of the shortage of resources the White House may consider a third option: to rescue only as many banks as it can.
This year there will be 18 candidates for 11 seats on Gazprom's Board of Directors. Representatives of independent gas companies, Itera and NOVATEC, have been stricken off the list of candidates. They have been replaced by Valery Musin, a head of department at St Petersburg State University and former research supervisor of President Dmitry Medvedev and teacher of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as two members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).This year there will be 18 candidates for 11 seats on Gazprom's Board of Directors. Representatives of independent gas companies, Itera and NOVATEC, have been stricken off the list of candidates. They have been replaced by Valery Musin, a head of department at St Petersburg State University and former research supervisor of President Dmitry Medvedev and teacher of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as two members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Opening yesterday's meeting of the Commission for Monitoring Foreign Investment in Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said: "We are to consider several applications for the acquisition of shares in enterprises that develop space and rocket technology and operate in the spheres of transport and the use of subsoil resources." He said that the Commission has recently received about 45 applications from foreign investors seeking to participate in strategic sectors. "In spite of all the consequences of the world economic crisis our partners are still showing a high interest in the Russian economy," Mr Putin said.
The law on access to strategic sectors will be refined, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced. The FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) hopes to be able to get information on the buyer's ultimate beneficiaries.
The Government has approved the procedure of issuing subsidies to federal civil servants to acquire housing, allowing government officials to bypass general rules.
A Brussels delegation led by the EU Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso will arrive in Moscow tomorrow. The Europeans will meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday and will also be received by President Dmitry Medvedev. Brussels stresses the political importance of the very fact of the visit.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday announced the Government's milestone decision on the bailout of the Russian banking system. The Government was discussing late into the night not only the additional capitalisation of VEB, Sberbank and VTB worth 800 billion roubles, but also the option of the state buying into the capital of private banks. The amount earmarked for the bailout is 32% of the aggregate capital of Russia's banks. According to Kommersant, the shareholders of Alfa-Bank and Gazprombank are ready to share stakes with government structures. Uralsib is also considering whether to follow suit.
