Translated material
"Build everything anew"
Vladimir Putin did not see serious changes in Kamchatka
Kamchatka prepared thoroughly for the third coming of the president . When Vladimir Putin landed in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky yesterday at 4 a.m. Moscow time and 1 p.m. local time, the regional authorities tried to do everything possible to prove that the head of state’s previous appearances on this Far Eastern peninsula had the most beneficial impact on life away from mainland. But neither the statements of officials, nor the chopped-up reports of brave naval officers, nor even specially engraved tablets with reports on the implementation of presidential orders, it seems, could convince Mr. Putin that the situation in Kamchatka has changed dramatically, and the Kremlin can no longer remembering the sailors' apartments, expensive fuel oil , and most importantly, the gas pipeline project, the two largest natural monopolies are fighting for the right to build.Just a few days before the president’s arrival in Vilyuchinsk, where the submarine base of the Pacific Fleet is located, the Ocean sports and recreation complex was put into operation - with a swimming pool, a water park and other saunas. True, due to the lack of energy to heat the water, you can swim there only on weekends, but the sailors and their children are happy. Yesterday, in an attempt to confirm this, several school classes were allowed into the water park on a weekday especially for the President of Russia, who was taken to the Ocean on an excursion. As the deputy commander of the submarine base, Captain First Rank Valery Peregudov, later proudly told reporters, “he had been to Moscow, but had never seen such centers there.”
On the eve of Mr. Putin’s arrival, the head of the Ministry of Defense, Anatoly Serdyukov, toured Vilyuchinsk with an inspection. As one of the officers told Vremya Novostey, the minister said in surprise at the end of the tour that “here the president has nothing to show...” Perhaps it seemed to him that there had always been a water park here and there were such elegant houses, after all, the head of the military department I visited here for the first time only in May of this year. And Vladimir Putin came for the third time. And through the efforts of the local authorities, every now and then he came across traces of his previous visits. For example, he was shown the new House of Fleet Officers, at the entrance to which there is a sign: “DOF was designed on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin." It was impossible to pass by the huge granite boulder near the “Ocean”. Another plaque is carefully screwed to the stone: “A memorial sign as a symbol of the concern of the President and Government of Russia for the defense capability of our Motherland, improving the lives of submariners in honor of the start of construction and reconstruction of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet base in Vilyuchinsk.” Moreover, the townspeople, and these were mostly sailors and members of their families, stood gratefully on the highest hillock of Vilyuchinsk, from where a wonderful view of the bay and the nuclear submarines standing at the pier opens up.
There, on the pier, the crews of two nuclear submarines lined up no less gratefully: the strategic missile carrier Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and the multi-purpose Magadan.
The crews, however, were from other boats - "St. George the Victorious" and "Samara", which could completely confuse any civilian ignorant of the naval submarine service. The boats themselves cannot confuse anyone; they are well known to any potential enemy. For example, the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as one of the officers told Vremya Novostei, has been in service for 28 years, but until now this giant submarine cruiser, 156 meters long and 17 meters high, hides 16 missiles with three nuclear warheads in its silos on each one. “20 minutes, and they will take off, as soon as we receive the command,” noted the commander of Petropavlovsk, captain of the first rank Valery Kravchenko, with proud negligence. “We are now on combat duty.”
We had to wait for the president on combat duty for several hours. During this time, the sailors managed to thoroughly rehearse their greetings to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, boast of successful shooting at targets in the North Sea, and reveal to journalists information about Vilyuchinsk that was not classified as a state secret. “In general, our base is more convenient than that of the Northern Fleet; we go straight to the sea here and immediately to the bottom, it’s deeper here. Therefore, after 2010, new submarines that are being built will come here, the Borei class (Project 955), armed with Bulava missiles,” one of the officers shared the command’s plans with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. However, his talkativeness had limits - when asked how many days a year his submarine sails, he refused to answer. “It’s not allowed,” the cavalryman snapped dryly.
The sailors were also not too verbose with the president. Having accepted the report of the commanders of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Magadan, Vladimir Putin seemed to be counting on a heart-to-heart conversation, the signal for which was the sound of the command “At liberty!” However, the head of state, who was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Kamil Iskhakov, failed to initiate a hazing conversation.
- Well, in general, are you satisfied with the service? - Mr. Putin asked the clearly tense officers.
“That’s right, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” the Magadan commander Roman Shchury responded, looking straight towards the sea, but not towards the Commander-in-Chief.
- Well, not you, but your families are happy?
“The families are happy, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” as if admonishing a dull subordinate, Shchury patiently explained the caperang, still without turning to Vladimir Putin.
“Okay,” the president peacefully and as if apologetically left behind the Magadan commander and soon left for the city - for a meeting on the problems of the development of the Kamchatka Territory, formed only in early July as a result of the merger of the Kamchatka Region and the Koryak Autonomous Okrug.
Here, in the presence of ministers and heads of natural monopolies, Vladimir Putin no longer looked so peaceful. And, sharing his impressions of what he saw, he expressed everything that the sailors did not dare to do. “Yes, something has been done, several houses have been renovated,” noted the president, who monitored how his instructions given three years ago are being carried out. - But almost everything I saw from housing needs to be demolished; it was built in the 60s. Russian officers must live with dignity, all housing must be built anew!”
He looked even more emotional when in his report he came to the problem of energy supply to Kamchatka , whose thermal power plants operate on very expensive fuel oil, and the conversion of power plants to gas is hampered due to the never-built Sobolevo-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky gas pipeline, which should connect the fields with regional center. In 2001, when construction was frozen, 300 km of pipe remained to be laid, this work was estimated at $190 million. Mr. Putin literally exploded with indignation: “Well, listen, we already talked about this three years ago, nothing has changed.” ! The government cannot determine the main development priorities. If they had given it to Gazprom, everything would have already been built.”
The meeting was attended by Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Transport Igor Levitin, Kamchatka Governor Alexei Kuzmitsky, Minister of Regional Development Vladimir Yakovlev, head of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais, head of Rosneft Sergei Bogdanchikov, deputy head of Gazprom Valery Golubev. And it is unknown whether the following remark from the clearly irritated president was addressed to them or to the officials remaining in Moscow: “Otherwise you’re sitting there, picking your nose, I don’t know what you’re picking out there...”
Returning to the topic of the long-suffering gas pipeline, Vladimir Putin continued to pour in reproaches: “It’s a disgrace, nothing has been done since 2001, it started with Kasyanov, with Kasyanov and Gref.” And then he tried to find out which of the natural monopolists would quickly solve the problem that government officials could not cope with.
- Anatoly Borisovich, what are your suggestions? - he addressed the head of RAO UES. RAO, as is known, wants to get Kamchatgazprom, which is developing the field, in order to merge it with Kamchatskenergo. So Mr. Chubais already had the answer, the volumes and financing scheme for the construction of the gas pipeline were “clear” to him, moreover, in the morning he managed to fly around the route of the future pipeline and is ready to build it by 2010.
-- Together with Gazprom? - Putin seems to have clarified with hope.
“No, without him,” Mr. Chubais disappointed the president.
— Does Gazprom have any proposals in this regard? - the president continued to stick to his line.
Deputy head of the gas monopolist Valery Golubev replied that Gazprom was also ready to take on the project, but under certain conditions that would improve its economy. For example, if the Ministry of Natural Resources gives a license for geological exploration on the western shelf of Kamchatka. Knowing that energy companies are also interested in exploration rights, Mr. Golubev did not miss the opportunity to briefly look at the competitors. “It’s strange that the RAO UES gas pipeline project will reduce the cost of electricity by only 5-10% compared to fuel oil,” he hinted to the president. He, however, was already favorably disposed towards Gazprom and at the end of the meeting asked Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Anatoly Temkin to “take into account Gazprom’s proposals on the western shelf of Kamchatka.”
However, formal uncertainty regarding who will implement this project will remain for at least another month. This became clear after Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation Vitaly Savelyev got into trouble, unable to quickly answer the head of state’s question about how soon his department would be able to consider the proposals of Gazprom and RAO UES of Russia. “I’m incompetent, Vladimir Vladimirovich,” the deputy minister tried to justify himself, realizing what gears he got into between two supermonopolies. “Why did you even come here then?” Vladimir Putin shot him point-blank with his gaze. Mr. Savelyev had to promise to get it done by the end of September. “Okay, come up with your proposals by the end of September,” the president put an end to it.