What was Putin doing in Kuzbass...

I understand, security reasons and all that. Let's say the US president goes to Iraq. It is clear and correct that the public is not informed of anything in advance - about time, route, etc. I fully approve of the mystery. That's the kind of country it is. They can blow you up or throw a shoe there if they choose a convenient place ahead of time.

But this is not the same as the Russian prime minister (not even the president) going to a peaceful corner of his own country, Russia. Moreover, against the backdrop of popular support being carefully portrayed there. Why the hell - secrets, riddles, a schedule of movements kept secret from the public, cutting off most regional media from the possibility of direct presence at public appearances of a sacred person? True, those who were honored to be admitted to the press center had the opportunity to watch Putin on the screens.

They came up with a “nationwide” rally in support of the presidential candidate, and even organized registration for participation via the Internet. However, in reality, only specially honored persons received access there, according to lists checked ten times. Even among regional journalists, there are only a few specially awarded. The rest - turn away from the gate (in the most literal sense, they turned back from the factory entrance). The location is on the territory of the plant, in one of the workshops, you can’t just walk in. The necessary people were brought in en masse by bus according to orders from the authorities, so that they would pretend to be “the people.” The organizers claim that there were 6 thousand people. Judging by the photo, it’s smaller, but that’s not really important. There is no doubt that they would have tried and brought 20 thousand. But what's the point? Who can this fool? Essentially the same falsification as mass stuffing of ballots in elections. It’s no better, except that it doesn’t fall under an article of the Criminal Code...

By the way, the regional leader acts in the same manner. This seems to be a species trait among authoritarian people. Since December, the Kuzbass governor has stopped appearing in public. For more than a month there were rumors that he was seriously ill. The people enthusiastically speculated, the press service remained silent or launched fakes in the media that imitated the supposed good health and work schedule of the head of the region.

And now the Prime Minister comes to the region. The governor does not meet him and does not participate in the prime minister’s events. Bah, in the middle of the day there was suddenly a message on the official website of the chairman of the Russian government: “ V.V. Putin visited the governor of the Kemerovo region A.G. Tuleev, who is undergoing post-operative rehabilitation .” In the photo, the governor is wearing slippers and a house jacket; the prime minister is at his box with a sympathetic expression on his face. That is, there was an operation, he has not been working for the second month, and all this time we were diligently imitating the governor’s hectic business activity. Pelevin, however. Who will trust the press service after this? Silence - in such situations it differs little from outright lies...

There was preliminary information that the prime minister would arrive in Novokuznetsk, take part in the launch of a new coal mine, then move to Kemerovo, hold several meetings and conferences, ending the matter with a policy statement with which he would begin the election campaign in the fight for the presidency.

In practice, this is what happened.

Putin arrived with a large retinue of ministers, assistants and business executives immediately in Kemerovo (in the evening of January 23).

On the morning of January 24, he met with the widows of miners who died in the explosion at the Raspadskaya mine, specially brought from the south of the region (from Mezhdurechensk) . It was about the incredible efforts of the Russian authorities to improve the safety of miners. And about assistance to the families of those who for some reason found themselves outside the zone of these extraordinary efforts, that is, simply died. Let me remind you that on May 9, 2010 there was a major accident at Raspadskaya. 91 dead.

Then Putin held a meeting “On the results of restructuring and prospects for the development of the coal industry,” during which he signed a long-term program for the development of the Russian coal industry until 2030. It is expected that production will increase by approximately 30% compared to current volumes; the prospects are bright.

The next event was a rally of the All-Russian Popular Front , organized by the administration of the SDS holding and the election headquarters of Vladimir Putin. The presidential candidate dropped in for literally fifteen minutes, made a quick speech (4 minutes) and left. No programmatic revelations were made.

Then the prime minister visited Governor Tuleyev, who is in post-operative condition.

The end of the visit was a visit to the new Regional Judo Center, built and opened especially for the arrival of the Prime Minister, who, as you know, is himself a former judoka.

That's all, actually. Some of Putin's retinue held independent meetings and conferences. For example, the Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko at the Kuzbass State Technical University met with university rectors, young scientists and talked with the press.

It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of this visit without complete information. In my opinion, the efficiency is not high. The south of Kuzbass apparently had to be abandoned due to a major accident at the Novokuznetsk heating networks last Friday. Now the accident has been liquidated, but the residue, of course, remains. Almost a third of the large industrial city was on the verge of freezing. Does a presidential candidate need this - to get involved in such a difficult situation and explain things to angry citizens?

The expected programmatic election statements were not made. The rally turned out to be obsequiously false, most likely did not increase votes for the candidate at all, and generated mainly irritation and sarcastic remarks. The coal development program could very well have been signed in any other place at any other time. There is no crisis situation with production or sales now, that is, it cannot be said that the prime minister happily “saved” the region from something with his visit or gave it some new chances for development. Even if he hadn’t come, everything would have developed exactly the same. So what's the point of the visit? Perhaps to visit the sick governor.

I'll add. By the way, the attitude towards a further increase in production in Kuzbass is not at all as clear as its supporters are trying to portray. Many experts are sounding the alarm. Additional jobs are, of course, good. However, the industrial load on the region is already so great that it entails serious environmental problems and reduces the quality of life of Kuzbass residents. In addition, the owners of coal enterprises are increasing production without simultaneously increasing safety systems. The trend has been unchanged for many years - the more coal, the more corpses.

That's how things are. The public began to wonder where and when Putin would go next. According to one version, it will still move to the south of the Kemerovo region. According to another version, January 25 will be in Tomsk (it was this version that ultimately turned out to be correct - A.S.). According to the third version, he will fly to Moscow with his entire retinue. Well, we'll find out tomorrow. I say, mysteries, riddles and secrets.

The photographs can be viewed here on the official website of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation:

http://premier.gov.ru/visits/ru/17850/