| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Putin Hears about the Putin Plan
// But did he like its name?
Russian President Vladimir Putin received United Russia Party leaders yesterday, listened to their reports and opened new horizons for them. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov thinks the president expanded the party's horizons by at least two terms.
The party leaders arrived at the residential residence in Novo-Ogarevo in a bus with heavily tinted windows and met with the president on the second floor. The president got right down to business, which was the three-year budget.
“One could take the budget apart in such a way so that there is nothing left except emotions,” he said. His audience nodded their heads and took notes.
The president talked about the problem of “northern” pensions and substandard housing. But, “the most important event of this year will be the State Duma elections,” he said. “They will introduce a proportional representation system for the first time. This represents a serious step towards strengthening democratic institutions and to increasing parties' influence in the political system… This year's regional elections have demonstrated that United Russia is ready to contend and compete. The party received about 45 percent of the vote.”
The question is who there is for the party to compete with, of course.
Party chief and speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov gave the responding speech, in which he did not underestimate the importance of the meeting, which was “important for United Russia and for the entire political process in the country,” or the party's accomplishments. “We can say that Russia has its own supercomputers, and that is the initiative of the party. They are among the 100 most powerful computers in the world,” he informed the president and party members.
Gryzlov mentioned Tula's particularly urgent problem with housing, and the president interrupted to agree with him, saying that “It's shameful to see. The center of the city, and there are some kind of shacks there.”
Gryzlov promised that the party would develop a program to encourage the shipbuilding industry by the end of the year. He spoke about the financing of the Pension Fund (the president vetoed tax breaks for employers contributing to it on the spot) and promised that he was “on guard against populism in the State Duma,” naming a bill introduced by Sergey Baburin and Viktor Alksnis that would pay every citizen of Russia 4 million rubles to make up for losses in privatization as an example of that harmful tendency.
The United Russia Party has its own election program, which will soon be announced. “We call it the Putin Plan,” Gryzlov said. The president expressed his approval with silence.
After the meeting, which lasted over tow hours, Vyacheslav Volodin, secretary of the presidium of the part's general council, was in a good mood. He spoke about the president.
“He is the moral leader of our party,” Volodon said. “For us, he will always be the leader – yesterday, today, and tomorrow! Regardless of the position he has.”
Journalists asked how he felt about the fact that Sergey Mironov consider Putin the moral leader of the Just Russia Party.
“The more parties consider the president their moral leader, the less difference there will be between parties!” Volodin answered delightedly. “I would look favorably on it, if Gennady Zyuganov considered Vladimir Putin the moral leader of the Communist Party.”
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of June 29, 2007
|
|
|
