The Moscow region is the second largest subject of the Russian Federation by budget. But proximity to the country’s largest metropolis for the Moscow region is not only advantages, but also disadvantages: the cities closest to the Moscow Ring Road are overpopulated, 1.2 million residents of the region go to work in Moscow every day, exacerbating the transport collapse. The solution is to attract investment and create new jobs in the Moscow region, says Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov. The governor spoke about how he achieves this when he arrived at the Vedomosti editorial office.

– The President is busy discussing and preparing an anti-crisis plan, although they are trying not to call it that, but in essence everyone understands that the situation in the economy has been difficult for the second year in a row. Is a similar plan being prepared in the Moscow region? How have economic priorities changed?

– Our budget is the second largest in the country, its peculiarity is that the share of revenues from oil and gas companies is practically zero. A diversified economy allowed us to hold on and maintain good performance. The backbone and foundation of the economy of the Moscow region is industry; it accounts for 26% of the gross regional product (GRP). Almost the same amount is trade. The share of construction, despite the largest volumes of commissioning in the country, does not exceed 10%. They can be called three whales. Therefore, our budget is stable. In nominal terms, it grew by 9% compared to 2014. We have good debt indicators: it does not exceed 28–29% of our own income, or 3.5% of GRP.

And the GRP is quite impressive - about 3 trillion rubles. At the same time, we all understand perfectly well that the lack of foreign investment and available loans puts small, medium and large businesses in a difficult situation. We do everything to make life as easy as possible for any company in the Moscow region. We understand that our participation should be very, very noticeable in terms of preparing the territory, in terms of regional benefits, in terms of political support, if you like, in terms of eliminating various bureaucratic obstacles. We literally manually accompany companies - last year we opened 47 relatively large ones (from 100 people). In general, this is the most important challenge today - to invite investors, to start a new business. And we have a breakthrough, I would dare to say, in agriculture. The market is huge, demand allows investors to create an interesting business model and make a profit.

– Counter-sanctions also played a role here, of course.

- Absolutely! All of this benefits those who contribute to food security. In general, I believe that globally in the Russian economy, food security and the production of food and agricultural crops are challenge No. 1. In the Moscow region, we are working specifically on these projects and, with the help of preferential lending and partnership with the federal Ministry of Agriculture, are actively implementing projects to create greenhouse farms. The numbers make us happy, the most important thing is that federal support remains, and we have provided for regional support. For example, last year we produced 35% more vegetables than in 2014. And they are in the highest demand.

– Are new investors appearing or existing ones expanding?

Andrey Vorobyov Governor of the Moscow Region

Born in 1970 in Krasnoyarsk. Graduated from North Ossetian State University named after. K. L. Khetagurova, All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade, State University Higher School of Economics
1998 General Director of CJSC Russian Fish Company
2000 Assistant to Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Shoigu
2002 Member of the Federation Council from the Republic of Adygea
2003 State Duma deputy, deputy head of the United Russia faction
2012 Acting Governor of the Moscow Region
2013 Governor of the Moscow Region

- Both. Investors came to us from Stavropol, from Tyumen, from Moscow, from Armenia. Investments – about 35 billion rubles. Thanks to the fact that government policy makes it possible to compensate not only the rate, which is very heavy, but also to return capital costs - up to 25%. That is, the model, as businessmen say, is simply magnificent. The production of cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, and flowers is increasing.

– Aren’t you afraid that if the counter-sanctions are lifted, the business model will fall apart?

– Of course, it will be sad if suddenly one day manufacturers are faced with insurmountable obstacles, for example, with cheap goods from Turkey or China. Today, all companies understand that the lion's share of costs is electricity and gas prices. Here things are generally attractive. The price of the product remains determining for the consumer. I really hope that our Russian investors take this into account and strive to maintain competitiveness by increasing production volumes.

– Doesn’t the cost of land in the Moscow region prevent such investments?

– The price of land is not an obstacle to starting an agricultural business. We are finding legal mechanisms to provide land to strategic investors at a nominal price. Another issue is the implementation of the construction project itself, for example, a greenhouse. Production requires gas, electricity, and water. Plus, we have created 28 industrial parks.

– What kind of greenhouse company from Tyumen is it?

– In my opinion, they were engaged in the IT business. Then we built the first complex in Tyumen, and now we have opened Lukhovitsky Vegetables. Greenhouse farming is a super-innovative story, because you can remove 90 kg per square meter, or you can remove 110 - the difference is colossal. When they received compensation for capital investments of more than 500 million rubles, this is a colossal amount and they did not even include it in their model, they signed up for the second and third stages of expansion. Strategically, it is important for us today to pay attention and dare to large-scale production of agricultural products. Our land is an advantage. We must learn to process it correctly, get a harvest, process it, and provide employment.

– At what stage is the dairy complex project with the Vietnamese company TH True Milk?

– We flew to Vietnam specifically. Investments of $500 million have been declared. I personally support such projects. We signed an agreement, developed a road map, and prepared plots of land in the Volokolamsk, Lotoshinsky, Orekhovo-Zuevsky and Voskresensky districts with a total area of more than 20,000 hectares. We lease the land without bidding, almost free of charge, for up to 49 years. It comes out to about 200–500 rubles. for 1 hectare per year, depending on the area and location of the site. In the meantime, two more foreign companies came to us, one of them from Thailand. In dairy farming, we, too, together with the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, have the opportunity to compensate for 25% of capital costs (of which we add 5% from the regional budget). If we maintain this pace, there will not be a single uncultivated plot of land in the Moscow region. And what cannot be processed, we will simply transfer from agricultural to industrial purposes in order to further offer it for other production. Nowadays they just make money from grain; in 2015 we showed good yields. We collected 32.6 quintals from 1 hectare. We took 2nd–3rd place in the Central Federal District. This is great.

– You had an inspection of the use of agricultural land. Did you select the unused ones?

– Figuratively speaking, we did not shed blood, we did not take anything from anyone. As for agricultural land, we negotiate more through persuasion; coercion is already too much. We suggest that all owners give the land on a long-term lease so that it can work. After all, many acquired land in order to capitalize it in the future. Transfer it to another category and build housing. Now everyone understands that the situation has changed. Therefore, owners are quite willing to rent out land for a medium-term period of 3 to 5 years. Our whole life says that the earth must work. At least we introduce 50,000 hectares every year. Three years in a row. Now the base is already high.

Budget

– A year or two ago you said that you set the goal, if possible, to attract the headquarters of large companies to the Moscow region in order to increase the tax base. What achievements have there been in this regard?

- Managed. Just on Monday, the head of the tax inspectorate reported that the number of registered legal entities and private entrepreneurs is growing. Do you want me to tell you some big names?

- Certainly. about Rosseti We know . Who else?

– There are things that should be done in silence. There were cases when companies left one region, my colleagues called me and asked: “Listen, why are you doing this?” And I’m not doing anything special, we just created the conditions. This is struggle, normal competition, this is life. We work with both individual payers, individuals, and companies. We must create conditions, otherwise a miracle will not happen. Only favorable conditions produce results.

– What is the structure of tax revenues to the budget?

– Tax No. 1, just like the absolute majority, is personal income tax. Of course, we want the profit tax to be the leader; this is our dream.

– How much is non-tax revenue? Or do you not rely heavily on them?

– We are laying down and will continue to lay down. We sell regional real estate in Moscow. We are the only entity whose ministries are still scattered in a neighboring entity. In 2017–2018 We will transport all services and ministries to Krasnogorsk.

– Some time ago there was an idea to seek payment of income tax at the place of residence. Is all this already forgotten now? No chance?

– If we answer in black and white logic – with a chance or without a chance, then rather without. The administration of personal income tax in the country is one of the most effective. Creating jobs is a stronger position. We have managed to create 70,000 high-performance jobs for two years in a row. What does high performance mean? This means a salary of 40,000 or 50,000 rubles. For example, in Yegoryevsk unemployment is 0.7%. When an investor comes, he has a question: who will work? We will soon open the first phase of the airport in Zhukovsky - this will create 2,000 jobs. If three lines are opened, then residents of Ramensky, Zhukovsky, Lyubertsy, Kotelnikov, Dzerzhinsky can work there quite calmly. Just like today Muscovites go to work in Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo. That is, we are turning the situation around. And we believe that this is possible. Of course, now there is a crisis, we have stumbled a little, but we believe that everything will return to normal anyway. We will still be able to get through this difficult time. And for now we need to seize the moment. If now we provide a favorable climate for the arrival of new employers, then tomorrow we will be even better off. We have a couple of projects: for example, in Sergiev Posad we launched a pipe plant, about 8 billion rubles. there were investments, more than 1000 jobs, of which 37% were highly qualified. It is important to open another 1000 next year. We then have a question: where to get people to work? For example, people often travel to the Istra district from Moscow to work in the industrial zone. We have serious work with one of the leaders in mechanical engineering, I can’t name him now, I hope that we will be successful and this will change the situation in the western direction: Khimki, Solnechnogorsk and Klin. Each such blow, a blow in a good sense, each such arrival of an investor changes the situation. Both in people's lives and in the economy.

– In your opinion, is the refusal to transfer the payment of personal income tax at the place of residence a political story, so that people still believe that only 13% of the tax is taken from their salary, or is it a question of the complexity of changing the administration of the tax?

– I think, collectively. You receive the lion's share of the income of all regional municipal budgets in the country through personal income tax and suddenly you begin to change it. Why suddenly? When managing large systems, you should never expose these systems to risks. I think there will obviously be risks with change. Of course, I would like 1.2 million people to pay personal income tax in the region, but changing the administration of the entire country because of one entity is wrong and impossible. Still, a stronger position is to create jobs where people live. After all, it’s not only unpleasant that money is leaving the region, it’s about 100 billion rubles. This is also a daily tedious one-and-a-half or two-hour journey for a person in only one direction. I recently spoke with an ophthalmologist who prescribed me glasses. It costs 80,000 rubles. travels daily from Mytishchi to Moscow. And in Mytishchi this position is paid at the level of 60,000 rubles. And I say: “Why are you paying 20,000 rubles?” do you go to Moscow every day?” And she replies: “You know, if I had 70,000 rubles, I would gladly stay, but I have a mortgage, and I have to - I’ve been traveling for seven years now. I spend two hours there, two hours back.” Or we go to the MFC, there is a very nice married couple standing there. It turned out that he is from Elektrougli, the husband is an electrician, works in Moscow, earns 100,000–120,000 rubles. per month. Every morning he travels by train from Elektrougli and back. That is, it really plows every day. He is a professional, the company cannot refuse him, but he is forced to travel. What if he could create a workplace somewhere nearby? This is what I worry about. And if we can solve this problem, people will thank us. I don’t know about everyone else, but definitely the wife of this electrical engineer.

Unpopular decisions

– What is your attitude to Article 222 of the Civil Code and the story of the demolition of shopping pavilions in Moscow? The city authorities interpret this article very conveniently: their position is such that it gives them the right to demolish buildings, allegedly not according to the rules, without a trial. Are you allowing this situation to happen in your region?

– We have 11,000 of these ugly and not entirely ugly kiosks in our region. Maybe this is the first time I will speak on this topic, but ideologically I believe that all trade in the Russian Federation and especially in the capital region in the 21st century. still must have a civilized character. It’s probably no secret that our children can buy alcohol, smuggled cigarettes and all sorts of nonsense in these same stalls and pavilions. We need to put things in order here. It is clear that the process is very difficult. I think it would be easier for Sergei Semenovich [Sobyanin] to do nothing. It's easy to make popular decisions. Politicians often know how to do this. But we, Russian politicians, must evolve and we must be able to make and explain complex decisions. What the mayor is doing is a very difficult decision. But everything must be within the law. This is the main thing. We know the criticism that fell upon Sergei Semenovich, for example, regarding paid parking.

– Will you introduce paid parking?

– If people support us, we will. We are discussing this with residents. Looks like it's needed. And we are slowly starting to prepare for this. In Odintsovo, for example, the number of registered cars is approximately the same as in the south of France. I have never seen so many cars on lawns and sidewalks as in Lyubertsy. Residents are very annoyed when it is impossible to park a car or drive a stroller.

– How do you see it – will you introduce paid parking simultaneously in the five largest municipalities?

– Where there is high density, paid parking will gradually appear. As it was in Moscow. As, indeed, in all large cities of the world without exception. No other way was found.

– The region has practically stopped funding professional sports teams; in fact, only BC Khimki remains, which sponsors Mosoblgaz. Why?

– This may have been an unexpected decision for some, which came from me, because I myself am passionate about sports. But what did we see? Historically, in the Moscow region about 3 billion rubles. went to professional athletes who receive salaries that the brilliant chief physician of, say, the Central Regional Hospital does not receive. Probably, once there was time and the region could afford it, but we definitely cannot. That’s why we removed the costs of professional sports. And they were redirected to the construction of accessible sports facilities. With this money we built 54 sports and recreation complexes - an ice palace, a swimming pool, a universal sports hall, etc.

– Well, why does Mosoblgaz continue to finance Khimki? Maybe it would be better for him to work on gasification of the region, and not spend money on salaries?

– We cannot completely abandon professional sports. The sponsorship contribution of Mosoblgaz is relatively small - a hundred million rubles. Investors help Khimki, mainly their investments. Thanks to Alisher Usmanov and Valery Kazikaev for supporting Khimki. They helped us out when we were in debt. We can't completely turn our backs on the team. We help as much as we can.

The story of Georgadze

– Your version of the story with Amiran Georgadze, his relationship with the local authorities? As a governor, how do you see the reasons for this story, what was its background, what distortions were made?

– Georgadze is a businessman, he conducted a variety of businesses in the Krasnogorsk region. He came to those with whom he communicated, made friends, and held various social and sporting events. He found himself in that terrible situation, as I understand it, because of debts. The nature of these debts is not fully known to me - investigators are looking into this. We dealt with the law enforcement block after that: is there any corruption component, who needs to be tested with a lie detector on the topic of financial fraud, when allocating land, etc.? The investigation is still underway, but no obvious corruption violations or connections between the criminal and the administration have been identified.

– What measures did you take after this story?

“We took action, this was a request.” We talked with residents and found out: how much does this bother you, what do you think, what do we need to do so that this situation does not bother you? After all, every person is to a certain extent captive of stereotypes and phobias, we needed to understand how much this is in demand. After all this, we decided to rotate. Now the Krasnogorsk district is headed by Mikhail Sapunov - he is an officer, a man who worked conscientiously in Krasnoznamensk and today must prove himself in a large region.

I am deeply convinced that rotation in government bodies - municipal, regional - is mandatory so that a person does not lose motivation. We have a practice of transferring successful colleagues from one municipality to another, replacing functions and competencies. It is obvious that prolonged stay in one place, so to speak, dulls the receptors. And the authorities have no right to lose this nerve. We have district heads who have been working for a very long time - since the 90s, very serious, very effective. We do rotations when we see the need. For a person who has worked conscientiously for 10 or 20 years, we will always find a direction for work.

– How do you rate?

– We identified 56 indicators. They characterize our priorities - the implementation of May decrees, target indicators of federal and state programs of the Moscow region.

These are precisely the areas that are directly addressed by local heads of municipalities. These are target indicators: elimination of the second shift, the number of municipal and regional roads repaired. Have you updated 10% of the yards or not? What does it mean to update 10% of yards? It would seem an abstract definition. But in fact, these are six mandatory elements: parking, green area, children's playground, lighting, paths, container site. There is an exhaustive list of events that you should hold in your yards. In total, we have 13,400 yards in the Moscow region. I don’t want to overly immerse you in the management system that we are working on. Its essence is work for results. And we have a number of principles - there are seven of them (1. The resident is always right! 2. The team is everything. 3. The result “rules”! 4. Nothing personal! 5. Sensitive power! 6. Change for the better! 7. “Democracy! "), there should be nothing personal here.

Some may not like a person, but if he produces results and the residents trust him, then he works. We dared to become the best, because when we arrived, we often heard that the potential of the Moscow region was enormous. But if the potential is huge, then we know from the laws of physics: if you put in the work, it will definitely turn into a result. We are doing everything to be in the top five regions in the country by the absolute majority of indicators.

“We returned several hundred million rubles and a number of assets”
The Investigative Committee of Russia is still investigating a criminal case against the former Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region Alexei Kuznetsov and members of his criminal group....
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“We returned several hundred million rubles and a number of assets”

The Investigative Committee of Russia is still investigating a criminal case against the former Minister of Finance of the Moscow Region, Alexey Kuznetsov, and members of his criminal group. He is suspected of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering during his leadership of the Ministry of Finance in 2000–2008. The investigation believes that he, as part of a criminal group, withdrew 3.5 billion rubles from the regional budget. through the Moscow Regional Investment Trust Company, 100% owned by the Moscow region. The total damage from the activities of Kuznetsov’s criminal group was estimated at 14 billion rubles. <br> “We returned several hundred million rubles, returned a number of assets - sports and recreation complexes, apartments, gas boiler houses worth 2.5 billion rubles,” Andrey Vorobyov comments on the progress of the investigation into the “Vorobyov case.” “But the key asset is where we are moving: the Two Captains office complex (pictured - Vedomosti), on which 9 billion rubles were spent. government money. And if we had not returned it, in a couple of years it would have had to be demolished, because it is a complex building, and if we had not started working on it now, its structure would have fallen into disrepair.”

Moratorium on construction

– A number of municipalities in the Moscow region that border Moscow are overpopulated. The same Balashikha. When all this began to be built - even before you - urbanists warned: future slums are being built in the Moscow region. The lower middle class lives there. If the economy goes down, people are out of work and we end up with hundreds of thousands unemployed, etc.

– You chose the city very accurately. Godlessly, I am not afraid of this word, it was Balashikha that was built up. But the point is not even that a crazy concrete jungle appeared there, but that during this time no significant jobs were created there. And now every morning you have to try to run into the train. And there are about 120,000 people who travel from Balashikha every day. That is, 30% of the working population rushes to Moscow from 7 to 9 am. And in the evening - back. How to embroider? To begin with, we declared a moratorium on new construction. They canceled what they could have canceled and stopped. There are already issued permits that we cannot cancel.

– For what period is the moratorium?

– For the medium term. We do not issue new permits unless they are aimed at solving the problems of shareholders and relocating barracks. We are looking for an opportunity to resettle 1,100 people who were deceived by SFK Reutovo. Already three houses - this is the residential complex "Southern Star" - have been put into operation. Three more buildings are currently being actively completed. Residential complex "Alekseevskaya Roshcha" - here the developer also does not adequately fulfill its obligations. It is necessary to compensate for this disgrace as much as possible; people, in fact, were deceived: there is no clinic, no kindergarten, no school, no sidewalks. That’s why last year in Balashikha we built 14 kindergartens, three schools with 3,025 places, we are demolishing a dilapidated clinic and building two new ones. This year we are opening a maternity hospital in the Savvino microdistrict, an adult and children's clinic in the Dzerzhinsky microdistrict, and a surgical building of an oncology clinic. On January 1, we opened a school in Balashikha with 1,100 places, and before this school, there were 2,200 children studying in another one across the road! There is nothing left - we just pour money in and build. A school for 1000 people costs 1 billion rubles, a kindergarten for 300 people costs 300 million rubles. The first thing we do is relieve tension, do everything to ensure that there is a place for treatment, where to place the children. Secondly, we dressed the head of the district in the clothes of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services and gave him a pea coat. And by his own example, he changes the work culture of management companies. It turned out that management companies mean a lot in our lives and they often play the fool. What does it mean? You pay them, and then you run after them with your money. We are creating a culture where every management company has a human face: a postal address, a page on VKontakte, Instagram, so that it has specific office hours. This is what worries the residents of Balashikha - and not only.

– Do you have an understanding of the direction in which the appearance of the Moscow region will change after the adoption of the general plans?

– Today, compact, spot development is practically impossible. To approve infill development, you will have to go through a public hearing. What will people say when they want to build a residential building in Balashikha instead of a stadium? Therefore, the master plan is a rule for us. It seems that life without rules is sometimes easier, but then difficulties appear. Now we have only 18% of the master plans.

So we say: we are leaders in construction. But can you imagine that in the Moscow region only 18% of municipalities have master plans? And then – who financed the development of these master plans? Land owners! What can a land owner provide for in a regional plan?

We paid 1 billion rubles. last year, by the end of the year we will have 98% of the master plans. After many public hearings. Another very important thing: when we started coordinating the general plans, we saw that residential buildings were often superimposed on forest lands. This story is typical not only for the region, but also for the entire country - this has been the case since the 80s and 90s. We are now working with the federal government to resolve these issues.

– Which direction will you shoot in?

- You can guess for yourself which way. If people have a property document?

– Where else in the Moscow region is there a moratorium on new construction?

- Balashikha, Korolev.

– What about Khimki?

– There was no moratorium, but there was practically no place to build there.

– One gets the impression that the region is ready to reduce construction volumes in the future.

- Yes and no. We believe that construction should not be in bulk, not millions of square meters. But thoughtful and balanced. Then please build!

– How much is optimal to build in the region?

– We need to build where there are jobs. And not to build so that the developer can count his millions and plan his future somewhere in the more southern territories of the globe. Development must be balanced. Then we will not bite our own elbows, as we are now doing about Balashikha, New Trekhgorka, Pavshinskaya floodplain or Lyubertsy.

– Why did you allow the Morton company to build a giant district to the west of Moscow?

– We must pay tribute to Morton: a lot of work was done with the most advanced experts, public hearings were held. The number of floors was initially 15–17 floors, now it is 7–9 floors. The company must build roads at its own expense and create jobs. The project is balanced, and we have no reason to put a spoke in their wheels. Similar developments already existed there.

– In addition to the moratorium, what measures are envisaged?

– We did a January sociology on what problems concern people most. If locally, then these are food prices. Then - healthcare, housing and communal services and infrastructure. Thanks to the president's decision, a directorate for the development of the Moscow transport hub was created. For the first time, this made it possible to expand highways and build nine overpasses, i.e. we have untied these knots. And today, probably, this has become noticeable. As of 2016, unfortunately, we do not have a complete understanding of road construction due to difficulties in the economy and budget. We ourselves find money for some projects, for example, for the construction of a large interchange between Ilyinskoye and Volokolamskoye Highway, which will cost 10–11 billion rubles. There are three cities around which you need to make a detour: Podolsk, Sergiev Posad, Istra.

The Moscow region did not have such density 10 years ago. Every year 80,000–90,000 people come here from all over the country. Our task is to find an investor who would begin to build a chord transport link, 246 km of high-speed light metro. The underground metro costs 5 billion rubles. for 1 km, and ground - 1 billion. It should encircle the territory of the Moscow region with a high-speed ground metro. We are making the first branch 70 km from Podolsk, which has excess labor resources, where we built the huge Kuznechiki microdistrict for 50,000 residents, to Domodedovo and Ramenskoye. This year we will begin designing and preparing the territory. We hope that the tariff and passenger flow, which have already been calculated, will allow us to attract an investor. We really need the first 70 km to be successful. Because in this case we will do all 246 km.

– You talked about the ratings of heads of municipalities. There is also a rating for governors. And not only the rating that the Department of Internal Policy compiles in terms of popularity. But there is also a government rating. Do you know where you stand there?

- I know. And about the rating for the development of the investment climate in the regions. And about the rating for assessing the effectiveness of government bodies. These are indicative ratings. And, returning to the issues of a favorable climate for investors, according to the investment attractiveness rating in 2013, the region occupied 38th place, and at the end of 2014 it was already 24th. Priority and main indicators in the ranking of government efficiency. In 2011, the region was in 32nd place. In 2014, they entered the top 15 regions of Russia and became 13th. Why 13th? We are losing in terms of indicator dynamics. It is clear: the more developed the region, the more modest the growth rate, because economic development has objective limits. But this is the federal assessment methodology.

For every governor, the main rating is - and here I will allow myself to quote the president: “The rating is the trust of the people.” Rating is when you come to Pushkino, or Naro-Fominsk, or Volokolamsk, or Mozhaisk, when you are surrounded by about 300 people. There the rating is very clearly felt - negative or trust. I myself try to communicate with residents of the region at least two or three times a week. I communicate in clinics, on the street, in schools. Everywhere.

Yesterday we were in Lyubertsy, and before that we were in Pushkin. Every last Thursday of the month I have a direct line on the TV channel, and from this year the heads gather in the largest hall for open meetings with residents, where the most pressing topics are discussed.

– Who organizes these meetings for you? Are you sure that people came to you with real problems, and not specially selected ones?

- I'm sure. But you can investigate. Our hall is always full. And out of 30 questions, all 30 are problems. When there is constant dialogue, a culture is formed. That is, they don’t tear you apart, they don’t say that you are a scoundrel. They ask you a question with hope, with the expectation that you will solve it. Of the 30 problems, it is probably impossible to solve all of them, but we can solve most or a noticeable part. Therefore, the mood in the hall is tense, but at the same time constructive.

– What was the most unpleasant question at the last meeting?

– The most difficult issues are with housing. People live in barracks for 20–30 years. They are not so much unpleasant - they are the most difficult. Because, for example, I go to the podium and say: in three years we have resettled 14,500 people from barracks into new housing. For them, the problem is solved. But there are still 50,000 unhoused, and in the next three years we will resettle only 12,500.

Elections

“We all know very well that previously the fate of the governor was greatly influenced by the results of the elections held in his region and, in particular, parliamentary and presidential ones. 2016 is the year of parliamentary elections. Are governors now required to have certain voting indicators for United Russia? And you, as the former leader of this faction, will take an active part in the United Russia election campaign in the Moscow region?

– It is obvious that regional and especially federal elections for public administration, for the authorities in general, are an exam, this is the moment of truth. And once every five years you must take a trust test. Therefore, I consider it impossible and wrong to stand aside. I know for sure that I must report, tell him what I have done, what I am going to do. We are responsible for everything that happens on the territory. This is what the president teaches us.

I think that the governors, in the correct understanding of the word, will be in an active phase all this year.

– Is it already known who will head the United Russia list?

– No, there is no such decision at the moment. I am ready to become an active participant. To what extent is decided by the party conference or congress.

– Will you have a regional list for the Duma elections?

- Absolutely. And, in addition, we have 11 single-member districts.

– Now the Kremlin is giving a public message that the main thing in these elections is not even the number of votes received by United Russia, but competitiveness, openness and legitimacy. During the last elections, our regions refused video surveillance, citing cost.

- I know that. We have everything you need to provide video surveillance. It's better to have it than the other way around. This allows you to avoid provocations. We had incidents in Balashikha and in the Shchelkovsky district.

We also made certain conclusions. And we have no right to succumb to these provocations. Therefore, we are now inviting active social activists, for example, we had elections in Volokolamsk, in the Kolomensky district. They are present at the polling stations as public figures, writing on social networks, taking photographs and filming. Obviously, there should be admission of observers from political parties. We will implement all these principles ourselves. The Moscow region is a very convenient region; you don’t have to travel far. I think that our polling stations will traditionally be in demand by observers.

– Irek Vildanov, a representative of the Moscow Regional Election Commission, became famous for statements almost in the spirit of Ramzan Kadyrov: he called specific observers provocateurs, almost compared them to fascists, etc. Do you agree with this interpretation and the activities of these independent observation organizations?

Moscow region

Area – 44,300 sq. km. Population (as of January 1, 2016) – 7.3 million people. GRP (2013) – 2.5 trillion rubles, increase compared to the previous year – 2.2%. Industrial production index (January–December 2015 to January–December 2014) – 100.6%. Personal income (November 2015): average monthly accrued salary – 40,169 rubles. (increased by 1.89% compared to November 2014); real disposable cash income (September 2015) – 96.5%. Unemployment rate (as of January 1, 2016) – 3.4%. Inflation (December 2015 to December 2014) – 13.9%. Housing construction (January – December 2015) – 8.5 million sq. m. m (2.4% compared to January – December 2014). Retail trade turnover (January – December 2015) – 1.72 trillion rubles. (93.7% year on year). Volume of foreign investments (2013) – $6.3 billion. Execution of the consolidated budget (according to preliminary data, as of December 31, 2015): revenues – 611.1 billion rubles, expenses – 611.8 billion rubles, deficit – RUB 668.7 million Public debt (as of March 1, 2015) – 103.2 billion rubles. Sources: Rosstat, Mosoblstat, Ministry of Finance of the Moscow Region, Ministry of Economy of the Moscow Region, open budget of the Moscow Region

– Irek Vildanov was threatened on a number of social networks, and this made an impression on him.

– Maybe it’s worth changing your occupation then?

“He’s healthy now, thank God.” And there are no complaints about his work from his colleagues from the Central Election Commission and the regional Duma. You need to be more restrained, which is what we recommended to him.

– Still, what target indicators are expected from governors? Is there still such a criterion as the percentage received by United Russia, or have new criteria been introduced, such as the minimum number of complaints, the minimum number of violations?

– There are no target indicators. I think the global goal today is victory.

– Victory of “United Russia”?

- Yes.

– With what percentage?

– There are no percentages, there is an understanding that there must be a majority.

– What about turnout at the elections?

– Of course, in federal elections I would like 40%. We were very pleased and very grateful to those who came to the polling station during the gubernatorial elections. I hope that at the regional ones, especially if they are combined with the federal ones, there will be a turnout of 40%+.

– With the return of Boris Gryzlov to big politics, a question arose that had not been discussed for a long time - about the presence of two factions in United Russia: the founding fathers of United Russia and the founding fathers of Fatherland. One group is conditionally Gryzlov, and the second group is conditionally Vyacheslav Volodin and a large group of people from “Fatherland”. You were always included in the first group. And some conflicts were attributed to the fact that Gryzlov wants to play a more active role in the party. What are your views on these findings?

– When it all began, when both [Mintimer] Shaimiev and [Yuriy] Luzhkov united, I worked in United Russia. I observed a very interesting thing - these are high-flying people, statesmen, I am not afraid of this word. I believe that the value of United Russia was precisely in strengthening relations through the most difficult political processes - elections. That is, we did not get into squabbles and break up, but, on the contrary, consolidated. As for confrontation, I personally have never felt it. It seemed to me that what unites people in “United Russia” is not belonging to “Fatherland” and “Unity”, which, I am sure, many especially remember in a good way. People should be united by something that will ensure creation and a breakthrough in the future.

When congresses of right-wing parties took place, we were always worried about our colleagues. Each such party forum ended in complete discord. Because, without winning, they began to divide. So for some reason it turned out that there was no core unity in their community. I believe that in United Russia we managed to avoid this microbe.

Guiding star

– The All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) looks like a competitor to United Russia, like a project directed against United Russia. Last year we observed fairly direct attacks by the ONF on United Russia. What do you think about it?

– I think it’s good when there is fair criticism. Yes, it can be unpleasant sometimes, but it makes us stronger.

– Still, is the ONF an external control service that should invigorate you, or is it an instrument of political struggle?

– I think that this is a socio-political instrument that implements a very popular task in our country – control. If I were a United Russia functionary, I would consider the ONF my competitor. Why? Because I believe that every organization should have its own agenda. If your character is stingy and uninteresting, then you simply start taking second or third roles. Obviously, the ONF has the support of the president, and they are very active.

– Which part of their criticism and claims do you agree with and which part do you not?

– What do you mean – which part do I agree with? Any criticism of any public organization and any media forces us to analyze and work on mistakes. If we get offended by criticism and start making noise, then this is a weak position.

– A year ago, the ONF accused the Moscow region of inflated PR costs, including your personal ones. ONF activists said that more than 5 billion rubles are spent from the budget on PR.

“We have officially declared that this is not so.” Colleagues didn't understand. And of these 5.9 billion rubles. a significant share is the financing of justices of the peace - 1.7 billion rubles. This can hardly be called PR. As for the media as such, we really have a large share of the costs of creating the 360 TV channel. For us, building such a channel is a very important undertaking, because the Moscow Region, like no other region of the Federation, is fragmented both in terms of geographical location and its strong municipalities. It is no coincidence that it was often called both a patchwork quilt and an appanage principality - this should not happen. Figuratively speaking, Odintsovo and Mytishchi, Taldom and Balashikha are different ways of life. And our task was to create a unified information space. And information activity is precisely those capillaries, those vessels that allow us to deliver information, tell us what we are doing.

– What to do with the fact that the ONF has actually infiltrated the executive branch through control of presidential decrees? And the fact that the May decrees of the president, which, from the point of view of the political slogan, the ONF sat on, create a serious burden for the regions? Are they now a political and economic weakness and problem?

– The presidential decrees in the form in which they were issued in May [2012] are a very big plus, they are a very successful practice. Because this is part of our ideology, the ideology of the work of the vertical of power - from federal to municipal. This is work for results, this is concentration of efforts to solve problems. For example, 800 people per 100,000 died from cardiovascular diseases. Because there was no basic medical care. The presidential decree and the measures we took allowed us to go from 850 in some areas to 560–500 per 100,000. We need to reduce it further. That's why we opened 22 cardiovascular centers. Should I give this up or not? When we say that the birth rate has increased, this is also thanks to such specific measures. There are fewer people dying on the roads - for the first time in the history of Russia in the Moscow region, the rate decreased by almost 19%. The 317 kindergartens that we built, they also appeared for a reason. They were built for the purpose of eliminating the queue. In general, we carry out decrees according to clear annual indicators. We are moving towards our goal systematically. This year we are out of 553 billion rubles. 65 billion were added to meet the specified targets.

– So, with your budget, the decrees are still feasible?

– With our budget, with the help of the federal center, the lion’s share is regional money. The decrees are feasible, and these are targets that unite the actions of federal, regional and municipal authorities. You won't be spoiled. I believe that for us, regionalists, this is a very serious, very noticeable part of the ideology, I would even say a guiding star.

“We offer all owners to give the land for long-term lease”