Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) and President of the Republic of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov (2nd right) celebrate the 450th anniversary of the voluntary unification of Bashkortostan with Russia.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Politics and Business, Songs and Dances
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the Agriculture Ministry for “clearly not doing its job” in the crisis situation of rising food prices. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov saw how a single little old lady was able to raise pensions all over Russia. All of this was at the State Council meeting on regional investment in Ufa as elections approach.
The president began his trip to Ufa at the city's highest point, the Friendship of the Peoples monument, where he laid flowers. A whole medieval fair stretched out before him, complete with costumed boyars who sang “We Greet You, Our Tsar” from Boris Godunov. Putin lowered his head slightly as he passed through it. (That wasn't in the opera.)
Further along, Bashkortostan ladies wanted to sing and dance for him, but the long wait in the cold temporarily interfered with their plans. Instead, they ushered him into the yurts set up in a long line, each contained a table laden with delicacies.
“Our dear president has come as our guest,” they managed to sing with great passion. Opposite them, about a hundred girls in traditional garb waved Russian and Bashkortostan flags. They had worn blue cloaks with “United Russia” written on them to keep warm while they waited. The girls stridently assured me, however, that they were plain students, with no party affiliations and the cloaks were handed out to create the effect of uniformity.
The president was so occupied with the ladies that he seemed not to see the uniform girls at all. He watched the famous national gulnazira dance somewhat distractedly before entering the honey exhibition. There, he saw honey in bottles, honey cake, honey jelly, honey cookies, honey pies and honey-basted goose, all untouched in perfect displays in tiny huts waiting for his pleasure. The president stepped into one of them and spent seven minutes there, just the time it takes to have a leisurely drink of mead and a honey cookie.
Next there was a tall pine tree waiting for the president, and a fellow who raced up it with inhuman speed. Ufa Mayor Pavel Kackaev explained that, in Bashkortostan, that is how they get their honey. “He climbs up and steals it!” the mayor explained. At the same time, the president was handed a hollow stick, which he was supposed to blow into. He did so and made a honking sound. Then a man came up to him, took the stick and began to play lovely music on it.
Finally the president came to the Ufa Congress Hall, where the Russian governors had been waiting for him even longer than the dancing ladies, and he turned his full attention to regional investment.
He began by addressing Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak. “We have extended your authority. If you need anything else, say so right now and you will get it! We are waiting for effective work from you.”
Putin showed annoyance at how regional officials were working with private business. “Is Valentina Ivanovna [Matvienko, governor of St. Petersburg] here? She knows much time went by while we tried out investment projects in St. Petersburg. And that was with my direct participation! But what if you don't manage by hand?” he demanded.
The problem, clearly, was that the system Putin had created worked only when managed by hand, and only when managed by his hand. He had spent a lot of time creating that system, and now it didn't suit him.
The president demanded that Minister of Economic Development and Trade Elvira Nabiullina promote effective cooperation between the state and private business. “You must make the promise in Ufa to do it,” he said. “It is your homeland, I understand.”
The governors listened listlessly in general. The clear exception was Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich, who hung on the president's every word.
The president next turned to Russia's image abroad, a topic that has concerned him for years. “Foreign investors are frightened by non-market methods of doing business and by commercial risks,” he informed his audience. He suggested that the governors work on Russia's image.
Then Kozak and the governors were given a chance to have their say as well. Only Krasnodar Territory Governor Alexander Tkachev took it upon himself to present the situation from the regions' point of view, as he saw it.
“I heard you. We'll talk about it later,” the president concluded that conversation. Their talk later will probably not be very pleasant for Tkachev.
In conclusion, the president spoke about a topic that has taken a lot of his attention recently, that is, rising food prices. “We've begun investing hundreds of billions of rubles in the agricultural complex!” he fumed. “There have been historical high harvests in some regions. And prices are going up!” Then he added mildly that he wasn't “sure everything necessary is being done in the ministries and agencies.”
Then the president told the governors about an old lady who came up to him at the fair (obviously one of the ladies who sang and danced for him) and asked him to raise her pension. He did so, and not only for her: on December 1, the basic pension will be raised by 300 rubles, in contradiction of the Finance Ministry schedule, but in keeping with United Russia campaign promises. Then he dismissed the press.
The microphone in the press center kept working, however.
“As for rising prices,” the president said, alone with the governors, “let's return to that. Middlemen there are monopolists with links to local administrations. The Agriculture Ministry is clearly not doing its job! It is not acceptable. Absolutely not! I've spoken to [Agriculture Minister Alexey] Gordeev about it several times…”
Finally, the microphone was turned off. I don't think the governors wanted to hear what the press wasn't allowed to.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 12, 2007
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