Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Murmansk early Friday morning and went to the city port to see the Captain Morgun fishing boat.
Photo: Konstantin Kuzyllo
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Dmitry Medvedev Steps on Campaign Trail
// The presidential hopeful launches his campaign in regions
Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev launched his election campaign last week paying visits to Kaliningrad and Murmansk where he inspected two plants, a shelter home for war veterans, a ship, a fish shop and a hospital. Mr. Medvedev got pleasant feelings about what he has seen and heard, says Kommersant’s Syuzanna Farizova.
Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Murmansk early Friday morning and went to the city port to see the Captain Morgun fishing boat. The boat’s crew led Mr. Medvedev to the captain’s cabin and then to the saloon. Funny things started happening here. As soon as the deputy prime minister uttered the first word of praise to the ship and sailors, there was no stopping the crew.
“My health is not as good as it used to be,” a sailor started complaining. “I can’t afford to retire – I’m not going to be able to live on 6,000 rubles a month. I get several times as much at sea…”
The presidential hopeful replied that the country is expecting progress with old age benefits. The government is ready to reform the pension system this year, he said.
“The pension system is really complication, and maybe the most complicated of all,” Mr. Medvedev told the ship crew. “We’re going to change it. We’re going to do it carefully to make sure we don’t tip the balance with anything.”
Captain Vladimir Voitikh butted in:
“Sailors earn an average 40,000 rubles a month. But they can’t get by on their pensions. And don’t forget that we live here up the north where you can’t grow potatoes or anything in your garden. And also, there are lots of problems with Norwegians.”
The words literally set the fire the crew’s eyes. The sailors complained that Norwegian border guards “are putting moral pressure on our fishermen”, “our vessels often get arrested in disputed territorial waters” and, finally, “in the Soviet time we were protected by the Soviet fleet that we don’t have now”.
“And in the Soviet time, did the same thing happen with our big military presence?” Dmitry Medvedev asked.
“Nothing of the kind!” the captain replied. “We were sure that we were protected not only in disputed waters but in the open sea as well. Now no one is afraid of us or respects us.”
The deputy prime minister noted that the fear point is not valid but it would be good if someone does respect us. He assured the sailors that the revival of the Navy is something that will happen soon. “I hope you understand why they [the military ships] are not there – there are no ships,’ Mr. Medvedev said.
The presidential candidate soon left the vessel and rushed to the Chief Hospital of the Northern Fleet in Severomorsk. But his car pulled up outside a fish shop as it entered Murmansk. Mr. Medvedev went into the shop as the director of a fish processing company dropped in by pure accident:
“Is it our fish? Caught by our fishermen?” Mr. Medvedev asked him.
The director nodded in response and said that all frozen, smoked and fresh fish in the shop was caught by Russian fishermen.
“But residents say that most stores sell Norwegian fish,” Dmitry Medvedev noted.
“Well, it’s not objective!” the director said and was unhappy to see two ladies who dropped in the shop behind the deputy premier’s back. Mr. Medvedev also saw them and was quick to ask:
“Are you happy with the quality of the fish?”
“Yes, we are,” the two ladies said and went red. They did not know whether they were to laugh or cry of happiness. “I only wish it was cheaper.”
The deputy prime minister gave them a smile and walked out. Seeing that they would not get a cheaper price now the ladies were quick to leave too.
Meanwhile, Mr. Medvedev got back to the agenda of his trip. He inspected new altitude chambers in the local hospital, laid flowers to the monument of North Sea heroes and talked to the local press. The deputy prime minister got tired by the evening and the chat with reporters clearly went over the framework of his program. One journalist wanted to know Dmitry Medvedev’s attitude to Father Christmas.
“He is the perfect man in our country,” the reporter said. “He doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, kisses the Snow Maiden only on the cheek …”
“Well, I doubt it’s only on the cheek,” the presidential candidate replied, “because then where all those new Snow Maidens appear from?”
The issue of the birth of new Snow Maidens put local reporters at a loss. To steer the conversation back in the planned direction, someone asked Mr. Medvedev about the upcoming presidential election. The candidate replied that he would make his campaign program public very soon.
One day earlier Mr. Medvedev was on a visit in Kaliningrad. The first thing in the city was to see the Sodruzhestvo-soya plant processing oil-containing cultures.
“The average wages on the plant are 25,000 rubles a month. How do you make it?” Mr. Medvedev asked Sodruzhestvo-soya’s CEO Alexander Lutsenko. The executive assured him that oil processing is a highly beneficial business. Then the presidential candidate asked whether the plant is really for Russia to enter the WTO.
“We are getting ready for it a lot,” Alexander Lutsenko told Mr. Medvedev and invited him to see a workshop. After seeing the equipment and people, Mr. Medvedev rushed to the headquarters of the company which develops a residential area for the military and retired officers. Bright-colored panel high rises have been built under the 15+15 program, Kaliningrad Region’s Housing and Construction Minister Sergey Bushelnikov told Mr. Medvedev. The program saw Russian servicemen getting 12,100 new apartments in 2007. 1,195 were built in Kaliningrad Region. The deputy prime minister called the statistics “impressive” and went to visit retired officer Vasily Pustovit and his wife Valentina who live in one of the houses in the area. Mr. Medvedev, however, did not have a lot of time to spend with them. He went for a ten minute visit to the ceramic bricks producing factory Balkeramika and then flew to Murmansk.
Syuzanna Farizova
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