Parades and victories

Dmitry Medvedev made his debut as Supreme Commander-in-Chief

For his first trip after the inauguration , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev chose the most traditional tourist route - the Golden Ring. In one day, he managed to visit three cities at once - Ivanovo, Kostroma and Yaroslavl. True, visiting the famous ancient churches at the president’s, popular among tourists, was not the main point of the program. Dmitry Medvedev made his debut as supreme commander in chief.

Near Ivanovo, at the Teikovsky missile formation, Medvedev was shown the pride of the Russian armed forces - the Topol-M missile system. Actually, the president, like the whole country, saw this particular “Topol” quite recently at the parade in honor of Victory Day. Nevertheless, he showed a keen interest in this giant rocket. “We will continue to practice such parades at a broad technological level. Maybe we’ll even make a decision to expand them,” Dmitry Medvedev promised, having taken a closer look at a dozen missile launchers.

Having touched on the topic of victories, it was impossible to ignore the most recent one - football. The president admitted that he was very worried when the day before Zenit St. Petersburg played Glasgow Rangers in the UEFA Cup final . And of course, I was rooting for my home team. “This is a celebration of all Russian football and all fans. We are hungry for both beautiful parades and such victories,” the president said. And he proceeded to inspect the missile launchers camouflaged in the forest and even climbed into the combat control vehicle himself. The most spectacular thing was the black confetti thrown from helicopters, which turned out to be anti-personnel mines. After the spectacle, a closed meeting was held with the participation of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

At the meeting, Mr. Medvedev, as one of the participants said, paid great attention to social issues . Especially the topic of providing housing for military personnel . The theme of square meters was continued in the next city on the route - Kostroma, where the president visited the Military Academy of Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense. The Academy can be considered exemplary in all respects. It was created in 2006 on the basis of four military schools, which is fully consistent with the spirit of the national project “Education”, which Dmitry Medvedev oversaw as First Deputy Prime Minister. The academy actively introduces innovations; there is a separate nanotechnology laboratory. The President was proudly shown a contaminated air purification facility, which has no analogues in the world, and simulator training grounds that give you the complete feeling that you are inside a giant computer game.

However, the sight of the 125 neatly made beds in the barracks made a sad impression on the president. He proposed an experiment in several military schools: to move cadets from the barracks to a dormitory with rooms for 8-10 people. “In my opinion, this will contribute to both good academic performance and the moral comfort of the children,” the president concluded.

In addition to military and worldly affairs, Dmitry Medvedev also paid tribute to spiritual matters - he visited the Ipatiev and Epiphany monasteries in Kostroma. The Ipatiev Monastery is located on the spit between the Volga and the Kostroma River; it was first mentioned in chronicles in 1432, but was founded much earlier. It is known, in particular, for the fact that Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov lived here with his mother, nun Martha, for more than six years. Here in 1613 the solemn ceremony of electing Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom was performed. The ceremony took place in the Trinity Cathedral, which was also visited by Mr. Medvedev.

After visiting the Ipatiev Monastery, the Russian President visited the Epiphany Monastery, where 40 elderly women and disabled people, as well as orphans, now live under the care of sisters. The main shrine of the monastery is the Miraculous Theodore Icon of the Mother of God. It has been known since the 12th century, when it was in a chapel near the ancient Volga region town of Gorodets. In 1239, Gorodets was ravaged by Mongol-Tatar invaders, and the icon disappeared. Later it was discovered again, brought in a religious procession to Kostroma and placed in the cathedral church. During the years of persecution of the church in the twentieth century, the icon did not leave the walls of the temple. Since 1991, the image has been kept in the Epiphany-Anastasia Cathedral in Kostroma.

Late in the evening in Yaroslavl, before returning to Moscow, Mr. Medvedev held a working meeting with the newly appointed regional governor, Sergei Vakhrukov. They discussed preparations for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Yaroslavl in 2010. Dmitry Medvedev recently agreed to head the organizing committee for this anniversary.

Vera SITNINA, Ivanovo--Kostroma--Yaroslavl