#18
December 4,
2008
Conversation with Vladimir
Putin
[complete
transcript]
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the
leader of the
United
to his public reception officers or
asked by
telephone, in the form of text
messages and
through the website. The question
and answer
session was broadcast live by
Rossiya and Vesti
channels and the Mayak and Radio
Minutes of Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin's Question and Answer Session
MARIA SITTEL: Good afternoon, I'm
Maria Sittel.
Public reception offices of Prime
Minister
Vladimir Putin, the leader of the
United Russia
party, opened several months ago. In
less than
six months, they have received
hundreds of
thousands of letters from people
around the country.
Those who work with these letters on
a daily
basis are in this room today. We
have also
invited the people who had
personally brought
their letters to Vladimir Putin's
public reception offices.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Welcome to
Vladimir Putin's question and answer
session. I'm
Ernest Mackevicius. With us is Prime
Minister
Vladimir Putin, the leader of the
United Russia party, live.
MARIA SITTEL: Each of you can
address your
questions to Vladimir Putin.
Telephone calls will
be forwarded here, to the
information processing
centre. Our number - you can see it
on your
screens - is 8-800-2004040. Calls
are free. You
can send your text messages to
number 0-40-40, or
ask your questions via www.moskva-putinu.ru.
During today's session, we will link
up with some
of Vladimir Putin's public reception
offices in
different parts of
colleague Ernest Mackevicius and I
will work
together with a group of assistants
Anna Titova,
Pyotr Rovnov and Dmitry
Sedov.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Good afternoon,
Mr Prime Minister.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good
afternoon.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: You were
appointed Prime
Minister over six months ago. How do
you feel in
that office? And could you tell us
about some of your achievements?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: It is not the office
that
matters, but the responsibilities of
a state
post. This job is not new to me. I
chaired the
Government in 1999, and I maintained
close ties
with the Government when I was
President. This is
a very demanding job, especially in
the current
situation. But I am happy I got this
chance to
serve the people in this
position.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: You have hinted
when you
assumed the post that the foreign
economic situation was different.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, of course. In
fact, the
current events in the Russian
economy are a
result of the global financial
crisis. Nobody
needs to be told today - it is a
fact - that the
crisis began in the
financial and economic policy has
resulted in the
crisis, which has spread to nearly
all the
leading economies. It has also
reached
can feel it, but on the whole, our
economic
results in 2008 are positive even
despite the
negative effects of the global
financial crisis.
Let me just remind you of the
figures. The
economic growth target was above 7%,
or more
precisely 7.5%. The annual growth
rate will be
around 7%, possibly 6.8% or 6.9%.
This is good.
What is particularly important for
us is the
results of our efforts in the social
sphere. The
increase in take-home wages will be
approximately
12.6% and pensions slightly more
than 12% - 25%
in nominal figures. Industrial
production growth will be nearly 5% (4.8%).
As for agriculture, it posted
record-high growth
over the past few years, 8.8%. We
have gathered
in a record-large harvest, including
over 100
million metric tons of grain, which
is the highest in many years.
It is true that we have problems
with inflation.
The target figure was slightly above
12%, but
annual inflation is likely to be
13%, because of
the global crisis and because the
Central Bank
and the Finance Ministry had to
inject a huge
amount of liquidity into the
economy. It certainly spurred inflation.
But on the whole, I repeat, the
annual results
will be good despite the global
financial crisis.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Mr Putin, will
you have to
change plans for the future, and if
so, to what extent?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: In principle, we
have no
intention to change any plans, which
is very
important. I am referring also to
the investment
plans of
planned reform of the housing and
utilities
sector, healthcare and compulsory
health
insurance, as well as the planned
reform of education and the pension system.
In addition - I think we will
discuss these
issues in detail later, since there
are bound to
be questions - I want to say at the
beginning of
this session that we will fulfil all
our plans in
the social sphere, all decisions
aimed at
increasing social payments and
pensions.
Everyone knows that some countries
which have
been hit by the crisis are planning
to cut wages
and people's incomes. We will not do
this in the
social sphere. On the contrary, we
intend to
implement all our plans aimed at
increasing allocations.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: The people's
reaction in this
room speaks louder than words. Mr
Putin, when we
were preparing for this session you
selected the
most frequently asked questions,
issues that are
of greatest concern to the people.
And the
biggest question is, will we survive
the crisis?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: To be honest, it is
going to be a
difficult period in the global
economy, including
administratively, financially and
even
politically. But as you know,
bigger troubles in over a thousand
years of its history.
Not very long ago, in the early
1990s, we faced
the problem of territorial
integrity, and
industrial and social
disintegration.
Today the situation in the country
is totally
different. We have a good chance of
getting
through this difficult time - and I
repeat, it
will be a difficult time - with
minimal losses for the economy and the people.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: I want to remind
you that you
can ask the Prime Minister questions
over the
telephone, using text messages and
also online.
The questions are forwarded to the
information
centre where my colleague, Maria
Sittel, is now
working. Masha, we are waiting for
your information.
MARIA SITTEL: Yes, Ernest, the
number of
telephone calls has peaked in the
first few
minutes of our live broadcast.
Text-message
users, which include senior
citizens, are very
active, as can be seen by their
serious and
socially oriented questions. Here
are just a few
remarks highlighting various issues
of interest to Russians.
"Mr Vladimir Putin, please save the
Fatherland!
When will you close all gambling
houses
nationwide? I want my husband to
bring his money
home, not waste it at a casino,"
says a woman
from Dimitrograd in the
Here is another remark, which sounds
more like a
proposal: "I don't remember a single
case when a
civil servant resigned voluntarily
for bad work. Why is this so?"
Naturally, most remarks deal with
the crisis, loans, mortgages and employment.
I am putting through a telephone
call from
Bashkortostan. Hello, what's your
name?
DMITRY SALNIKOV: Good afternoon, Mr
Vladimir
Putin. This is Dmitry Salnikov from
the
We would like to ask you this
question. We are a
young and currently jobless family
because our
company could be shut down anytime
due to the
global crisis. Most locals are also
unemployed
because they used to work for the
metallurgical
sector. What are we supposed to do
in this situation?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I have mentioned
these
difficulties from the very outset.
To be frank,
we started our conversation with
this.
Companies used to expand and hired
the required
number of workers during the
economic development
period and in conditions of soaring
global demand
for some of our traditional
products, including those in the metals industry.
I have already told the United
Russia congress in
this same hall that worldwide metals
consumption
plunged after the automotive
industry curtailed
production. The main US, Japanese
and European
consumers have decreased production
by over 30%, 15% and 20%, respectively.
to export almost 50% of their
products elsewhere.
Naturally, we cannot directly
influence this objective problem.
At the same time, I am absolutely
convinced that
the global market will change, and
that this
country will need more metals and
other
traditional products. Naturally,
human resources,
especially skilled workers, will be
in great demand.
But what can and must be done
today?
As I have already said, we are
raising
unemployment benefits for jobless
people to 4,900
roubles ($175) per month. This is
the first thing.
Moreover, I believe that private and
public
authorities will have to draft an
entire range of
measures in an effort to preserve
jobs wherever
possible and to start implementing
them in the
near future, I mean within the next
few days. On
Tuesday, I discussed this problem
with a large group of regional governors.
The relevant allocations must be
used to finance
retraining courses for the workers
of affected
businesses. We must provide
additional regional
migration opportunities and redirect
human
resources to regions requiring such
resources. We
could pay relocation allowances to
such people.
We must implement public works and
infrastructure
construction projects. We have the
required
funding for accomplishing this
objective and have
also accumulated resources at the
Road Fund,
transport monopoly Russian Railways
and some other major companies.
We will implement this entire range
of measures.
Also, I consider it necessary that
employment
services accumulate the required
funding for
reacting promptly to these most
pressing problems.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Mr Putin, you
mentioned the
aid being rendered by the state to
some other
areas of the economy. But as I
looked through the
questions that arrived at our
website, I see that
not everybody understands these
measures. People
are under the impression that large
banks mainly receive the money.
Here is one question on the subject:
"Are the big
banks worth helping? The banks take
money from
the state at 6% per annum, but lend
at 25%,
including to small and medium-sized
businesses.
Perhaps, it would be better to help
the industry?"
And in general people want to know
if the Reserve
Fund has enough cash to live through
the crisis.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: First about the
banks. Banks are
the circulation system of any
economy. We should
remember the negative consequences
of previous
years or the negative results of
meltdowns in
previous years, for example in 1998,
when the
whole banking system collapsed. We
cannot, of
course, allow this to happen again,
because
behind the banks are not only
industrial
businesses, behind them are millions
of savers -
the ordinary people of
institutions to function properly
and have enough
cash to meet people's interests.
This is why we
are channelling vast resources into
the banking
sector. We have already reported
this figure -
about 5 trillion roubles. The
Central Bank is
allocating all kinds of resources.
Long-term
resources are already on the way, as
are
medium-term resources (although
long-term
resources are in short supply, and
we will
discuss that later) and short-term
resources.
These resources are all available
and are being
injected into the banking
system.
Of course, we worked above all with
banks that
would not squander state money, or
rather your
money, citizens of
by taxpayers. What are these banks?
We call them
"system-forming" banks. These are
banks with
state ownership: Sberbank, VTB
(Vneshtorgbank),
and Gazprombank. Partly, it is VEB
(bank for
foreign economic relations): but
properly
speaking, it is a separate
institution, one
through which we carry out a number
of other
functions. But of course what we see
now is that
these efforts to support only the
banking sector
are not enough, because today's
crisis is largely
unique. The global economy has not
met with a crisis of this size before.
So today we decided to support the
industry
directly through the banking system,
and directly
through the banking sector. I will
tell you now
what I mean by directly. To support
the industry
we allocated 175 billion roubles.
These are
long-term loans which must be
directed to
production or service-based
businesses. At the
same time, we will demand from the
banks that
they report to us on three sectors
to which they
are going to lend money. What are
these sectors?
These are farming, the defence
industry and small
and medium-sized businesses, as well
as a long
list of enterprises which we
recommend.
My starting point is that this might
not be
enough. Currently, we are taking a
close look at
how the banking system operates.
Their problem
today is not that of liquidity, it
is one of
trust - between the banks themselves
and the
banks and the production and
service-based
businesses. Of course, we will be
insisting that
state money reaches the end user.
But this too
might not be enough, and then we
will need to use
other tools. What tools? For
example, joining
directly the capital of large
companies where the
state and the taxpayer will
ultimately benefit;
capital of enterprises that are the
core of the
Russian economy. We are not ruling
out that such
tools could be applied on a wide
scale.
As for the banking sector, this form
of state
participation is already stipulated
through the
Deposit Insurance Agency, which has
been
allocated the necessary resources
totalling 200
billion roubles and which has the
right to join the capital of problem banks.
If necessary, we also consider it
possible to
spread the practice to the industry
in the near future.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: The second part
of my question is about the Reserve Fund.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: When a TV viewer
asks a question
about the Reserve Fund, he probably
means all the
state reserves in general. Because
we have the
Reserve Fund, the National Welfare
Fund and the
gold and currency reserves of the
Central Bank. I
won't dwell on how each of these
funds works, but
I can say that, of course, we have
these
reserves, and they are large.
third biggest gold and currency
reserves in the world.
In fact, I have just received
updated information
from the Central Bank, and for the
first time in
recent weeks we see a growth of the
gold and
currency reserves of the Central
Bank of the
We have been saving these assets to
use them in
case of crises in the world economy
and, as a
consequence, in the Russian economy.
That is what
we are doing. But we will do it
carefully.
What does "carefully"
mean?
We should have a clear idea of how
much currency
flows into the country and because
of the falling
world prices for our main
commodities - energy,
oil, gas, petroleum products,
metals, fertiliser
and some other products ¬- because
of the falling
prices for all these goods in the
world markets
and because we continue spending
significant
amounts of currency on imports, the
inflow and
outflow is regulated by instruments
that are well
known in the economic and financial
sphere, and we will use these instruments.
But we will not allow leaps in the
economy and
sudden changes in the exchange rate
of the
national currency. To secure the
interests of
both the citizens and the economy we
will, if
necessary - and we have done so
before - we will
carefully use the gold and currency
reserves and
the other funds at the Government's
disposal. If
we pursue a balanced, meaningful and
responsible
economic policy, these assets will
be sufficient.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Some people in
the room would also like to ask a question.
Pyotr, I am addressing Pyotr Rovnov,
give them a chance to ask a question.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Yes, Ernest. Who would
like to ask
Vladimir Putin a question? Ask your
question, and please introduce yourself.
ALEXEI LISHENIN: Alexei Lishenin,
afternoon, Mr Putin. On the eve of
the New Year
holiday Russian people have two
problems: where
to buy a Christmas tree and will
We can handle the first problem, but
as for the
second one, I would like to hear
your competent opinion. Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: As for the Christmas
tree, I
think every family that wants to
have one will be
able to buy it, a real or a
synthetic one (people
use synthetic ones more and more
often nowadays).
It creates a certain atmosphere in
communities
and in homes. In general, it is a
very joyful and
beautiful holiday. In spite of all
the problems,
I think people will enjoy seeing the
New Year in.
I would like to take this
opportunity to wish all
of you a very happy New
Year.
As regards
dialogue. It is true that our
Ukrainian partners
have outstanding debts, over $2.5
billion, which
is quite a big amount for Gazprom
and for the country as a whole.
We are aware that the Ukrainian
economy is having
even bigger problems than
metallurgical industry there, as far
as I know,
has dropped not by 50%, like here,
but by 70%,
and that is very serious.
Nevertheless,
commodities cannot be free, everyone
has to pay for them.
Our partners tell us: keep the
prices of the
current year. How can we leave the
prices of the
current year if even today our
Ukrainian partners
get our gas at almost half the price
of what we
get from
towards market prices. We cannot
sell liquid
commodities at half the price or
provide them for
free; we need money ourselves, we
have our own
social problems to solve. A friend
of mine used
to say whenever I asked him a tricky
question
like this, "Are you off your
rocker?"
It's the same situation. Go to
store and say: I want a Mercedes for
free or at
half a price. Who would give it to
you? Why
should we sell gas at half a
price?
But of course we will treat each
other as
partners. We are negotiating for a
smooth
transition. In principle, we have
agreed on price
formation and these are not just
agreements of an administrative nature.
The whole point of our agreements
with our
Ukrainian partners is that we pass
on to market
pricing. The price of gas is linked
to world oil
prices, and if the oil price goes
up, the gas
price goes up to, if oil goes down,
the gas price
goes down and we will then lose some
of our
earnings. But that is fair, we do
not control these prices.
We hope to be able to reach mutual
understanding
with our partners, and we assume
that we will not
have any problems with the transit
of our energy
resources to the main consumers in
Western
will duly abide by these
agreements.
But if our partners fail to honour
these
agreements or, as it has happened in
the past,
siphon off our resources from the
transit
pipeline illegally, we will have to
reduce the
feeding of gas. What else can we do?
We have no other option.
We are going to brief our European
partners on that in the near future.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: The directors
are telling me
that our colleagues in other Russian
cities are
already on line. But I see some
raised hands in
the hall. So, Anna, let us have some
questions from the studio.
ANNA TITOVA: The audience is ready
to join in the
conversation. There are questions in
the front row.
OLEG BELAN: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. Nenets
Autonomous Area. I am Oleg Belan and
I am a deputy of the regional assembly.
Do you think our relations with the
will change after the election of
Barack Obama as
President? Will they become more
pragmatic and constructive? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The question should
be directed
first and foremost to the new US
Administration.
Usually, when there is a change of
power in any
country, especially such a
superpower as the
very much hope that the changes will
be positive.
We see these positive signals. What
are they?
Look at the meeting of NATO foreign
ministers:
both
Membership Action Plan. We already
hear at the
level of experts, the people who are
close to the
President elect and the people
around him, his
aides, that there should be no
hurry, that
relations with
We already hear that the
practicability of
deploying the third position of
missile defence
in
We hear that the relations with
built with respect for our
interests. If these
are not just words, and if they are
translated
into practical policies, then of
course we will
react in kind and our American
partners will immediately feel it.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Prime Minister.
We have a question from
colleague Dmitry Petrov is working
now. Go ahead, Dmitry.
DMITRY PETROV: Good afternoon, Mr
Prime Minister,
colleagues,
Zvezdochka plant, a leading defence
enterprise
producing cutting-edge equipment for
developing
offshore Arctic resources. But it
specialises in
repairing submarines. This beauty
here is the
repaired and will now be prepared
for returning to combat duty.
We have here the plant's workers,
engineers and
designers as well as sailors. All of
them are
directly contributing to the
country's defence
capability, and they have questions
for Mr Putin.
PAVEL PERSHIN: My name is Pavel
Pershin, I am an
engineer at the Zvezdochka plant.
The
Government's attention is now
focused on the
defence sector. We have almost no
problems with
allocations or state contracts. We
hope this
situation will persist despite the
financial
crisis, but it will not solve the
plant's other problems.
The main problem is the depreciation
of fixed
assets. Government allocations to
shipbuilding
are now mostly invested in
research.
The second problem is personnel. In
Soviet times,
people went to work in the north of
the country
because the jobs paid well, but now
I earn as
much as engineers working in central
My question is what will the
Government do to
modernise defence enterprises and to
reinstitute
full-scale salary increases for
personnel working in northern regions?
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I know the
Zvezdochka plant very
well; I have visited it more than
once. In fact,
I even know the submarine I can see
in the
background. I have been on board of
that
submarine as President when I
visited the
Northern Fleet; I even went to sea
in it. My best regards to its crew.
As for the plant, I'm sure you
definitely know
about its financial problems. We are
dealing with
them, and we will not leave the
plant to struggle
with them on its own. We have taken
measures to
improve the financial situation, and
we will continue to help the plant.
As for the salaries, they should
largely and
primarily depend on the plant's
economic
efficiency and work orders. This is
why we plan
to place state contracts at the
Zvezdochka plant
and also to help it to get other,
civilian
contracts. As you know, the plant is
already working on such contracts.
As for pay increases for working in
rigorous
northern conditions, the system is
still in
place. But since there are certain
problems with
it, we have been looking at ways to
improve it.
The same goes for the people who are
planning to
move to other regions after
retiring. I'm sure
people know about the problems I am
talking
about, and we have been tackling
these problems
regularly. We will continue to work
on them.
As for the main question, I want to
repeat that
we will send more contracts to
Zvezdochka and
help to resolve its financial
problems.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: I see people in
this room
want to comment. Dmitry, let people
ask their questions.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Many people have
questions for Mr
Putin, but I think we should give
the floor to
the man in the uniform. Please,
introduce yourself.
ALBERT SLYUSAR: Lieutenant General
Albert
Slyusar, from
International
Force, the Airmobile Force and the
Special Operations Forces.
Mr Prime Minister, the army reform
provides for
dismissing over 200,000 officers and
liquidating
the institute of warrant officers.
This makes
many of them wonder what they would
do in the
future, if they would have housing
and get jobs,
pensions, health and other
insurance.
My second question is if the army
reform will
have a negative effect on the
country's defence capability.
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I expect the reforms
that have
been planned and are being
implemented in the
armed forces will certainly
influence our defence
capability - for the better, by
improving it. This is why we are doing it.
As for the dismissals you mentioned,
we are not
planning mass layoffs. Moreover,
only the
officers who are slated for
retirement - the
first category - will be dismissed
in 2009. The
second category includes officers
conscripted for
two years after finishing military
training at
civilian higher schools, whose
conscription period is ending.
As for warrant officers, we will
stop training
them, but those who wish to continue
serving in
that rank will be able to do so.
Those who wish
to fulfil the same duties as
civilian personnel,
which implies higher pay, can make
their choice.
I repeat, the warrant officers will
not be
dismissed only because they hold
this rank. Their fears are ungrounded.
If some officials go too far, if we
expose
unplanned problems, we will react
immediately. I have no doubt about this.
Now to the housing problem. In 2010
all officers
are to be provided with permanent
housing, and
all servicemen will receive service
housing in 2012.
Our speed in tackling this problem
is high enough
to ensure that we reach these
targets.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Prime Minister.
I suggest that we keep the linkup to
addressed to the information
processing centre
where my colleague Maria Sittel is
working.
Maria, what questions do TV viewers
have for the Prime Minister?
MARIA SITTEL: They concern many
issues, but I
suggest we keep to the military
aspect for the moment.
Mr Prime Minister, a huge number of
young mothers
and young people are sending text
messages and
phoning to ask if it is true the
Government plans
to extend the term of military
service to 32 months instead of one year?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Absolutely not; it
is just an ungrounded rumour.
The decision has been taken to cut
military
service to 12 months, and we are not
going to
change it. I am referring to service
by conscription, of course.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: I can see on the
monitor that
there are not only civilians but
also navy
officers in
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes,
let's.
DMITRY PETROV: Are any Navy
servicemen ready?
Captain Third Class, please
introduce yourself.
VADIM KOLENKO: I am Captain Third
Class Vadim
Kolenko, combat-unit commander with
the strategic missile submarine
Mr Prime
Minister,
In continuation of the Lieutenant
General's
question, I would like to ask you to
explain the
system for acquiring housing under
the programme State Housing Certificates.
Many submarine crews are solving
their problems
with the help of this programme. The
concerned
parties have already raised the
issue of bringing
housing certificates' value in
conformity with
the market value of one square metre
of housing.
I will be discharged in 2010 at
retirement age.
So, my first question is: Will my
comrades and I
be able to obtain housing in line
with these certificates?
Second, how do you plan to provide
housing to
military personnel serving in the
Far North?
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Please forgive me if
I am
mistaken on some details, but the
statistics
will, nonetheless, be fairly
accurate. In early
2008, one certificate cost 26,400
roubles. In the
first six months of 2008, we raised
the value of
these certificates. Today, one
certificate costs
about 28,500 roubles nationwide and
nearly 34,800
roubles in
One square metre of housing costs an
average of
28,000 roubles nationwide.
Consequently, each
certificate has an adequate value.
To be fair, it
should be noted that, although one
certificate
costs 34,000 roubles in
local housing is worth about
42,000-44,000 roubles.
But every cloud has a silver lining.
I proceed
from the premise that nationwide
housing prices,
including those in
go down. Consequently, these
certificates will
make it possible to buy apartments
even in sprawling megalopolises.
Naturally, this will be more
difficult in
and
42,000-44,000, while the certificate
is worth 34,000 roubles.
In addition, we are allocating
another 21 billion
roubles for the Defence Ministry
which will use
the funding to buy complete or
nearly complete
apartments for military personnel on
the market.
This means that the Defence Ministry
will be able
to buy another 10,000 apartments for
military
personnel. This is an impressive
amount.
The
have now agreed that the
administration will
compensate the gap between
34,000-rouble
certificates and 42,000-rouble
market prices (the
average price of one sq m for
We would make considerable headway,
if we manage
to reach a similar agreement with
score. I hope Mr Luzhkov can hear
me.
I want to repeat once again that, on
the whole,
we are convinced that we will solve
the private-housing problem in 2010.
As to your question about the
allocation of
housing for active military
personnel, they will
receive service apartments. We plan
to completely solve this problem by 2012.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. Thank you,
Let's move on.
ANNA TITOVA: Excuse me, Ernest, but
what about
mortgages? People are asking many
questions on
this issue. Everyone is really
concerned about
housing. Let's give the audience a
chance to ask
one more question on the
subject.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Tell us your
name, please.
NATALIA GOGOL:
Hello.
My name is Natalia Gogol, I am an
accountant from the Moscow Region.
I would like to tell you that banks
have been
refusing to issue mortgage loans
lately under
various pretexts. Some set
prohibitive rates, and
it becomes virtually impossible, or
at least not
easy, to take out a loan. Some banks
insist that
customers clear any outstanding
loans first. Will
the Government do something about
this? What are we to do? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The rates are
rising, I admit. It
is an effect of the global financial
crisis, its
repercussions for the Russian
economy. It is also
happening because the Central Bank
is compelled
to raise its refinance rate in order
to prevent
further outflow of capital from the
country. I
won't go deep into economic theory
here, there
have been a lot of proposals on how
to mitigate
the negative effects on consumers,
how to
encourage consumer demand and also
housing construction.
As for the banks' demands of early
clearance of
mortgage loans, it is basically a
civil law
issue. If your loan agreement
contains a
recapture clause stating that, if
the collateral
value drops, the bank has the right
to require
additional collateral amount, then
the bank's
demand is formally legitimate.
Usually banks ask
their clients to repay part of the
principal
loan. However, banks really
shouldn't be doing
this, because they end up with the
same problem
as their borrowers: property as
collateral. The
bank won't be able to liquidate an
apartment easily now.
This is a separate issue we have
already
discussed. Here is what we could do.
I think the
Government could issue state
guarantees to banks
through the Agency for Housing
Mortgage Lending.
The banks could use these guarantees
to solve
their financial problems rather than
"terrorise"
their customers. I think it would be
the best solution for all.
If there are more questions, I can
talk about it in more detail later.
Go ahead,
please.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: But there are
many questions
about the same problem, Mr Putin: "I
lost my job,
I cannot make my mortgage payments,
please help me keep my home."
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Then let's discuss
the problem
further. It is certainly a very
sensitive issue.
I can understand people who find
themselves in
this situation, one of life's major
emergencies.
Persons losing their jobs, or their
employers
shortening their hours or wages due
to global
economic and financial turmoil - but
one still
has to make regular mortgage
payments. What is to
be done in such cases? Can the
Government help? Yes it can and it must. How?
Here is what we propose. For those
who lost their
jobs or whose pay was cut
dramatically - I will
repeat that we plan to issue state
guarantees
through the Agency for Housing
Mortgage Lending.
The Agency can take over mortgage
certificates on
condition that the bank revises the
agreement
with the borrower. With these
certificates, the
bank can even raise liquidity by
applying to the Central Bank.
I think we should try to implement
the proposals
I am formulating now as soon as
possible, because
they will help those Russians who
got in trouble,
and rehabilitate the banking
system.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Tell us your
name, please.
NATALIA GOGOL:
Hello.
My name is Natalia Gogol, I am an
accountant from the Moscow Region.
I would like to tell you that banks
have been
refusing to issue mortgage loans
lately under
various pretexts. Some set
prohibitive rates, and
it becomes virtually impossible, or
at least not
easy, to take out a loan. Some banks
insist that
customers clear any outstanding
loans first. Will
the Government do something about
this? What are we to do? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The rates are
rising, I admit. It
is an effect of the global financial
crisis, its
repercussions for the Russian
economy. It is also
happening because the Central Bank
is compelled
to raise its refinance rate in order
to prevent
further outflow of capital from the
country. I
won't go deep into economic theory
here, there
have been a lot of proposals on how
to mitigate
the negative effects on consumers,
how to
encourage consumer demand and also
housing construction.
As for the banks' demands of early
clearance of
mortgage loans, it is basically a
civil law
issue. If your loan agreement
contains a
recapture clause stating that, if
the collateral
value drops, the bank has the right
to require
additional collateral amount, then
the bank's
demand is formally legitimate.
Usually banks ask
their clients to repay part of the
principal
loan. However, banks really
shouldn't be doing
this, because they end up with the
same problem
as their borrowers: property as
collateral. The
bank won't be able to liquidate an
apartment easily now.
This is a separate issue we have
already
discussed. Here is what we could do.
I think the
Government could issue state
guarantees to banks
through the Agency for Housing
Mortgage Lending.
The banks could use these guarantees
to solve
their financial problems rather than
"terrorise"
their customers. I think it would be
the best solution for all.
If there are more questions, I can
talk about it in more detail later.
Go ahead,
please.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: But there are
many questions
about the same problem, Mr Putin: "I
lost my job,
I cannot make my mortgage payments,
please help me keep my home."
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Then let's discuss
the problem
further. It is certainly a very
sensitive issue.
I can understand people who find
themselves in
this situation, one of life's major
emergencies.
Persons losing their jobs, or their
employers
shortening their hours or wages due
to global
economic and financial turmoil - but
one still
has to make regular mortgage
payments. What is to
be done in such cases? Can the
Government help? Yes it can and it must. How?
Here is what we propose. For those
who lost their
jobs or whose pay was cut
dramatically - I will
repeat that we plan to issue state
guarantees
through the Agency for Housing
Mortgage Lending.
The Agency can take over mortgage
certificates on
condition that the bank revises the
agreement
with the borrower. With these
certificates, the
bank can even raise liquidity by
applying to the Central Bank.
I think we should try to implement
the proposals
I am formulating now as soon as
possible, because
they will help those Russians who
got in trouble,
and rehabilitate the banking
system.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. Now
let's take one more question from
the audience.
Mr Rovnov, let it come from the left
side.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Who wants to ask Mr
Putin a question? Please introduce yourself.
VLADIMIR BELOUSOV: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin. My
name is Vladimir Belousov and I am
from the
National Society of Motorists,
chairman of its Moscow regional organisation.
Motorists and, as I understand, all
people
employed in industry, are asking the
same
question: with world oil prices
plummeting across
the board, will our fuel prices
finally come down? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: That's a very good
question, and
people are, of course, right to ask
it. Oil
prices on world markets have fallen
by half or
even two-thirds, while inside the
country there
has been an insignificant, if any,
reduction in them. Why is that?
Mr Belousov, what is happening is
this: even when
oil prices were high, we took most
of oil
companies' windfall profits away
from them and
into the budget - through export and
customs
duties and taxes, as much as 80% and
sometimes
even 90%. It was thanks to these
revenues that we
formed most of the country's gold
and hard
currency reserves, which today, as I
said
earlier, are the third largest in
the world -
$450 billion. They are our "safety
cushion" and
allow us to make things easier
during the crisis for millions of people.
What is happening today? Today we
have slightly
reduced the tax burden on the oil
and gas sector,
but it still remains quite high. Oil
companies
are, of course, suffering losses and
now that
world prices are down and taxes
still high, they
are trying to make money at the
expense of
domestic consumers. True, it is also
in a way the
state's policy, and it can be
discussed with deputies.
What is actually happening? At the
expense of
people with large or even medium
incomes, at the
expense of people who can afford to
have a car
and buy petrol, we are withdrawing
revenues into
the budget and distribute them among
those badly
in need: the unemployed, the
disabled, the
retired, and servicemen. But, of
course, there
are limits and we should always seek
the golden mean.
Oil companies today lose $68 per
tonne of
exported oil. What is more, when we
announced we
were reducing the mineral resource
extraction tax
from December 1, they simply stopped
shipments to
avoid having to pay extra into the
budget. We
made them resume the shipments and
replenished
the budget, while they honoured
their promises to
consumers. But this means losses for
them, of course.
From January 1, 2009, we are planning a
further
reduction in the resource extraction
tax. In this
case, many companies will break even
or be
slightly in the black, if we
disregard their
current investment spending. But we
will discuss
this topic separately. And we expect
that our
next steps to lessen the tax burden
will no doubt
bring down domestic prices inside
Russia.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. Now I
will again give the floor to Ms
Sittel, to be
followed by a direct link-up with
Khabarovsk. But
first Maria Sittel. Please, go
ahead.
MARIA SITTEL: Work is in full swing;
operators
are receiving phone calls real-time
and are
processing text messages and e-mails
from the
site. It is too early to give any
comparative
statistics, see which region is the
most active.
Most likely, we will be able to do
it only after the air.
But what I can say with statistical
accuracy: up
to this minute the information
processing centre
has received 1,310,000 calls and
550,000 text
messages. Interestingly, despite
being shorter,
some text messages are not second to
phone calls
in terms of meaningfulness. Here is
a short,
terse and emotional text message:
"To Putin. From
Nadezhda Mukhanova, a pensioner, 68
years old. My
pension is 3,500 roubles, fire wood
costs 10,000 roubles. How can I survive?"
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Of course
metropolitan residents
and the majority of people in this
country might
think such a problem is
insignificant. But in
fact it is a serious problem for
people living in
rural areas; I am well aware of it.
It is not
simply a matter of pensions,
although it is
obvious that pensions must be
raised. Certainly,
if more questions of this kind are
voiced today,
we will touch upon the outlook for
the pension
system's development. Undoubtedly,
pensions must be raised.
As for the fire wood Nadezhda
Mukhanova asks
about, this problem is addressed in
the framework
of the notorious Law No. 122 that
states the
responsibility for timely fire wood
supply to
rural areas be attached to local
governments,
which in turn are to allot adequate
funds to
municipal authorities. When
purchases are made on
a centralised basis, by municipal
authorities
proper, they sell fire wood at
10,000; and they
can actually make a bid of 20,000.
But if money
is given directly to people, as a
rule, they
manage to find other distributors
whose prices are two or three times lower.
Unfortunately, I do not know where
Nadezhda
Mukhanova lives; it is necessary to
check what is
happening in the region, territory
or republic
where this TV viewer lives. If we
are able to
find out after the programme, I will
try my best
to take the necessary steps. Of
course, I hope
for local governments' support as
well.
I would like to reiterate that this
problem is
being addressed rather effectively.
I know that
in some regions, for example, in the
Tyumen
Region, there is no such problem
anymore, which
means that it can be resolved
effectively in other constituent entities too.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: If you don't
mind it, I would
like to read a text message on
foreign affairs:
"Europe withstands the world crisis
better than
the US. Perhaps it makes sense to
step up efforts
towards integration with
Europe?"
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know we pursue
multi-vector
foreign and foreign economic
policies. We
cooperate with Asia's actively
developing
markets, with the countries of the
Asia-Pacific
region; we interact both with Latin
America, and
the US, which is one of our major
trade and
economic partners; and I hope it
will remain so in the future.
As to Europe, it is still our major
partner. The
European Union accounts for over 50%
of trade
turnover with Russia. As far as I
remember, its
share reached 53%, or even more.
Furthermore, we
do not simply trade with the
European Union - in
the general economy, in its key
areas, real
integration is taking place. One
such area is certainly the energy industry.
I made this point already, and I can
repeat it.
We admitted a number of European
companies -
Finnish, Italian and German - to our
energy
sector; they acquired the biggest
blocks of
shares with our power companies,
invested
literally billions of dollars and
euros. We
invite such investments. We admitted
them to
participate in the development of
hydrocarbons - both oil and gas.
I have to do justice to our European
partners.
For their part, they ventured the
construction of
new routes for our energy resource
supplies to
Europe. An excellent example is the
constructing
of the North Stream gas pipeline and
our plans
for the South Stream, as well as
some other
projects. Europeans have also
admitted us to
their energy transport system,
namely the trunk
pipeline. These are very good
examples of
integration in a crucial economic
sphere: energy.
This cooperation will increase the
transparency,
reliability and stability of both
the Russian and
European economies. We will continue
pursuing
this policy. Also, one can see
obvious progress in politics.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of
prejudice. Some
attitudes are taken from the past;
there are a
lot of phobias, especially in the
so-called New
Europe. But I think that those
nations,
especially their governments, will
eventually
come to realise that it is necessary
to face the
future instead of clinging to the
past.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank
you.
I suggest that we come back to the
regions. It is
no secret that the most frequent
questions people
send to our editorial office and to
your public
reception offices have to do with
the social
sphere, above all with healthcare.
So, the staff
at your reception office in
Khabarovsk went to a regional health centre.
Let us hear from Khabarovsk. Russia
Channel's
Pavel Zarubin is at the health
centre now.
PAVEL ZARUBIN: Hallo, Moscow. Good
afternoon, Mr Putin.
Welcome to Khabarovsk, the capital
of the Far
East, the city whose picture adorns
the 5,000
rouble note and which has more than
once been
named as the most comfortable city
in Russia to live.
It also has perhaps one of the best
perinatal
centres in the country, which is
where we are at
the moment. A new building is to be
opened here
tomorrow. The doctors here will use
state-of-the-art technology to bring
babies to
life, even if they are in a critical
condition.
Today the Centre's staff, patients
and simply
people who live in Khabarovsk have
all gathered
here. I think, let's get down to
questions. So,
raise your hands if you want to ask
a question.
Though it's a perinatal centre, the
young man
there has raised his hand the
highest. Introduce yourself, please.
STANISLAV KHARIZOV: Good afternoon.
My name is
Stanislav Kharizov, and I'm a
student. I am very
fond of my little sister, and I
always worry
about her, and this leads me to my
question.
Throughout the last year all my
family including
myself had queued up for a very long
time to get
her a place at a kindergarten, and
we had to
confirm every month, standing in
queues, that we
wanted my sister to go to that
particular
kindergarten. I realised talking to
the people in
these huge crowds that there are not
enough
kindergartens in our city. However,
passing by
the kindergarten where I went when I
was a child,
I saw with regret that it had been
turned into a hotel for the Chinese.
Mr Putin, I would like to ask a
question. I
expect to have a family of my own at
some time in
the future. How will this issue,
this mess be dealt with in the future?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I am sorry if that
sector in
Khabarovsk is in a mess. But judging
from the
fact that you are now at a top-level
health
centre, there are also many positive
things in Khabarovsk.
I know your Governor well. Viktor
Ishayev is an
efficient and very experienced man,
he knows
which link in the chain to pull
first, as our
classics used to say, in order to
pull the whole
chain. As for kindergartens, it is
true that
there are not enough of them. Part
of the reason is the growing birthrate.
I cannot help being glad at what is
happening in
this sphere. In spite of many
problems, the
Government's efforts are bringing
results. The
birthrate this year has grown by
about 7 percent,
the highest growth in the last 15
years. I won't
cite the absolute figures, but it is
about 7 percent.
As for kindergartens, that is above
all the
responsibility of the regions and
cities. At the
federal level, we will do everything
to encourage
that work, we will help the regions
to do it, but
I would like to tell you that the
shortage of
places at kindergartens all over
Russia has
dropped by 30 percent in 2008 alone.
That is a major step forward.
If the problem is not being solved
as quickly as
it should be in the Khabarovsk
Territory, I think
that Viktor Ishayev and the people
who work with
him, his team, should pay more
attention to this.
Let me repeat, if necessary, the
Government, the
federal centre, is prepared to
help.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Khabarovsk, stay
on the line,
I've seen some raised hands, and
they are
probably questions about similar
issues.
Dmitry, let us have another question
for the Prime Minister.
DMITRY SEDOV: Yes, Ernest, we are
ready to join
in the conversation. Who will ask a
question?
Let's have a question from a woman.
Please
introduce yourself and ask your
question.
SVETLANA ROMANCHUK: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin. My
name is Svetlana Romanchuk, and I am
from the
city of Ivanovo. I am a doctor, a
cardiologist.
My question is about Federal Law
122. We have
many problems with providing people
who are
entitled to social benefits with
costly
medicines. For example diabetics,
cancer
patients, those on kidney dialysis,
who have had
heart surgery in the first year
after the
operation. I would like to ask you,
as the leader
of the United Russia party, to
instruct its
members in the State Duma to revise
that law. In
our opinion, as it stands today, it
calls for reworking.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: It is true that
providing people
entitled to benefits with drugs is
an acute
problem. While I admit it, I would
remind you
that a massive effort was mounted to
address it
in 2004 and since then progress has
been fast.
Let's be honest, before that time
subsidised
medicines were impossible to get
because they did
not exist. Since then subsidies for
medicines have increased seven-fold.
A further problem cropped up in
2007. How did it arise?
If you remember, we determined a
social package
of benefits, which at the time were
worth 450
roubles, and people were free to
choose whether
to take the cash or the benefits.
Those who did
not need expensive medicines, chose
cash. Only
the people who really suffer from
serious
diseases and need costly medicines
have kept the
benefits. So, there was not enough
money to
provide these people with all the
medicines they needed.
If you remember, or if you know, we
greatly
increased the funding, we identified
a special
group of people suffering from grave
diseases who
need medicines. That group, and it
is not a large
group, 54,000 if I am not mistaken,
has by and
large been provided with medicines.
That group
includes people who need organ
transplants, you
mentioned a kidney a moment
ago.
Of course, it would be good to
increase that
group at the expense of those who do
not need
such costly treatment, but are
nevertheless
included in the category of patients
who need
costly drugs. The Government, United
Russia or
any other parties cannot just wish
this problem
away. It depends on the budget
potential. Still,
we should look into it. We will
think about it.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Maria Sittel is
signalling to
me that we've got questions about
health. Is that right, Maria?
MARIA SITTEL: Yes, we started
getting them a
while ago, as health insurance is
one of the most painful issues.
Mr Putin, I am for increasing the
birth rate and
a positive demographic situation in
the country.
We have a question from the web
site. Women
giving birth to a second child are
entitled to
maternity capital, but a concerned
mother is
pointing to a drawback in the law on
maternity
capital, according to which a
first-time mother
giving birth to twins or triplets is
not entitled to the money.
This doesn't seem fair, because she
still has two
or three children, doesn't
she?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, this is true,
but the point
at issue, as I said when answering
the fist
question, is the size of the
budget.
We decided that maternity capital
would be
provided to the families and the
mothers who give
birth to a second child. We may
consider the
problem again, and try to make
amendments to it,
but the deputies will first have to
calculate how
fast our social obligations with
grow, and if we will be able to meet them.
Somebody asked at the beginning of
this session
if we would be able to meet our
obligations in
conditions of the current crisis,
and I replied
firmly that yes, we will be able to
do so. The
question Maria has formulated calls
for
additional resources and
calculations. On the
other hand, we are trying to
encourage the
families that have decided to have
more children.
This brings me to the issue of
mortgages, which
we've also received questions about.
I believe
that the use of maternity capital in
the amounts
planned to begin on January 1, 2010
may be moved
to early 2009 in view of the
financial problems
in the world and in this country, so
as to allow
the families and mothers to use this
money to pay off their mortgages.
To be able to do so, we need to
amend legislation
and the budget. I am going to issue
a directive
to the Government today, and I'm
confident that
the United Russia party and other
parties in the State Duma will support it.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Maria, you
probably did not
hear but Mr Putin has asked you
personally what
you have done to improve the
demographic situation. I repeat this question.
MARIA SITTEL: I have a wonderful
daughter, but I
promise to work on this problem some
more in the future.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank
you.
Back to work. We have Khabarovsk on
the line.
Pavel, do you have any more
questions?
PAVEL ZARUBIN: Yes, Ernest, you
probably saw many
raised hands here, many questions.
Please, any more questions?
OKSANA KLIMOVA: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My name
is Oksana Klimova. I'd like to
express the pain
of many people who live in the Far
East. We feel
detached from central Russia, since
many families
cannot buy train or air tickets,
because air
tickets cost around 30,000 roubles
or even more.
My kid asked me if we could go to St
Petersburg
for winter holidays, but I said
No.
What will be done for the healthcare
and
education professionals to help them
afford such luxury?
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I agree that this is
an acute
problem which badly needs a
solution. It has many component parts.
First, it is the pool of our
aircraft, and what I
mean is not so much their safety as
their
economic efficiency, or rather
economic inefficiency.
The planes made back in Soviet times
consume too
much fuel, are not competitive, and
hence are
loss-making. This prompts the
following question:
Should we allow our air carriers to
buy foreign
planes and in this way stop the
revival of the
national aircraft industry, or must
they continue
to use technically sound but
inefficient Soviet-made aircraft?
I think the solution lies somewhere
in-between,
as it often happens. We will allow
airlines,
first, to buy such aircraft as our
industry will
not produce and, second, to lease
the aircraft
our industry plans to manufacture.
We will lease
foreign-made aircraft and will
return them as
soon as we start producing the
aircraft of the
same quality, noise and fuel
standards. So much for the first problem.
The second problem concerns
refuelling centres.
As we have said before, we need to
get rid of
monopolies on the market, which
prevent airlines
from buying jet fuel at market, not
inflated
prices. We will continue to address
this problem persistently.
And finally, the third problem. To
defuse the
situation - and what you have said
here is
creating problems not only for the
people but
also for the state, as it is easier
to fly to
South Korea than to Moscow... This
will not do,
because this is affecting the
country's territorial integrity.
So, to deal with this problem we
will subsidise
air travel beginning in 2009. As far
as I know,
amendments have been made worth 2.5
billion
roubles for 2009 and 5 billion
roubles for 2010.
I don't think this will be enough,
but we'll see.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin, and thank you, Khabarovsk.
Indeed, this is a very serious
problem, a painful
problem for our big country. Here is
an example,
since you have touched on this
issue. When
KrasAir went bankrupt in the
Krasnoyarsk
Territory, Aeroflot started to make
flights from
Norilsk to Krasnoyarsk. As a result
prices have
grown several-fold, from 6,500
roubles to 18,000
and 32,000 roubles. And I am talking
about an
economy class ticket within a single
region.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: What can I say? You
know that
some financial organisations, some
banks took
deposits from clients offering them
huge interest
rates, but then went bankrupt
putting the people into a difficult situation.
I don't know how the company you
mentioned
worked, but I will assume that low
ticket prices
could be one of the reasons for
their subsequent
financial problems. But this does
not mean that
the company that has taken over
their
responsibilities can raise prices
endlessly. This
problem has many elements to it, and
I have
mentioned the elements we need to
address. But
the Antimonopoly Service must also
monitor the
situation on the air transportation
market.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you. We
are back in
touch with the information
processing centre and
Maria Sittel. Go ahead,
Maria.
MARIA SITTEL: Thank you, Ernest. We
have been on
the air for more than one hour
already. It is
difficult to say which topic comes
first and
which second - we have loans,
housing, and health
services. Basically, all the issues
we've been
discussing. We've received 1,333,000
telephone
calls and 560,000 text messages.
Some of the
messages are as long as emails,
because one
message can hold up to 400
characters, and you
can imagine how you need to press
small buttons
on the phone 400 times to write your
question. And we have such messages.
Here comes a telephone call. Sorry,
we've lost
the connection here. Now let us try
another line.
Perhaps we will be lucky
there.
Hello, you are on the air. Omsk, can
you hear us?
Good afternoon, introduce yourself
and ask your question.
NINA SMIRNOVA: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My name
is Nina Smirnova, I'm from Omsk and
I'm retired.
I have this question for you. Of
course, I
understand that our country is in a
difficult
position because of the crisis. You
know, in Omsk
we have very high utilities tariffs.
And I would
like to ask you to postpone raising
them until
the economy gets steady. Is that
possible?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I hope you can hear
me, Ms
Smirnova. Of course, this is one of
the problems,
and a very old one. We can postpone
everything,
but it is not just a question of
tariffs. Let me
try to explain my attitude to this
problem.
Firstly, 80% of our networks are
worn out. If the
system continues to be
under-financed, it will
collapse entirely. Last year,
utilities went up
by 15% to 17%. Next year they will
be the
responsibility of the regions, but
we will follow developments there closely.
Many things contribute to tariff
growth. One of
them is a monopolised services
market. We have
set up a fund for reforming the
housing and
utilities totalling 240 billion
roubles, a huge
amount, and we are not using the
money elsewhere,
despite financial difficulties: the
money has
been allocated and will be used for
its stated
purpose. But we intend to give it
only to the
regions that make their own moves to
improve the
housing and utilities
situation.
These moves can be of different
kinds, and the regions know that.
The first is to abolish the monopoly
so that the
"insider" organisations and
companies at the
municipal level do not charge
monopoly-high service tariffs and prices.
The second is to set up housing
partnerships and
hand over blocks of flats and
housing stock to them in good condition.
There also are some other factors.
One of the
most serious ones is tariffs charged
by the
so-called infrastructure monopolies
- Gazprom and
the electric power companies. Just
yesterday we
discussed them with Governors. Your
concern is understandable.
These large companies look to these
tariffs
because they are included in their
investment
programmes and they pay for metals
bought from
our metal companies, for building
materials, etc.
That is to say, they serve to
preserve jobs and
keep afloat whole sectors of the
economy.
Nevertheless I can agree with you
that we can
demand from the infrastructure
monopolies that
they at least slow down the growth
of utilities,
remembering that the price of
materials they need
to purchase to implement their
investment
programmes is also falling due to
current
economic developments. We will try
to keep their
effects on ordinary people as low as
possible.
MARIA SITTEL: Mr Putin, among the
text messages
and telephone calls received there
are also many
personal letters. Perhaps, we can
pass them to
you after the question-and-answer
session.
But here is one message about the
tiger cub you
received as a present on your
birthday.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The cub has been
moved to a zoo,
where it feels good and receives
good care from
specialists. The zoo is in the
Krasnodar
Territory. Everyone who wants to,
can see it there.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: I
see.
Maria, I have this text message:
"What will
happen to the rouble, and what is
the best bank deposit currency?"
VLADIMIR PUTIN: As I have already
said, national,
Central Bank, and Government gold
and currency
reserves, Government reserves, the
National
Welfare Fund, and the Reserve Fund
allow us to
avoid sharp national currency rate
fluctuations.
I proceed from the premise that we
will not allow
this to happen. There will be no
sharp
fluctuations in the rouble's
exchange rate.
Naturally, the rouble's rate will be
adjusted to
some extent in connection with
global market
prices for our traditional products,
namely,
fuel, energy and metals, as I
already mentioned, and fertiliser.
I want to repeat once again that we
receive the
bulk of foreign currency proceeds
from such
exports, and that we must service
substantial
imports still being received by our
country. This is a natural outflow.
The influx and outflow must be
balanced. Gold and
currency reserves, as well as
national currency
rate fluctuations, largely
facilitate this
process. I repeat, we will not make
any abrupt moves.
Every person can choose any bank
deposit
currency. Those going abroad often
should convert
part of their deposits into foreign
currency. As
you know, European and US economies
are facing
major problems. National currency
rates directly
depend on the state of the economy.
For those who
live in Russia, buy goods and
services in Russia,
rouble is a preferable currency. I
repeat,
everyone is free to make this
choice.
Incidentally, we have no intention
of restricting
those liberal currency and money
import-export
regulations that were introduced on
July 1, 2007,
when the currency market was
liberalised
completely. We do not plan to
abolish such regulations.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin.
I think it's time we returned to
regional
questions. I would like to say that
when we were
preparing for today's live
broadcast, we noted
that nearly one-third of all
messages came from
rural dwellers. Most of them are
offended that
Moscow does not pay enough attention
to rural problems and forgets about them.
Our next live broadcast is from the
Maisky state
farm in the Tatarstan Republic's
Zelenodolsky
District. Our correspondent, Yevgeny
Rozhkov, is working there.
Yevgeny, you have the
floor.
YEVGENY ROZHKOV: Good afternoon,
Ernest. Good afternoon, Mr Putin.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good
afternoon.
YEVGENY ROZHKOV: Indeed, this is the
Maisky
greenhouse farm in Osinovo village,
Tatarstan. I
am surrounded by greenhouses that
cover a huge
area of 50 hectares. The farm grows
cucumbers,
tomatoes, and vegetables without any
chemical additives.
As you can see, everyone here is
wearing a white
gown or other uniforms. I want to
assure: We did
not tell our workers to put on these
clothes just
for the sake of this live
broadcast.
We would not be allowed to work here
without such
uniforms, because every greenhouse
has its own
micro-climate and humidity levels.
We even have
our own bees and bumblebees flying
all over the
place. This is why we are here
today.
We have a lot of questions to ask.
They have told
me that local workers and people
from other farms
and Tatarstan districts have come
here. Let's hear their questions.
So, who wants to ask a
question?
LYUSIANA ZAHVATOVA: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin.
My name is Lyusana, and I am a
greenhouse
agronomist. We grow environmentally
friendly,
pure, and safe products, but are
having trouble
selling our fresh vegetables at
stores that are
often overflowing with imported
products.
Because of this, many greenhouse
farms curtail
production. Some of them stop
working and are shut down.
How can we survive in such
conditions? Maybe we
should introduce some tough
product-import
standards, making it possible to buy
the same
fresh and environmentally sound
products. Mr
Putin, what do you think about
this?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Judging by your
working
conditions, namely, the
micro-climate and white
gowns, it appears that the situation
at your
company is not very bad, and even
good.
However, I don't know anything about
your
company's economic performance. If
you feel that
there are problems, then such
problems really exist.
What are we doing in this sphere,
and what are
our subsequent plans? First, we are
trying to
limit red meat, namely, pork, beef,
and even
poultry, imports. Surely, you know
about this.
We cannot stop such imports or bring
them down to
critical levels because, frankly
speaking, our
agricultural sector is still unable
to fully meet the demand of large cities.
We must heed the interests of
agricultural
producers and consumers, especially
those in
large cities, so that our actions in
the
customs-tariffs sphere do not cause
sharp and unjustified food price hikes.
As far as the plant-growing sector
is concerned,
the Government regularly and
annually introduces
additional seasonal restrictions
precisely when
our agricultural producers are
offering their products on the market.
Nevertheless, if you feel that,
judging by your
company's economic performance, this
is not
enough, I promise you that the
Economic
Development Ministry and the
Agriculture Ministry
- I'm sure the heads of the
concerned departments
are watching our dialogue - will be
ordered today
after our session to once again
analyse the
situation with imported
plant-growing sector
products and to submit the relevant
proposals.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Could Tatarstan
stay on the
line, please? I think we have
related questions
from Moscow. Dmitry, you have the
floor.
DMITRY SEDOV: People in this part of
the room
want to ask about agriculture. There
is a lot of
interest here. I hope we will soon
know exactly
what the people want to ask, for
example, in this
row, I've seen raised hands
there.
Please, introduce
yourself.
NIKOLAI PUSTOVALOV: My name is
Nikolai
Pustovalov, from the Penza Region, a
farmer growing grain and sugar beet.
This year we have gathered a record
large grain
harvest, at a prime cost of 3
roubles per
kilogram, but the market price is
2.70 roubles
now. Where is the 5.50 promised by
the
Agriculture Ministry and subsidies
for farmers?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The promise is on
the market. I
don't know why the promise has not
reached you
yet, but I can tell you that we have
allocated
over 30 billion roubles, I think it
is 34 billion
roubles, to the Agriculture Ministry
from the
budget for this purpose. We have
purchased 2.5
million tonnes of grain at a price
that is above
the market price, at 5,000 roubles,
and at 6,000
roubles in the Urals and Siberia. I
repeat, we
have purchased 2.5 million and the
Ministry is
now buying 5,000 tonnes per week. We
will keep up
the pace until we use up all of the
allocations.
We have recently discussed the
possibility of
allocating more funds. In principle,
the budget
and the Finance Ministry are ready
to do so. The
problem lies with the producers, who
are now
asking more often that they be
offered affordable
railway tariffs for exporting
surplus grain.
I repeat once again that we are
ready to invest
all of the more than 30 billion
roubles to make
purchases on the domestic market,
and we are even
prepared to increase that amount.
The funds may
not have reached some farms yet,
including yours,
but the system is working. I hope
you will
contribute to the 500 kilograms to
be sold weekly.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. I repeat
that we have Tatarstan on the line,
and can take
one more question from the Maisky
farm.
YEVGENY ROZHKOV: Your question,
please. Introduce yourself.
VLADIMIR APAGOV: Vladimir Apagov, a
farmer. I
have been working on this farm for
18 years.
Good afternoon, Mr
Putin.
We get a good harvest from our 715
hectares,
increasing quality and working
standards, but our
profits are still falling because we
are selling
grain below the prime cost. Our only
salvation is
potato and vegetables, which we sell
at prices
set 10-12 years ago, because nobody
buys them at
other prices. But this year
fertiliser and fuel
prices have doubled, increasing the
price gap.
The main reason for this is the
absence of clear
rules of the game at the state
level, honest and
fair rules for agricultural
producers, above all farmers.
So, my question is, will the state
participate in
setting prices of agricultural
products?
And I also have a request from the
farmers. We
would like to ask for your personal
help in
facilitating adopting programmes and
regulations
to help individual farmers and small
farms,
because the livings standards in
rural areas depend on them.
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You are right; there
is such a
problem, and it has existed for many
years. I
mean the disparity of prices in the
energy sector
and in agriculture. We have been
trying, with
varying success, to solve this
problem.
This is what we have done this year:
we have
allocated an additional 10 billion
roubles to
cover the price gap in the fuel
sector. If
necessary - we have coordinated the
issue with
the Agriculture Minister, who
maintains contacts
with agricultural producers - we
will analyse the
result and possibly increase
allocations in the
first quarter of next year. We have
also
allocated additional funds for
fertilisers.
In general, it must be said that
this year we
have nearly doubled allocations
under different
agricultural assistance programmes.
I'm sure you
know what we have done within the
national
project of agricultural development,
subsidising
interest rates and establishing
different funds,
including regional ones, to support
small farms.
Another measure is connected with
the decision to
refinance 100% of interest rates for
certain
types of investment projects in
agriculture. And
we will look for other methods of
assistance, we will certainly do.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin, and thanks you, Maisky.
Back to the telephone group and
Maria Sittel.
Maria, what questions are the people
asking?
MARIA SITTEL: The operators are
working
selflessly, with tens of thousands
of telephone
calls per second. Not every caller
succeeds; the
telephone lines are so busy it seems
to me I can feel the ringing vibrations.
As for the people who want to ask
their
questions, some are extremely
persistent. The
operators say one of them is now on
the line.
Let's put him on the air. Hello,
please introduce yourself.
OLEG YAKOVLEV: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My name is Oleg Yakovlev, from Penza.
A terrible tragedy happened in South
Ossetia in
August. Is it true you said you were
going to hang Saakashvili by the balls?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: And why not?
Seriously, you and I
know about the tragedy in another
part of the
world, Iraq, where US troops were
sent under the
far-fetched pretext of searching for
weapons of
mass destruction. They have not
found the
weapons, but hanged the head of
state anyway,
although for different reasons, for
exterminating
people in several Shiite
villages.
The current leaders of Georgia have
massacred
innocent civilians in South Ossetia,
razing ten
Ossetian villages, as we know, and
attacking our
peacekeepers, many of whom have
died. Iraq had
not attacked the United States, but
Georgia has
attacked our servicemen who were
doing their duty
under international commitments.
Many of them
died, and someone must answer for
this.
Moreover, it was a crime not only
against Russia
and its citizens and the Ossetian
people, but
also against the Georgian people and
Georgia. If
not for that aggression, Russia
would have
continued to work towards a
territorial reintegration of Georgia.
But the aggression showed that such
efforts are
no longer possible and that we must
take other
actions to preclude more bloodshed
in the region.
In this connection, I think the
Georgian people
themselves will make the decision
regarding the
responsibility of their politicians
whose actions
have had such painful and dramatic
results.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Mr Putin, we
have a response
in that section of the hall where
Anna Titova is working.
ANNA TITOVA: Ernest, we have here
rescue workers
and specialists from the Disaster
Medicine Centre
who worked in South Ossetia during
the war.
Obviously, they have something to
say. Let's give them the floor.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Yes,
please.
V LERY SHABANOV: I am Valery
Shabanov from the
Zashchita Disaster Medicine
Centre.
We were in South Ossetia when those
events
happened. As we left, active efforts
started to
restore the damaged hospital in
Tskhinval.
To be frank, the people of Tskhinval
consider
that hospital to be a litmus test of
Russia's
ability to stay there till the end
and to facilitate their self-determination.
Won't we have to go there once again
on schedule
and provide medical assistance to
ordinary Tshkinval residents.
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Speaking of Russian
support, you
know that we have signed mutual
assistance
treaties with South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. This is
the best guarantee of the fact that
Russia does not plan to leave this region.
Given the desire of these states'
citizens, we
will be ready to provide any aid
even at this
difficult time of the global
financial crisis.
Our budget reserves sizeable
allocations for
restoring South Ossetia. The funding
has been
reserved in the budget and will be
used for this purpose.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: The number of
calls to the
studio has increased considerably.
Maria, we are
waiting for information from your
call centre.
MARIA SITTEL: Yes, let's try to
promptly contact
our viewers. If I am not mistaken,
we have
received a call from Nizhny
Novgorod. Hello, can you hear us?
Hello!
OLGA MIKHAILOVNA: Yes, this is
Nizhny Novgorod.
Good afternoon, Mr Putin. I am Olga
Mikhailovna from Nizhny Novgorod.
Our Mayor Vadim Bulavinov has
decided to shut
down local milk kitchens for
children. Is this a
good birth-rate incentive? What are
we to do? Please, help us.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Frankly speaking, I
don't know
why the Mayor of Nizhny Novgorod has
decided to
shut down these milk kitchens.
Although municipal
authorities have the right to make
this decision, I think it was unjustified.
I believe people should react
accordingly
because, under current legislation,
the mayors of
municipal entities, including such
cities as
Nizhny Novgorod, are elected through
universal
suffrage by secret ballot. Such
elections involve
the populations of their
territories.
Municipal leaders would feel the
people's
reaction during subsequent
elections, unless they respond to their concerns.
Naturally, we will advise the Mayor
of Nizhny
Novgorod, all other top municipal
officials and
the regional Governor to support the
people and
not to create additional problems
for them without good reason.
They should not force people to buy
baby food at
local stores. Although some might
want people to
spend their money on this market,
but they must
think about ways of supporting
families with
children, rather than about the
sales market for foreign producers.
MARIA SITTEL: Let's handle some more
telephone
calls. We have received a call from
Buryatia. What's your name?
DASHA VARFOLOMEYEVA: Good afternoon,
my name is Dasha Varfolomeyeva.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Hello,
Dasha.
DASHA VARFOLOMEYEVA: Hello, Uncle
Volodya. We'll
be celebrating the New Year soon. We
live on our
grandmother's pension. There is no
work in our
village. My sister and I are
dreaming of new
dresses. May I ask you to give me a
Cinderella-style dress? You would be
our "fairy
godmother" if you fulfill our
wish.
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Dashenka, I heard
you. And I
think that you and other children,
not only in
Buryatia but all across the nation,
must have a
wonderful time celebrating Happy New
Year.
Grownups must do everything in order
to fulfill their wishes.
As far as the dress and other New
Years gifts are
concerned, this is a natural wish.
Still I think
it would be better if you thought
about what your
grandmother needs for New Year's
Eve, rather than just about your own needs.
Let's see what we can do for you and
your sister.
I invite you, your sister and
grandmother to
celebrate New Year at a
Christmas-tree party in
Moscow. When you come, we'll decide
all about gifts.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Maria, let's ask
another
question from the information
processing centre.
Maria, do you have any more
questions?
MARIA SITTEL: Let's try and put this
telephone call through.
If you can hear us, please tell us
your name. Where are you from?
QUESTION: Good afternoon, this is
Abakan in the Khakasia Republic.
Good afternoon, Mr
Putin.
The State Duma has amended the
Criminal Code and
has introduced tougher punishment
for pedophiles.
Why haven't these amendments been
adopted to
date? Do they have lobbyists
there?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: What can I say? This
is a grave
and terrible crime. Frankly
speaking, we must
focus on the protection of
children's health and lives.
If I am not mistaken, the Russian
Criminal Code's
article 132 envisions punishment for
rape and
sexual harassment. The article's
part three deals
with aggravated crimes, regulates
this sphere
with regard to minors and stipulates
prison terms
of between eight and 15 years. On
the whole, this article must be enforced.
I know that we can and must discuss
tougher
penalties for such crimes which have
increased
all over the world and in our
country. We could
also increase minimum and maximum
sentences.
State Duma Speaker, Boris Gryzlov,
should be
sitting in this hall. I proceed from
the premise
that State Duma deputies will think
about your
question. We will work out decisions
matching the
current threat during our dialogue
with the public at large.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. Now let
us allow guests in this studio to
ask their
questions and then will go back to
the regions. Mr Rovnov, go ahead, please.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Good, Mr Mackevicius.
In our
section men have already asked
questions. Now
let's give the floor to ladies.
Judging by your
expressions, you have many questions
for Mr Putin.
VALENTINA PIVNENKO: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin. My
name is Valentina Pivnenko, I am
from the
Republic of Karelia, head of the
public reception
office of the United Russia party,
and a State Duma deputy.
Today, at a time of global financial
crisis,
which has also, unfortunately,
affected Russia,
it is very important to support
small business,
as has already been said. It seems
to me more
attention should be paid to the
taxation
authorities, which in these
conditions must
fulfil not only a fiscal function,
but also act
as advisers to help small-business
leaders, who
are in effect an administrator, a
production
engineer and a financier all rolled
in to one, to
conduct their business the right way
so that this
form of production ensures full
employment in crisis conditions. Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You are right, of
course. Small
and mid-sized businesses are no
doubt very
flexible forms of economic
management and the
quickest to respond to changes in
the labour
market, and in these conditions,
complicated by
the global financial system, deserve
the closest attention and support.
I will say that the Government is
preparing a
series of moves, which are as
follows: first, we
will substantially increase federal
budget
support, raising it to 10.5 billion
roubles;
then, additional funds will be
allocated by
Vneshekonombank - 30 billion
roubles; we will
also preserve all former types of
support for small and mid-sized businesses.
We have taken a decision allowing
the regions to
adopt a simplified procedure and to
reduce
small-business taxes from 15% to 5%;
regional
funds for support of small
businesses and
micro-crediting funds that issue
loans of between
200,000 roubles and one million
roubles will
continue to operate. All these
things taken
together - and if necessary, we are
ready to
allocate additional resources -
must, in our
view, have a substantive influence
on the
development of small and
medium-sized entrepreneurship.
Incidentally, as I have mentioned,
even when a
bank grants big loans, we stipulate
that a
certain part of the resources should
be used to
support small and mid-sized
businesses. There
have already been questions about
support for
small and mid-sized entrepreneurship
in rural
areas. I must say and repeat that we
have
allocated considerable resources for
the
additional capitalisation of
Rosselkhozbank and
Agroleasing. The sums are measured
in billions of
roubles. For Agroleasing, it is four
billion, and
for Rosselkhozbank, tens of
billions. They must
all be invested in agricultural
entrepreneurship.
In the case of other system-forming
banks, and in
general a system of banks that meet
certain
requirements, of which there are
over 120, these
resources will be allocated on
condition that
they are channelled into support of
small and
mid-sized entrepreneurship. The same
kind of
programmes will be prepared in the
Russian regions.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin.
We continue our contacts with the
cities. We are
in touch with the studio
"Conversation with
Vladimir Putin." It is your public
reception office in Saratov.
This is our correspondent Maria
Morgun in Saratov. Please, go ahead.
MARIA MORGUN: Saratov extends its
greetings to
Moscow. Good afternoon, Mr Putin.
Good afternoon, Mr Mackevicius.
I am at the United Russia public
reception office
in one of the most beautiful cities
of our
country. Saratov is an ancient city
and sprawls
on the high right bank of the River
Volga. It has
well developed agriculture and
industry. Also,
Saratov is a large educational
centre in the
Volga area. It educates specialists
at more than
ten institutions of higher
learning.
And yet its population is not very
large, just
under a million. And each has his
problems and
concerns, and for almost six months
now they have
been able to come to the public
reception office
here with their questions. We have
counted that
the office receives more than 200
applications
daily and, of course, all of them
are examined.
But today, the people of Saratov
have a unique
chance to communicate directly with
you, Mr
Putin. You can see a lot of people
gathered here.
I will not take their time. We would
rather go over to their questions.
So who wants to ask his or her
question?
SERGEI: Good afternoon, my name is
Sergei. I am a
student Saratov State University. I
have a question to you, Mr Putin.
You are the Prime Minister and the
leader of
United Russia. How do you manage to
combine these
two top positions? Do you have
enough time and
stamina for that? How does the work
in these two
positions help you resolve vital
national tasks?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: The Government's
reliance on the
leading political force in
parliament is standard
practice on a global scale, but this
is not even
the point. The matter is that
without such
support in parliament, the
Government would be
unable to function as one, not to
mention
function effectively. It is
particularly
important now to make quick
decisions, to react
without delay to the events which
are taking
place in the world economy and world
finances,
and hence, in this country as
well.
To be honest, we are often late. If
there were no
cooperation with parliament's
political mainstay,
the situation would have been much
worse. Now I
would like to recall the recent
parliamentary
election campaign, and to thank the
voters for
their choice because now we have
created an
effective mechanism of responding to
the events
taking place in this country and the
rest of the world.
The formation of this mechanism is
crucial, and
we will certainly try to use these
opportunities
adequately, and in full
measure.
As for the time, the party itself
has already
established a pattern of
performance. It has its
own mechanism which I think should
be improved. I
have said this many times. This
applies to the
party's administration and the
membership drive
for competent people who are
interested in the
development of the regions and the
country as a
whole, including young people,
people like you.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Maria, we are
waiting for your questions.
MARIA MORGUN: Moscow, please, allow
one more
question from Saratov. Who wants to
ask a
question? Please, introduce yourself
first.
OLGA SAVELYEVA: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My name is Olga Savelyeva.
I am a single mother. My daughter is
16. She
studies in the 11th grade, this is
her final
year. I work at the
radio-electronics plant, the
Kontakt plant with billions in
sales. These days,
they have announced layoffs because
of the
crisis. Out of its 4,000 workers,
1,500 will be
dismissed. I have worked as a
production engineer
for more than 20 years, and my
salary grew from
6,000 to 8,000 roubles, but now it
is being
reduced. I am afraid I may lose my
job.
Mr Putin, how will you deal with
massive unemployment?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I'm still hoping
that we won't
have massive unemployment. Although
looking at
the labour market, we can, of
course, expect more
people to lose their jobs for some
time. Now we
have about 1,700,000 registered
unemployed, and
this number will be a little over
two million.
It goes without saying that we
should react
accordingly. I've already spoken
about this. But
this is an important issue, and I
will say it
again. We will earmark additional
funds from the
federal budget to the Federal
Employment Service,
I think from 10 billion to 50
billion roubles, to
enable it to react quickly, and
operate in several directions.
First, it should use the labour
market downturn
to prepare employees for the next
cycle of
economic upsurge, for the advance of
individual
industries of the world and national
economy, to
invest with businessmen and regions
in establishing retraining centers.
Second, it should help people get
jobs in
neighbouring regions to facilitate
labour migration.
Third, it should encourage major
companies to
carry out their projects primarily
in problem
regions. This applies to the
construction of
infrastructure, roads and railways,
and the building industry as a whole.
Finally, we have raised unemployment
benefits
considerably, to 4,900 roubles. I've
already said
that this is an extreme measure but
I consider it
justified. This is a tangible sum,
if we recall
that the pension is 4,500 roubles. I
understand
that a person will receive this
money for a
rather short amount of time, not for
life. But
the regions and the Federal
Employment Service
must tackle this problem without
delay.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you,
Saratov.
We are returning to Moscow, to the
studio of the
question-and-answer session in order
to listen to
the questions of the
audience.
Who is ready to ask a
question?
ANNA TITOVA: Some people are very
active. They
have raised their hands many times,
so let them have a go.
I see that you have a Certificate of
Merit.
IRINA SOKOLOVA: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My name
is Irina Sokolova. I head the party
chairman's
public reception office in St
Petersburg.
The results of the contest for the
best public
reception offices in federal regions
have been
summed up, and now the winners have
received
certificates of merit from you as
the party chairman.
On behalf of all winners of the
contest, I would
like to express my heartfelt
gratitude to you for
your support, and for appreciating
our work. I
would also like to ask a
question.
Could you please say what major
tasks are you
setting for the party, regional
party
organisations, and for public
reception officers
for the next year in the context of
the mounting financial crisis? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You know, I've
already spoken
about this at the United Russia
congress. Would you like to add something?
VLADIMIR DERBIN: Mr Putin, I would
like to add a
few things on this subject. I'm
Vladimir Derbin,
chairman of St Petersburg's and the
Leningrad Region's trade unions.
I would also like to ask you a
question on this
subject. What is your attitude as
the Prime
Minister and the party's chairman to
trade unions
in light of the crisis? This is
important for
social stability, especially in the
workforce. Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I will start with
the last part.
I think that the trade unions have
started
carrying out a natural function in
this country,
which is very important for them. I
mean
defending the interests of working
people. They
have stopped being some school of
communism, or
something else. This is an entirely
different
sphere of activities. They have
stopped being a
political appendage of some party,
but have begun
fulfilling an independent function.
Responsible
conduct of trade unions is very
important, very
much in demand. "A pike lives in the
lake to keep all fish awake."
Trade unions should be very
sensitive to what is
taking place in the labour market.
You see how
many anxious questions have been
asked here
today. But I proceed from the
premise that trade
unions will not be involved in the
nuts and bolts
of politics. I expect them to have
responsible
professionals who formulate their
demands based
on the real situation in the
economy, and on
budget potential. Up to now we have
found
mutually acceptable solutions in the
interests of
the Russian people although our
dialogue was not
easy. I hope we will be able to do
this in the future, too.
In the same context, I consider it
necessary to
set the tasks for United Russia, and
for the
public reception offices. They were
set up in
proper time. The goal was to put the
party
agencies to the fore so that people
would know
where they could go with their
concerns, and to
prevent an attitude of dismissal.
The goal was to
enable United Party agencies,
including the
public reception offices to do all
they could to
respond to arising problems in a
timely manner;
to allow them to cooperate with the
local or
regional authorities, and if need
be, to contact
directly the government or party
agencies in
Moscow and find solutions
together.
Let me repeat that we have all
opportunities for
that. All we have to do is decrease
the attitude
of not caring, and to be responsive
to the
problems of the man-in-the-street
who faces difficult problems today.
Incidentally, despite a difficult
dialogue with
the tripartite commission, we have
managed to
find mutually acceptable solutions
so far. I hope
that party agencies will facilitate
this work.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you very
much, Mr
Putin. Judging by what I see on the
monitor
screens, the load on the
information-processing
centre is not diminishing. How are
you coping, Ms Sittel?
MARIA SITTEL: Yes, the load is
tremendous, Mr
Mackevicius. No time for rest. I
think we have
crossed an important psychological
barrier: 2.2
million communications, including
1.5 million
telephone calls and just over
600,000 text
messages. The rest is from the
Internet.
Despite the time difference, calls
are coming in
from all corners of our country. Now
let us choose this call on our line.
Good afternoon, introduce yourself.
Is this Moscow?
YELIZAVETA KUZNETSOVA: Yes, this is
Moscow. My
name is Yelizaveta Kuznetsova. Good
afternoon, Mr Putin.
I find it strange that while many
people are now
being laid off, you, as far as I
know, have
recently approved new quotas for
foreign
workforce. It also appears that our
companies
dismiss their workers and hire guest
workers who
are unskilled and may be paid less.
But look at
Belarus, it does for itself without
any guest
workers. Also, we are concerned
about our national security.
Thank you, Mr
Putin.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Ms Kuznetsova, such
a problem
exists, and it is due to the fact
that our
country has practically no borders
with CIS
countries, we have a visa-free
regime, and it is
very simple to enter Russian
territory. Even when
we clamp down certain restrictions,
they are easily overlooked.
We have, for example, introduced a
visa regime
with Georgia, and still the number
of Georgians
who live and work in Russia is not
decreasing.
They may enter Russia via Belarus,
where they do
no meet with such
restrictions.
The quotas you mentioned are set up
at the
regional level, in the Russian
regions, including
by the Moscow authorities, and sent
up to federal
services. It is true, though, that
their request
is now put together and totals, I
think, over three million people.
The actual number of foreign
nationals working in
Russia and living on its territory
is much
larger. We estimate it at over 10
million. Of
course, both in the Russian regions
and at the
government level, we must think
about how to regulate these issues.
I won't digress too much now and
spell out all
possible scenarios for our
behaviour. In the
existing conditions, however, I
believe you are
right in posing this question,
although many
regional leaders and heads of
businesses complain
that even when foreign workers are
denied hire,
and despite cuts on the Russian
labour market,
Russians still cannot be found to
fill the jobs
vacated by foreigners. Our people do
not agree to
do the work for which our businesses
hire foreign workers.
Nevertheless, knowing the difficult
situation on
the labour market, I believe you
were right to
raise this issue. We have not yet
approved these
quotas, in fact, they are barely
formed, so I
believe it would be justified to cut
these requests by at least 50%.
ERNEST MACKIEVICIUS: Ms Sittel, we
are still
awaiting communications to the Prime
Minister
that come in not only through
telephone channels,
but also via the SMS service and the
Internet.
MARIA SITTEL: A few seconds ago, I
received the
following text message: "Mr Putin,
stay strong,
we are with you." A pleasant
remark.
A question from the website: "Since
December 1,
public sector organisations have
shifted to a new
system of work payment, and it now
appears that
salaries of state-sector personnel
depend on the
boss. Will it not occur that if the
boss likes
you, your salary will be large, and
if not, it will amount to peanuts?"
VLADIMIR PUTIN: This is a fair
question. At the
same time, firstly, I want to remind
you that the
Government, the trade unions, and
the employers
have found the move to a new system
of work
payment and abandonment of the
tariff scale a
progressive step aimed at raising
pay. On
December 1 - for starters, I will
return to the
question of whether we will fulfil
all our
commitments - we increased the wage
and salary
bill for the federal sector by 30%.
Despite all
crises, we fulfilled our
promises.
Now, concerning the dependence of
staff on the
boss: such dependence exists, but I
do not think
it will be determined by the
willingness of the
person at the top, because it is
mutual
dependence: firstly, we formulated
and approved
rules that determine the size of pay
for basic
personnel and, secondly, made the
salary of the
manager dependent on the average
wages and
salaries of basic personnel, an
important factor in the measures being taken.
We already have cases on record, and
not single
cases, when business managers, after
fixing their
personnel average wages, became
aware that their
own personal incomes depended on
this average
wage, and have more than once, in
fact twice,
thrice, and some four times, applied
to the
Government asking to upwardly adjust
the pay of
their basic personnel. This has
proved to be a
very serious mechanism, influencing
both
increased pay and a fair assessment
of an
individual's contribution to the
common labour effort.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin. Now let
us listen to the audience again,
which is getting increasingly active.
Mr Rovnov, do the guests in your
section have any more questions?
PYOTR ROVNOV: Yes, of course, there
are more than
enough of these, and I see many who
are willing to ask them.
Please, introduce
yourself.
VIKTOR GALYSHEV: I am Viktor
Galyshev, from Krasnoyarsk.
Mr Putin, you must remember how we
discussed the
problems of United Russia over a cup
of tea in
Krasnoyarsk. Being young and
energetic, you said
that you could still work more, and
now you are
the party leader. What has changed
since then?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I have already said
that party
leadership is an important factor,
but it is far
more important that I, as Prime
Minister and
leader of the party, have the
possibility of
relying on the United Russia
majority in the
State Duma. This enables me to
implement
long-term decisions and promptly
respond to
problems as they arise. That is the
first point.
The second point is that the party
itself is
changing. This does not happen as
quickly as one
would like it, but we are still
creating
mechanisms that make it possible, in
today's
conditions, to more promptly react
to processes,
including negative ones, in economic
and social
affairs. I also refer to the
establishment of
public reception offices in the
Russian regions.
We will continue improving the work
of this
public organisation, which, in my
view, is
becoming increasingly significant,
as well as
strengthening the country's
multi-party system. I
believe party pluralism is an
important element
of democratic institutions in
present-day Russia.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Pardon my short
question: what is
your occupation, given that you met
with Mr Putin
over a cup of tea in
Krasnoyarsk?
VIKTOR GALYSHEV: I am an industrial
engineer. Mr
Putin and I have met more than
once.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you; and
thank you, Mr Putin.
We have the public reception office
in Rostov on
the line, and my colleague, Igor
Kozhevin. It's your turn, Igor.
IGOR KOZHEVIN: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin, and good afternoon, Ernest.
More than 2,000 people have come to
the public
reception office in Rostov which
opened three
months ago. Today is Thursday, a
reception day,
but it is different because of this
session. The
form is different, but the essence
has not
changed: people who have questions
have come
here. I think we should give them
the chance to ask their questions.
Let's decide who wants to speak. You
were the
first, I think. Please, introduce
yourself.
OLEG GORBUNOV: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin, God be
with you and keep working to our
benefit.
My name is Oleg Gorbunov and to the
left of me is
my wife. We are both 70 and our
combined length
of service is 90 years. Our pension
is 9,000
roubles. Unfortunately, we have
health problems
and also problems with high and
growing tariffs
and the cost of medicine and food,
including vitamins.
Here is my question. When will
people in Russia
have sufficient pensions that will
grow ahead of
inflation, not lag behind it? I
think this question worries many pensioners.
And one more, small question: will
the retirement age be raised?
Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I agree that our
pensions cannot
be described as sufficient. By the
way, we have
been working and will continue
working to raise pensions.
Second, pensions have been growing
faster than
inflation. I agree that prices and
tariffs are
growing too, but when I said
pensions would grow
12% next year, I meant growth minus
inflation. Of
course, our pensions are not
sufficient, they are
small, but they are still growing
faster than
inflation. We will try to keep up
the pace.
We have several types of pensions.
One is a
social pension granted to citizens
who do not
have the required length of service,
and the other is a labour pension.
The social pension should be
increased to
pensioners' subsistence pay by the
end of 2009.
The labour pension is slightly
larger than the
pensioners' subsistence pay in
absolute figures, but this is still not enough.
Therefore, we will take additional
measures next
year to raise pensions. They will be
raised three
times - the basic pension twice and
the
non-funded pension once. If
inflation grows too
fast, we will increase the
non-funded pension
twice. On the whole, we plan to
raise pensions by
approximately 34% next year, and
this is not all.
The main thing is to ensure stable
revenues for
the pension system for the long
term, which is
why we plan to reform it. In 2010,
we will
reassess the pension rights of those
Russian
citizens who retired in the Soviet
period. They
will get a 10% increase plus a 1%
increase per each working year since 1991.
We will use different criterion to
do so.
Yesterday I discussed the issue with
the
ministries of healthcare and social
development,
finance, and economic development.
The increase
will be 1,700 roubles on average
beginning in 2010.
We will continue working to
strengthen the
accrual part of pensions. I know
that there may
be questions, and I am prepared to
answer them.
But this is long money, so don't be
alarmed if
they do not produce the desired
effect
immediately. This money is expected
to start
working effectively in 15 or even 20
years. I am
sure that all of you know that the
trend will
resume growth despite the global
economic crisis
and problems in the Russian economy
and this money will be used effectively.
In short, we will do our best, and I
am confident
that we will ensure sufficient
pensions for those
Russians who attain the retirement
age in 2010.
We will ensure that their pensions
will be
equivalent to 40% of the reference
wage. This is
fully in keeping with global and
European
standards as stipulated by the
International Labour Organisation.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Igor [Kozhevin],
let's have
one more question from
Rostov-on-Don.
IGOR KOZHEVIN: Of course. There are
about 60
people in the United Russia's
reception office,
and I think they have more
questions.
ANATOLY SIMONOV: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. My
name is Anatoly Simonov, a
lieutenant-colonel of
the Space Force reserve. I have a
small business in high-tech.
It is indeed high-tech, I would even
say space
technology, because we install space
communication stations and also deal
with
information technologies and
Linux-based software.
Taking into account everything that
has been said
here today, I have a question. The
Government
plans huge investment in social
projects, but how
is it connected with the interests
of small
businesses? Won't some officials,
notably the tax
officials, be tempted to increase
pressure, the
tax pressure, on small business by
imposing fines
and other conceivable duties on
them? We might
not survive under those
conditions.
The trouble is that this may be a
time of
historic import, when not only the
state can help
small business now that personnel
dismissals are
planned, but small businesses can
also help the
state create new jobs, find
employment for
retired servicemen, such as me, so
that we harmonise our relations.
I'd like to hear your opinion on
this issue.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I don't think it is
a coincidence
that the issue of small and
medium-sized
businesses has surfaced for, I
think, the third
time today. I fully agree with you
that small and
medium-sized businesses can quickly
and
efficiently react to events in the
economy and
the labour market, and can quickly
create jobs.
This is why we are working on a
system of federal
and regional measures to support
small and
medium-sized businesses. I will
enumerate them now.
First, the regions may reduce taxes
to 5% from 15%.
Second, we will continue to
co-finance and help
the regions maintain their funds. I
am referring
to the microfinancing of SME support
funds which
have been created and whose
capitalisation will be increased.
We will allocate additional funds
from the
federal budget, 10.5 billion
roubles, and we will
provide money through
Vnesheconombank - 30
billion roubles, an incredible sum
in the past.
I must say that I see no reasons for
your
concerns regarding the tax services.
On the
contrary, I expect the tax services
and the
regional authorities which can
influence SMEs to
do their best to support small and
medium-sized businesses.
The task now is to ensure access to
the premises
used by small and medium-sized
business,
liberalise such access, prolong
lease contracts,
and ensure access to electricity and
heat
systems, and the like. As for what
you said, the
work of small and medium-sized
business in high
technologies will enjoy special
support from the state.
If we take into account the measures
we plan to
ensure stability of the pension
system, small
businesses will not feel any
increase in the tax
burden under any development
scenario. We will
work for this and with this goal in
mind.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you,
Rostov. Thank you, Igor.
Let us now switch to the Moscow
studio - or the
people who have come here will feel
ignored.
ANNA TITOVA: The front rows have
long been silent. Please let them speak.
LARISA TARASYUK: Good afternoon, Mr
Putin. I am
Larisa Tarasyuk from Shchelkovo in
the Moscow Region.
My daughter is finishing school next
year, and
will have to pass the Unified State
Examination,
around which opinions are still
clashing. The
10th and 11th grades put an emphasis
on tedious
cramming for tests, at the expense
of oral speech
and ratiocination. This is alarming.
Why are we
giving up our fine educational
traditions so easily?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I know what worries
experts,
graduates, and their parents. The
Unified State
Examination has its pros and cons,
and I don't
want to join either its critics or
supporters.
On the whole, the arrangement works
and reduces
corruption in enrolment for higher
education.
Statistics prove that point - the
number of
students at the best Russian
universities from
remote parts of the country has
grown by 10%.
I think you are right to say that we
should not
give up previous achievements by
selecting the
most brilliant applicants to the
best universities.
However, there are some ways of such
selection
now - enrolment through school
competitions,
contests, and the like. This system
is viable, and we shall promote it.
PYOTR ROVNOV: Ernest, the young man
next to me
has come from Yakutia. He has a
burning question
to ask, as far as I know. Shall we
give him the floor?
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Yes. Please
introduce yourself.
ANDREI MARTYNOV: I am Andrei
Martynov from the
Coordination Council of Young
Scientists and
Specialists of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia). It is a public organisation.
Mr Putin, I want to ask you about
interethnic
relations in Russia. A gang of
skinheads brutally
murdered my fellow countryman,
prominent chess
player Sergei Nikolayev, in Moscow.
The crime
widely resounded in Yakutia and far
outside it,
yet the sentence was rather lenient.
Is there a
chance for toughening the laws on
such crimes?
Should we Russians feel harassed and
hunted down
when we come to Moscow, the capital
of our country?
How, do you think, can extremism be
prevented? Thank you.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: I have spoken often
on this
issue. Now I shall say what I think
of it once again.
Russia has become a great power
solely through
its tolerance toward the ethnic
entities that
populate it. Russia will remain a
great power if
every ethnic entity, however small,
feels at home
in it. The stupid people who violate
this
principle thinking that they stand
up for ethnic
Russians' interests really are doing
them irreparable damage.
Only one response is possible here.
It is much
more important to make punishment
inevitable than
to toughen it. I strongly rely on
our community
for an explicit expression of
intolerance to such
outrages. Our law enforcement system
will be
effective and bring criminals to
justice in time.
The Moscow City Court is hearing one
such case today, as far as I know.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Mr Putin, let us
answer
another question from the studio
before we switch to Nalchik.
The right stall - Dmitry Sedov's,
please.
DMITRY SEDOV: I am ready,
Ernest.
I see a hand lifted. Please
introduce yourself and ask your question.
ROMAN GREBENNIKOV: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin. I am
Roman Grebennikov, the mayor of the
heroic city of Volgograd.
My city stretches along the Volga
bank for 89
kilometres, yet to this day, it has
no bypass
motorway. What we call the Third
Lengthway has
only a part of the northern stretch,
built in
2001. The southern, most important,
stretch,
about 40 kilometres long, is absent,
causing traffic jams and air pollution.
How can the United Russia party help
my city, a
million-strong in population, to
cope with it?
Volgograd will not be able to afford
the motorway
single-handed, considering its
municipal budget.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: A part of the
highway is ready,
you say? I think it's a pure
economic matter, and
thus should not be entirely rested
on a political
party. We should merely reconsider
the plans of
relevant federal services and see
whether they
correlate to transport development
in the region.
Many constituent entities enjoy
federal support
in such matters because such
projects are very
expensive, often too expensive for
local budgets, even on a regional scale.
We shall come back to the issue. I
shall
certainly take it up, and the Road
Service will
have a relevant assignment. The
governor and I
shall see what must be done to
implement the project.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Traffic
congestion harasses
us Muscovites, too. What can be done
about it?
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Moscow receives huge
allocations
for its transportation network -
incomparable to
what other parts of Russia have.
Moscow has
considerable budget revenues.
Practically all of
Russia's foremost taxpayers are
concentrated
here, and almost all energy
companies are registered in Moscow.
I have discussed the matter with the
Moscow
mayor, and I know that City Hall has
offered
long-term plans for transportation
infrastructure
development for discussion. We shall
implement
those plans no matter what. How much
money should
come from the federal purse and how
much from the
municipal will be settled at the
negotiating
table. No doubt, we will make all
necessary decisions.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: This is a
hopeful statement. Thank you, Mr Putin.
We have had linkups with Khabarovsk,
Severodvinsk, Saratov,
Rostov-on-Don, and the
Republic of Tatarstan. It is
Nalchik's turn now.
My colleague Ilya Kanavin is working
in
Kabardino-Balkaria. Take the floor,
Ilya.
ILYA KANAVIN: Good afternoon,
Ernest. Good afternoon, Mr Putin.
Nalchik is the capital of
Kabardino-Balkaria. I
think you can see that we are in a
wrestling gym.
It is the republic's Record Sport
School. The
North Caucasus has a special
penchant for
wrestling. The school offers classes
for all
tastes - Greco-Roman, freestyle,
judo, karate,
and other kinds of wrestling. Many
children and
adolescents study here. This school
brings up
champions who do extremely well in
contests.
Russia owed a great part of its
sport glory to
North Caucasian and other Caucasian
wrestlers at
competitions of all levels for many
decades.
Here are weightlifter Khadzhimurat
Akayev,
Beijing Olympics bronze
medal-winner, and Olympic
champion wrestler Aslambek Khushtov,
I cannot
help but let him ask his
question.
Take the floor,
Aslambek.
ASLAMBEK KHUSHTOV: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good
afternoon.
ASLAMBEK KHUSHTOV: By the way, I am
a member of the United Russia party.
I talked about the continuity of
generations. As
far as professional sports are
concerned, we can
see the state's support. But we are
seriously
concerned about the training of
young athletes.
Surely, mere enthusiasm is not
enough here.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: You are absolutely
right. Last
decade, primarily in the early and
mid-1990s, the
system of sports schools for
children and
teenagers was discontinued. This is
obvious: We
have lost a lot of professional
coaches and must
now reinstate these
programmes.
Although we have made some strides
in the last
few years, it is not enough. We will
step up
these efforts despite all
difficulties.
As you know, large-scale projects
are being
implemented. In effect, we have
started
reinstating such major events as the
Golden Puck
and Leather Ball junior-league
hockey and
football tournaments. All-out
competition
involving rural young people and
even the
All-Russian Rural Youth Sports Games
are also
being held. I attended one of these
events. These
are truly large-scale
projects.
I repeat that we will step up these
efforts and
will do our best to restore the
prestige of coaches' work.
The number of sports facilities and
swimming
pools has increased considerably.
Although you
are a wrestler, you are obviously
interested in
other sports that amount to a
healthy lifestyle.
Sports benefit boys, girls and all
Russian young people.
We are implementing a football-field
construction
sub-programme under the federal
target
sports-development programme. We are
doing this
in conjunction with the Russian
regions. This
implies construction of small
football fields and large stadiums.
All this is part of our plans which
will not be downsized.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you. Ilya,
let's put
through another question from
Nalchik.
ILYA KANAVIN: I think the boys
should have a chance to speak.
What are your
names?
IDRIS SUMAYEV: Good afternoon, my
name is Idris
Sumayev, a student at school 16 in
Nalchik.
My friends and parents have talked a
lot about
the war in South Ossetia and are
deeply upset in
this connection. What if the West
decides not to
hold the Olympic Games in Sochi
under the pretext
of the South Ossetian war? Will
there be enough
funding to prepare for the
Olympics?
KERIM KHULAMKHANOV: My name is Kerim
Khulamkhanov, a student at school 16
in Nalchik.
It is now possible to ski and ride
on snowboards
in the foothills of Mount Elbrus.
Wrestling is not the only local sport.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Yes, I know that it
is possible
to ski there. I've been to
Kabardino-Balkaria
many times. I have skied in Cheget
and Elbrus, which are wonderful places.
Although we must accomplish a lot in
order to
improve the infrastructure of these
resorts, the
local environment is very
good.
As far as the Olympic Games are
concerned, the
International Olympic Committee,
rather than
politicians, makes such decisions. I
hope very
much that as was in previous
decades, the
International Olympic Committee's
activities will
not be politicised. This is the
first thing.
Despite the attempts of some Western
politicians
to defend their clients in the
Georgian
leadership who launched a bloody
aggression
against South Ossetia, people are
becoming
convinced that incumbent Georgian
leaders are
responsible for this aggression and
the bloodshed
that took place in the North
Caucasus and its
southern sector, South Ossetia. I
believe this
trend will become more
pronounced.
This is why I see no reason to
revise the
International Olympic Committee's
decisions to
organise and hold the 22nd Winter
Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.
We have allocated financial
resources for
conducting the required preparatory
work. These
allocations will not be reduced; and
we will implement all our plans.
At the same time, I would like to
stress once
again that most allocations will be
spent on the
regional infrastructure's
development, rather
than Olympic-facility construction.
The
population of the Krasnodar
Territory, Sochi
residents, as well as holiday
visitors from all
Russian regions will be able to use
that infrastructure in summer and winter.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Thank you, Mr
Putin.
Thank you,
Nalchik.
Thank you,
Ilya.
We have been broadcasting live for
almost three
hours. We are now switching to the
information-processing centre where
Maria Sittel is working.
Maria, you have the
floor.
MARIA SITTEL: Before we give any
statistics on
the number of telephone calls and
SMS messages,
let's listen to this telephone
question on a highly important issue.
Bashkortostan, can you hear
us?
ELVIRA PAYUSHINA: Good afternoon. I
am Elvira
Payushina from Karmasan village in
the Ufa District, Bashkortostan.
I adopted a six-year-old disabled
child from an
orphanage. He was born with a tumor
on his left
leg. The leg was amputated after he
was born. The
child cannot move by himself. Twice
a year, we have to ...
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Unfortunately,
reception is very bad.
MARIA SITTEL: Thank you. That was
Elvira
Payushina who wanted to know about
medical
examinations for permanently
disabled persons.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Judging by what
we heard, a
sick child with just one leg was
adopted.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: If I understand
correctly, he has
to undergo repeat medical
examinations.
Frankly speaking, this is strange
because we have
adopted a decision that there will
be no more
repeat medical examinations. I am
very sorry that
the concerned agencies in
Bashkortostan have not reacted accordingly to this.
I repeat once again that this issue
was settled
in early 2008, and that the
Government passed the
relevant executive order abolishing
such repeat
medical examinations. I promise you
that we will
react to this, and the situation
will be rectified.
MARIA SITTEL: Thank you, Mr
Putin.
Let's listen to another telephone
call.
Your question, please, St
Petersburg.
ALEXEI NIKOLAYEVICH: Good afternoon,
Mr Putin.
This is Alexei Nikolayevich from St
Petersburg.
I would like to know whether Russia
will
establish naval bases in Venezuela
and Cuba.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: We traditionally
maintain very
good relations with Venezuela and
Cuba. As you
know, a joint naval exercise
involving the
Russian Navy and Venezuelan warships
has just ended successfully.
There is no need to establish
permanent bases
there today. Meanwhile we have
reached an
agreement with the Venezuelan
leadership, I don't
think that the Cuban leadership
would refuse to
abide by its provisions. If
necessary, our
warships would be able to enter the
seaports of
both countries in order to replenish
their food supplies and to refuel.
On the whole, we have ample
opportunities not
only in those countries that you
have mentioned
but at other national
seaports.
I want to tell you "a great military
secret".
When we announced plans to dispatch
our warships
to Venezuela for subsequent joint
naval
manoeuvres, we were surprised to
receive numerous
requests from many other countries
asking our
warships to call at their
seaports.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: Maria, do you
have news from
the information-processing
centre?
MARIA SITTEL: Yes, we have news, and
not only from the center.
Mr Putin, we know by tradition at
the end of a
long live session you pick questions
yourself.
Without breaking this tradition, we
would like to
offer a blitz interview. Here are
questions from
the information-processing
center.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: This is a
special folder.
MARIA SITTEL: Nothing
personal.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: "You said that there
should be no
experiments on people serving in the
army, but
experiments continue: elimination of
warrant
officers, sweeping layoffs, no
pensions, no flats."
I think I heard this question from a
person who
is here. I have already said that
layoffs will
affect only those who complete their
service next
year, or whose contracts expired, or
servicemen
who were called up within two years
of graduating
from military departments, or if
vacancies are
reduced. No other cuts have been
planned. And for
sure nobody is planning to send
people off
without flats and adequate
payments.
"Good afternoon! Is it true that new
money has been issued?"
Rubbish.
"Why don't we equip the Air Force
with fifth generation aircraft?"
We don't because we don't yet have
them. By the
way, they don't yet exist anywhere.
But we are
developing such aircraft, and this
work is going
according to plan. I'm sure that the
Russian
armed forces will receive such
aircraft, and it
would be great if they are built on
schedule.
This note is about problems in the
42nd division
and the 291st mountainous motorized
rifle
regiment. I won't repeat the whole
question. And
this is not a question, but a
request to pay attention to the problems there.
I promise to give this note to the
Defence Minister, and response will come.
"Good afternoon, Mr Putin. On behalf
of all
pensioners I would like to find out
whether we
will be deprived of all benefits
next year?"
No, this is nonsense. Such an idea
didn't even occur to anyone.
"Please, look into massive
dismissals at the
cement plant in Stary Oskol. Its top
managers
compel employees to apply for the
termination of labour contracts."
This is another difficult question
but I consider
it important because top managers
are compelling
people to terminate labour
contracts.
I'd like to say right off that
businessmen, top
managers of this particular plant or
any other
have no right to do this. Employees
should not
sign documents terminating their
contracts
because if they do this, they will
lose the right
to get a dismissal wage, as well as
full
unemployment benefits which will be
raised to
4,900 roubles starting January 1. If
they do
this, they won't receive the
money.
The bodies supervising the operation
of
companies, including the prosecution
agencies
should adequately react to this. By
the way, we
have already talked with trade union
officials
and representatives of the United
Russia party in
the provinces, and I recommended
they should pay
special attention to these
cases.
"I have eight children, my eldest
daughter is 20.
I have not received the Order of
Maternal Glory,
and, hence, I don't get the
benefits."
It goes without saying I will check
on this. I
can't comment on this particular
case now, but
this mistake should be corrected. I
hope you've
left your address here. We will find
you.
"What is the Government willing to
do to improve relations with Ukraine?"
I think that we are doing all we can
for this. We
do not raise far-fetched issues like
the
Holodomor (famine), politicizing
these common
problems from the past. We are doing
everything
to promote relations with this truly
fraternal
republic. Needless to say, we will
do all we can.
Naturally, in the process we will
establish fair
interstate relations, in the economy
as well. By
fair relations I mean market-based
relations.
"My niece has only one eye. She had
lifelong
disability status before the age of
18, when she
was deprived of it. According to a
response to my
inquiry, there was a relevant order
in Bashkortostan."
I cannot get it. That is, I know
that this is
really so, but constituent entities
are unable to
issue orders of their own on such
matters. It was
a misunderstanding, I think. At any
rate, we will
look into it. These issues are up to
the Health
Ministry social medical service. The
ministry
will be given a relevant instruction
today. The
only lawful thing to do about it is
to give your
niece adult disability status when
she has come
of age. The issue must be settled
urgently.
"Dear Mr Putin, I found my father's
grave killed
during WWII on the Internet." The
man asks to
help with restoring the monument,
which the local budget cannot afford.
We shall contact you. This is a
sacred duty of
local and regional authorities
alike. If they do
not have enough money, I would
stress that the
matter implies not only money but
also morals. We
shall help if they cannot afford
such things, but
I don't think this is a matter where
thrift should come in to play.
"We have no school and no art or
knitting classes
near our home. The children hope you
will help."
This is also a matter of regional
scope, but we
shall help, as the message has
reached me. We shall certainly help.
"My request concerns my son, who
will be
conscripted next autumn. He dreams
of serving in the Kremlin Regiment."
Good boy! It's great that he wants
to go into the
army. As for the Kremlin Regiment,
it has certain
qualifications. I will pass your
message along to
the Federal Guard Service, and I
believe its chiefs will do something for you.
"Mr Putin, thousands of Internet
users are eager
for an answer. When will you start
your blog and
write at least several lines a
day?"
You know, the Russian Government has
its own
website, and I think it has been
working smoothly
enough. If you think it needs some
additions, we will willingly make them.
By the way, the Health Ministry
opened a special
site for visually impaired people
yesterday, on
International Day of People with
Disabilities.
We will continue to ensure that the
public has
timely and reliable information
about Russian Government work.
"Mr Putin, why should children go to
school on Saturdays?"
This is a serious matter, but the
question should
be addressed to school principals
because,
whatever they might say to you, the
acting
legislation makes no one other than
school
administrators responsible for
school arrangements.
"We are writing from Chuvashia. What
ideology is
reigning on in Russia? What do you
think about
monuments to Soviet soldiers being
destroyed in certain countries?"
This is a downright crime, and
should be treated
as such. Those who do this are
imprudent; he that
mischief hatches, mischief
catches.
Here is a long message. I think it
was faxed. I
cannot read all two pages of it
now.
"We see you only on short occasions
during
Government meetings, when you say a
sentence or
two. There are no interviews, news
conferences,
messages or meetings
broadcast."
I hope I have satisfied those who
want to see
more of me - at least partly -
today.
Here is a request to help with
building a
swimming pool. I hope we can find
the author -
it's an SMS with no address, but we
can track the
author down. Here is a similar
request from a
child of the town of Pokrovsk - also
about
building sports facilities. We will
certainly try to help.
"What do you think about the Russian
steam bath?"
I love it! I like every Russian
thing.
"Mr Putin, why aren't Dagestani boys
conscripted
for the army? It takes a bribe to
get into the
army. Is it a paid service
now?"
Very unexpected! Some people go to
great lengths
to dodge conscription, while others
cannot join
the army when they want. This is
very peculiar -
all the more so since it concerns
Dagestan. The
Dagestani people have proven many
times that they
can fight for their native land and
for all of
Russia. I can't see what the problem
is about,
but the Defence Ministry will, as in
previous
instances, look into it. I shall
inform the Defence Minister."
Now, as for "prime-ministerial
vacations", I have
no comments. This is a job that
demands hard
work. I knew it, so I don't
complain.
A question from a 17-year-old from
Saratov: "Do
you think the prolongation of the
presidential
and parliamentary terms will improve
their
performance? What do you think of
it?"
The measures President Dmitry
Medvedev has
proposed to streamline the Russian
political
system do not boil down to longer
presidential
and parliamentary terms. It is a
package that
envisages, in particular, an
improvement of the
formative principles of the upper
parliamentary
house. There are other initiatives,
as well.
On the whole, the President has not
proposed
cardinal changes that involve the
basis of the
constitutional system. The President
and the
Parliament retain their electivity,
swearing-in,
and later routine. Mr Medvedev's
initiatives do
not aim to abolish the principle of
removability
of the top national leadership, as
is the case in
certain countries that elect their
heads of state
for an indefinite term. Russia
retains such limitations.
As for longer terms, it is largely a
matter of
taste. I think it is justified in a
country as
vast as Russia. Six years of
presidency is a
reasonable term in a country with
such a
problematic ethnic composition. Take
Finland, a
small neighbouring country. Six
years is the presidential term there.
"Where will you ring in the New
Year?"
At home.
"Are you
romantic?"
A bit.
"When will we have
snow?"
That's up to
God.
"The mess in the country starts with
elections, don't you think?"
Which country do you
mean?
"Why don't central television
channels broadcast morning exercises?"
I think because their bosses feel
perfectly fit.
But I think you are right, they
should consider the matter.
"Do you think your assistants tell
you only what you would like to hear?"
No! We never gloss anything over.
The Government
is very outspoken in its
discussions. Opinions
clash on many problems, and I think
that's the
best way to arrive at the best
possible decision.
Many messages have come through the
public
reception offices of the United
Russia party
leader. They all concern practical
matters and
come from people burdened with
struggles -
unmarried mothers, disabled people,
and others. I
shall not read them all here because
they are,
for the most part, not questions but
requests. We
shall take stock of them and make
proper responses.
"The crisis is very hard on us! When
will it end, Mr Putin?"
This is a vital question. Expert
opinions on
global economic developments and the
impact of
the crisis on the Russian economy
differ in this
and other countries. Some expect a
global - which
means Russian, too - economic rise
as early as
the end of the second or third
quarter of 2009.
Such optimistic experts are few and
far between.
A majority do not expect a rise
earlier than the spring of 2010.
At any rate (I have said so during
this
discussion, and I stress it again),
Russia has
seen greater problems, and coped
with them. We
shall cope with the present crisis,
too, if we
follow the right course and are
purposeful about
our complicated economic and social
matters. We
have every chance to do it, and need
to do only
one thing - to concentrate on
national interests
and work together. This was always
the case when Russia was facing problems.
"What do you love most of
all?"
Russia.
Thank you.
ERNEST MACKEVICIUS: That was the
last question and answer.
Our live broadcast took more than
three hours.
Thank you, Mr
Putin.
The programme "A Conversation with
Vladimir Putin" is over.
Good bye.
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Thank
you.
********