Two years before the order

After his presidency, Vladimir Putin has no plans to go into business

“You just need to work honestly. Every day, like Saint Francis, hoe your small plot - and good luck will come,” this is how Vladimir Putin formulated one of his life principles, answering questions from Dutch journalists two months ago. Yesterday's "big" press conference of the head of state showed that both he himself and journalists are increasingly inclined to sum up Putin's 6-year work in the presidential "area."

Putin himself has more than once compared the economy he inherited in 1999 with what he managed to achieve in subsequent years. At times his assessments even sounded like criticism of the work of his predecessor, although the second president of Russia was always as correct as possible with regard to Boris Yeltsin. “I remember the end of 1999 - and the current state of the economy, statehood, and social sphere. There is a very big difference, and this difference is positive,” Putin said yesterday. But about Boris Yeltsin, Putin, it seems, said the most important thing for the first time: “You can characterize that period as you like and you can evaluate the activities of the first president of the Russian Federation as you like, but one thing is unconditional - precisely at the time when Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin headed Russia ", the people of our country, the citizens of Russia received the main thing for the sake of which all these transformations were carried out - freedom."

But here is what Putin himself lists in the list of achievements of the last six years: “We strengthened the Federation, we returned the Chechen Republic to the constitutional field of Russia, and by legal means, democratic means, first of all - voting on the constitution, voting on the presidential candidacy, on parliamentary elections it is impossible to name anyone else. We have taken serious steps to strengthen the economy. We have actually paid off our foreign debts. We are ready to continue to repay Russia’s government debt in an accelerated manner. We have significantly - by millions - reduced the number of our citizens living below the poverty line, and significantly reduced unemployment. We have increased, incredibly increased, our gold and foreign exchange reserves. We were able to pursue a balanced economic policy in the face of the influx of petrodollars into the country, accumulating part of the petrodollars in the stabilization fund. We have significantly increased the real incomes of the population, which is the most important thing.”

It is noteworthy that the president avoids mentioning the reforms he himself initiated - and at the beginning of Putin’s rule there were almost a dozen of them. Some of them faded on their own, some continue to be implemented. Yesterday, the president emphasized the need to continue institutional reforms, but immediately cited the example of a sharp slowdown in energy reform as a positive example, thanking RAO UES for voluntarily slowing down the pace of transformation in the industry.

At the same time, the tax reform can be considered, although unfinished, quite successful. Yesterday, the president delicately did not comment on the government discussion about reducing VAT, but firmly assured journalists: “Taxes will be reduced.” The total tax burden of 36.8% of GDP, Putin believes, is too high “for such a developing economy as the Russian one.”

The evolution of Putin’s relationship with the press was reflected in the fact that out of more than 70 questions, not a single one was about the notorious “third term.” But the last question a journalist from Murmansk asked was whether Putin plans to head Gazprom after his presidency. This option for constructing a power structure after the 2008 elections has recently been especially popular among political scientists. But Putin, among whose best qualities it is customary to note his efficiency, technocraticism and talent as a negotiator (including a business lobbyist), responded this way: “I’m unlikely to be able to head any business structure. Neither by character nor by my previous life experience do I feel like a businessman.”

Well, if Vladimir Putin does not feel like a businessman, it means that after leaving the presidential post he can only “hoe his plot” somewhere in the service of the state.

Andrey DENISOV