Translated material
Personally responsible
The new prime minister met with old ministers
Viktor Zubkov held his first government meeting in the role of Prime Minister , immediately demonstrating his tough character. The role was a success, judging by the comments. On the sidelines of the White House, senior officials praised Mr. Zubkov’s efforts: “So that everyone knows, I am a strict boss. And I won’t let anyone down!” True, these assessments were accompanied by some nervous laughter.Actually, no one expected that the cabinet of ministers would be headed by some economic strategist. Mr. Zubkov is an administrator with both Soviet and post-Soviet experience. And the toughness that the new prime minister has shown should distinguish him from his predecessors.
Viktor Zubkov is clearly not going to hesitate. He doesn’t have much time until March to prove his effectiveness publicly, and not in the position of a “closed financial intelligence officer.” And that is why yesterday’s government meeting still took place. And the background of ministers, who so far all have the prefix “acting,” turned out to be useful. It was in this outgoing cabinet that Mr. Zubkov had to demonstrate his experience as a tough administrator. Almost all government “old-timers” got it.
The new prime minister began “by adding dynamics to the work of the cabinet” in general and individual ministers in particular. “I would like to remind you of our personal responsibility for solving problems that are important for the country,” he said. Here the prime minister distracted himself from the piece of paper and actually moved on to personalities. He raised Anton Drozdov, director of the department of finance and economics: “Why didn’t money come to Sakhalin either from the reserve fund or from 2 billion rubles. (budget loan - Ed. )? “Everything is put on the governor, who makes a good impression. This won’t work!” - Mr. Zubkov noted. The meeting participants, apparently feeling that they were making a less good impression on the new prime minister, fell silent. Mr. Drozdov tried to explain that not all financial flows are controlled by his department. But the prime minister did not heed the explanations: “Are you responsible for finances? Answer! I ask, Sergei Evgenievich (Chief of the Government Staff, Acting Deputy Prime Minister Naryshkin - Ed. ), to issue a business trip to Sakhalin for Comrade Drozdov starting Monday. Until people get money from the reserve fund to keep it there.” The exiled official did not have time to say anything more in his own defense.
Acting Transport Minister Igor Levitin received more time to explain his vision for the development of ports in Russia. But Mr. Zubkov did not allow him to fall into lyricism. When it came to the fact that in our country there is only one legal port, Vysotsk, and everything else is “murky” - regulated by temporary legal acts, the prime minister remarked: “This is not the only muddy thing. Stevedores (terminal operators - Ed. ), for example. We have three hundred of them, but in Hamburg there are only 20. Why are they hanging around there with a pittance of capital!?” And again he began to look for those responsible: “Where is the Ministry of Property? Well, let Rosimushchestvo. Where is Gref? He’s gone too?!” Mr. Levitin corrected the prime minister, saying that the emphasis in the word “stevedore” was not on the third, but on the second syllable, but he immediately paid for it. “Do you have any suggestions?” - asked Mr. Zubkov. And, having heard something timid about a unified port administration, he gave a “portion” to Mr. Levitin: “The president gave you an order two years ago, and you postponed it until 2008. How is this possible?! Who dared to correct the president’s instructions so easily?!”
Mr. Zubkov's critical attitude was very quickly conveyed to the meeting participants. The head of the customs service, Andrei Belyaninov, for his part, also expressed dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Transport. But he was stopped by the prime minister: “Put things in order in the customs area too. The ports work around the clock, and you work one or two shifts, the ships are idle. The owner is not at the port today. Why don’t we put things in order, what’s stopping us? Why do the Finns have order, but we don’t?”
Acting speaker First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: “I would like to support the critical remarks as well.” He noted the poor state of port legislation and called for streamlining the activities of stevedores. As for the emphasis, he reassured Mr. Zubkov: “I think you can say it this way and that way.”
It was noticeable that Mr. Zubkov’s relationships with members of the cabinet were different. For example, to acting Minister of Agriculture Alexey Gordeev, acting He treated Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin and Mr. Medvedev almost kindly, but with others his tone was completely different. The acting officers sat with especially gloomy faces. Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu and acting Head of the Ministry of Social Health Development Mikhail Zurabov. Acting Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko was in a great mood, smiled and looked at the computer together with Naryshkin, as if he were playing a sea battle.
But the most popular and exemplary, from the prime minister’s point of view, turned out to be acting. Minister of Finance Alexey Kudrin. He reported on changes to Article 6 of the Law “On Illegal Money Laundering”. The amendment gives the authorities a free hand with regard to control over cash transactions of both legal entities and individuals. The list of transactions that were previously subject to control is canceled. From now on, cash transactions from 600 thousand rubles. will be immediately transferred to the computer of Rosfinmonitoring, the former domain of Mr. Zubkov. “There are no obstacles to honest business here,” said Viktor Zubkov. “Essentially, this is control over corruption.”
Mr. Kudrin, however, tried to soften the blow (after all, in essence, control over large purchases is being introduced) and said that the amendment would not affect the “retail network.” But this is only part of the question. The main thing is that all real estate transactions are fully covered by the amendment. And every citizen sooner or later buys or sells an apartment. So the meeting of the old cabinet with the new prime minister turned out to be tough not only in form, but also in content.
Yesterday, while in Novocherkassk, State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov said that members of the cabinet of ministers who are members of the United Russia party - Alexander Zhukov, Alexei Gordeev, Sergei Shoigu and Yuri Trutnev, will most likely be included in the new government. At the same time, the speaker believes, ministers who were subjected to particularly harsh criticism from State Duma deputies will leave the government. Among them, Mr. Gryzlov named the head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov, the Minister of Regional Development Vladimir Yakovlev and the Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov. As Boris Gryzlov stated, the parliamentary majority party suggested that the new government leadership not consider their candidacies as candidates for the future government. United Russia proposed its candidates for the new government. We are talking primarily about the heads of federal agencies and deputy ministers, said Boris Gryzlov.