About the stash without hiding

The government told the president how it will spend additional budget revenues

The traditional meeting between President Vladimir Putin and members of the Cabinet of Ministers on Mondays yesterday was devoted to discussing one of the most pleasant topics in the world - how to spend extra money. The main items of expenditure will be the social sphere and the giant Olympic construction in the city of Sochi .

“You had some, as people say, nest egg for some projects,” the head of state told the Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova. “Let’s talk in detail about how to manage these funds,” he suggested to those gathered. True, the discussion of this interesting topic continued without journalists.

But before they left, Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov managed to report that amendments to this year’s budget provide for additional allocation of funds for social development. By the end of the year, it is planned to spend more than 50 billion rubles for these purposes. According to Mr. Zubkov, 47 billion will be allocated to provide expensive medicines . 1.25 billion will be spent on the needs of wheelchair users , and another 5.2 billion rubles. will go to help “difficult children.” Moreover, such an expense item, according to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, was introduced for the first time. The Prime Minister noted that changes to next year's budget also provide for the use of additional tax revenues to address social issues.

Another topic discussed at the meeting was the upcoming 2014 Olympics in Sochi. The law on the creation of a state corporation for the construction of Olympic facilities (Olympstroy), adopted by parliament almost at cosmic speed, has been submitted to the president for signature. According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who is responsible for the Olympics in the government, the creation of the state corporation will be completed in the very near future. “By the end of the year, the corporation’s staff will be formed and it will begin work,” Mr. Zhukov reported.

The state corporation will finance the construction of all Olympic facilities, both sports and infrastructure, for which it is planned to spend more than 300 billion rubles. “The federal target program for the development of Sochi has been modernized, and thus all funding will go through the state corporation. Responsibility for the construction of facilities will also be assigned to her,” explained Mr. Zhukov.

Vladimir Putin asked whether the leadership of the city of Sochi and the Krasnodar Territory was involved in the work of the Olympic corporation, to which he received an affirmative answer. According to the Minister of Regional Development Dmitry Kozak, city representatives will join the corporation's supervisory board. “So there are no disagreements,” the minister said.

This phrase could become the motto of the entire meeting - perhaps one of the most peaceful in the history of such meetings between the president and ministers. True, in the closed part the discussion may not have been so blissful.

Vera SITNINA