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Contents of independence
Relations with South Ossetia will be built “at a high international level”
Today in the Kremlin the signing of documents on the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia will take place. And yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a large conference call in Moscow, open to the press, with members of the federal operational headquarters to eliminate the consequences of the armed conflict in South Ossetia . The main signal from the head of government was this: “The status of South Ossetia has changed for us. And we need to build relations at the highest international level.”Some ministers immediately understood their boss's train of thought - they were a minority. Deputy Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who with rare generosity for this department reported to the prime minister on the allocation of funds for the restoration of South Ossetia, was the first to seize on the new status of a needy republic. He named the total amount of assistance included in the 2008-2009 budget as 12.8 billion rubles. Of these, 10 billion will be spent on restoring the republic’s economy, 1.5 billion on initial construction needs, and 539 million on payments to victims. And he immediately explained that now the money will go through a specially opened account of the government of South Ossetia in the treasury of the Russian Federation (by the way, according to the President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity, the government of the republic is still being formed, although he has repeatedly promised to complete this process). In the future, as Mr. Siluanov said, the scheme will change: “Starting from 2009, we plan to build our financial relations with the republic taking into account international law. Such amendments will be adopted when considering the law on the federal budget for 2009-2011 in the second reading in the Duma.”
“Work in the republic must be organized rhythmically, financing must be timely. But strict effective control over the expenditure of budgetary and extrabudgetary funds must also be established,” the prime minister addressed his colleagues. Mr. Kokoity, who participated in the meeting, made approximately the same request: it is necessary to organize control over finances. And he added that it was time to transfer these “funds.”
Mr. Putin drew attention to the importance of effective restoration work in South Ossetia, naming the main person responsible - the Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak. The coordinator immediately reported. The ministry is currently developing a comprehensive development plan for South Ossetia until 2011, which will be submitted to the government by the end of the month. Almost like a standard federal target program. Mr. Kozak added that the document will require the solution of conceptual issues, such as the placement of engineering systems, government buildings, republican security facilities...
The minister readily described how Russian regions responded to the call for help. Moscow will allocate 2.5 billion rubles. for the construction of a residential complex. St. Petersburg - 500 million rubles. to the hospital. “There are many other proposals from the regions,” the minister noted, but did not voice them. He promised to rebuild 115 “essential” facilities in South Ossetia by the end of 2008. “This will help fill the hole,” concluded Mr. Kozak .
The size of the hole was colorfully outlined by the Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu. He said that as a result of military operations in South Ossetia, 2,522 residential buildings were destroyed, half of which could not be restored, the housing and communal services infrastructure, the energy system, and 29 educational institutions were destroyed.
According to Mr. Shoigu, “two buildings of the republican hospital, medical posts of educational and preschool institutions have now been restored, over 100 thousand tons of medicines, more than 30 tons of medical equipment have been delivered to the republic.” 11.5 thousand tons of humanitarian cargo were delivered. The Prime Minister inquired about the geography of this assistance. “I see - Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Jordan,” he began to list, “UN?” The head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations recalled the efforts of the Red Cross.
The Ministry of Energy also contributed to the large-scale half-headquarters-half-government report. Deputy Minister Vyacheslav Sinyugin informed that by June next year he expects the introduction of a new gas pipeline from Russia to Tskhinvali. Today, gas supplies to the republic have been stopped due to damage. Supply is carried out according to a temporary scheme, which includes everything from autonomous modular boiler houses to potbelly stoves. The Deputy Minister estimated the damage caused to the energy sector of South Ossetia at 1 billion 180 million rubles. According to him, it will take 700 million rubles to restore electricity supply, and another 470 million to restore gas supply by the end of the year.
The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Transport to consider the project not only for updating roads in South Ossetia, which is currently estimated by this department at 2 billion rubles, but also the possibility of creating another transport corridor to connect the republic with Russia, in addition to the currently existing one-of-a-kind Roki tunnel. And Mr. Putin indicated to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications that “it is necessary to organize access for citizens of South Ossetia to Russian media in a normal mode - no worse than what is available to citizens of Russia.”
At the end of the meeting, the prime minister expressed gratitude to all participants in the restoration process, but emphasized that most of all he thanks those people who worked on the ground - rescuers, doctors, builders. And in a conversation over a conference call with the head of North Ossetia, Taimuraz Mamsurov, he noted the wave of patriotism that swept the peoples of the North Caucasus in connection with the events in South Ossetia