AN ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING
Kommersant, Russia
Oct 4 2005
Last week, for the fourth time, Russian president Vladimir Putin
appeared on live television to talk to the people. Each time, people
asked various personal questions. There were three or four of them
each time. Vlast analytical weekly investigated the consequences
those calls had for the callers in previous years.
Live on December 24, 2001
Question: “Dear President, I am seven years old. Our house burned
down and we have no place to live. We live with Grandma, and have to
rent an apartment. I rarely see mama because she has to work a lot. I
miss her.”
Answer: After reading that message from Vanya Bogdanov, the president
said that he has no right to solve the problem directly but he added,
“I am sure that the world is not without kind people. We have many
philanthropic organizations and foundations. I have grounds to believe,
Vanya, that they will help you and your family.”
An hour later, two St. Petersburg city officials arrived at the
Bogdanov residence and explained that “the situation is under control
and there will be help.” On December 26, a segment about Vanya and his
family (mother, grandmother and great-grandmother) was shown on ORT
television. Journalists confirmed that their house in the village of
Berngardovka, Leningrad Region, did burn down in March 2001, and the
grandmother receives a pension of 1300 rubles per month and works as
a nurse for 1000 rubles per month. The boy’s mother worked at several
places in order to pay for the apartment.
It was reported on the December 30, 2001, News of the Week program
that the Bogdanovs had received a new apartment on Komendantsky
Prospekt. But on January 8, 2002, Tribuna newspaper reported contacted
deputy head of the administration of Vsevolozhsky District, Leningrad
Region, Elena Rubleva, who knew nothing about the provision of the
new apartment. The Bogdanovs were not eligible for aide for children,
she said, “because the mother earns more than the poverty level.” She
added that “According to our information, only the kitchen of the
house burned and it is still habitable.” She promised to “set up a
commission.” In February of that year, the press established that
the family had indeed received a three-room apartment.
A Vlast correspondent tried to find Vanya Bogdanov in St. Petersburg.
Members of the News of the Week film crew remembered that they had
shot a segment about “the new apartment on Komendantsky Prospekt”
on the edge of the woods at the end of Korolev St. “The apartment
was pretty poor and on the top floor,” they recalled. The city
administration, Primorsky neighborhood administration and Komendantsky
housing committee were unable to find the family’s address. Housing
committee and neighborhood administration employees searched databases
of apartments allotted by special order in 2001 and 2002, but found
no traces of Vanya Bogdanov and his family.
“Everyone remembers the story, but we can’t find the data,” head of the
Primorsky neighborhood administration Yury Osipov said. City officials
who worked there at the time told Vlast that they remember that a
businessman with a Caucasian last name (one of the kind people the
president mentioned?) helped them acquire an apartment for Vanya and
his family at the request “either of city r of federal authorities.” It
is possible that the apartment was purchased under a different name.
Question: Ten-year-old Pavel Shvedkov from Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Region,
complained to the president that “Our school is frozen. We haven’t had
classes for three weeks… The teachers say that if the authorities
in our town don’t learn to provide heating, we will all stay in the
second grade… What should we do?”
Answer: The president said that he was confident that the governor of
Irkutsk would “in a very short time restore activity to your school.”
On December 27, 2001, Ust-Kut Mayor Evgeny Korneiko resigned, the
school was repaired on order of regional authorities and the heating
was restored. The winter break was shortened at the school that year.
Pavel Shvedkov told Vlast that he doesn’t intend to speak to the
president again. “Let others try it,” he said. After the winter
vacation was cut short that year, several students boxed his ears.
Shvedkov transferred to a special school for mathematics and physics
and spends all his spare time studying. Other residents of the city
are still thankful to him for saving Ust-Kut from the cold, however,
he says.
The story doesn’t end there though. During the president’s next
live appearance, On December 19, 2002, the following communication
was received. “On your last appearance, a schoolboy from Ust-Kut
in Irkutsk Region called you and said that he couldn’t go to school
because there was no heating there. The situation is even worse now…
Two weeks ago, an 82-year-old war veteran froze to death in his own
apartment in Ust-Kut.” The president stated that the tragedy “should
be thoroughly investigated,” but added that “the cause is trivial.
They built a boiler or even two boilers, but didn’t complete them…
Not only the local authorities, but, I think, Boris Alexandrovich
Govorin, governor of Irkutsk Region, should, of course have paid
special attention to it.”
The heating system of Ust-Kut was fully renovated a month later. At
the end of 2003, there was trouble again with the heating in Ust-Kut.
On December 23, 2004, the new mayor, Vladimir Senin, and his deputy,
Alexander Ksenzov, were accused of negligence. That investigation
is still underway. On August 26, 2005, Alexander Tishanin became
the new governor of Irkutsk Region. The president did not consider
Govorin for reappointment. Minister of Regional Development Vladimir
Yakovlev reported to the Federation Council on September 21, 2005,
that there is a problem with heating in Ust-Kut again this year.
Question: World War II participant Antonina Emelyanovna Arzhanova
complained to the president about her tiny pension of 1000 rubles
per month.
Answer: Putin assured the pensioner that war veterans’ pensions would
be raised to 3400 rubles. In January 2002, after the Volgograd veteran
was declared a group-two invalid (middle seriousness of handicap),
her pension was raised from 1018 rubles to 1700 rubles.
Now, as Arzhanova herself told Vlast, she received a pension of 4200
rubles, a 1000-ruble supplement for veterans and 1950 compensation
for social benefits, a total of 7150 rubles. Arzhanova states that
she is still “dissatisfied” with her pension. Thanks to the call to
the president, she was also able to obtain a hearing aid and the “For
the Defense of Stalingrad” medal. (In 1942, she was part of the 14th
Independent Air Observation, Notification and Communications Battalion
in Elista, which informed Stalingrad – now again called Volgograd –
of the movement of airplanes on the front.) She received her medal
in mid-2002 after numerous verifications.
Question: Tatyana Alexeevna Desyuk, who identified herself as a
creative artist, asked the president about gas supplies to small
villages. “A gas pipeline passes near us, but we have no gas in our
homes… The issue is solved on the territorial level, but there is
very little,” she said.
Answer: The president demanded information from Gazprom, which
was delivered to him in the studio. He promised “the gasification
of Kazachy-Malevany will be completed by January 2002.” Gas was
introduced into the village on January 31, 2002, and, as reported by
RTR television, ceremonially turned on by Krasnodar Territory Governor
Alexander Tkachev on February 4. Gas workers told journalists that
the hookup they accomplished in 20 days had been preceded by fives
months of construction work.
Live December 19, 2002
Question: “Supreme Commander!” Warrant Officer Oleg Kozlov addressed
the president. “I was granted the title Hero of the Russian federation
in 1994 for military action on the Tajik-Afghan border. At the moment,
neither I nor my family is Russian citizens. Could you help me?”
Answer: Putin said that he was “annoyed” to hear of the situation.
And, since “the president has special authority is this sphere,”
he promised that “in the course of the next week, that problem will
be solved conclusively.”
Investigation by Vlast showed that Oleg Anatolyevich Kozlov was born
in 1972 and raised in the Tajik town of Kulyab, where he trained to
be a plumber and was drafted into the Russian border forces in 1993.
The served as a sniper in the paratroopers maneuver group of the 117th
Border Division. On August 18-19, 1994, during an attack by Afghan
Mojahedis on the Turg checkpoint, Kozlov single-handedly covered the
left flank of the defense and shot several enemies gunmen. Kozlov
received two honors for his feat. First, he was named Hero of the
Russian Federation by Presidential Order No. 1965 of October 3, 1994,
and he was made a warrant officer by order of his unit commander.
Kozlov next gained public attention in 1996. Komsomolskaya pravda
newspaper reported that Tajik policemen had attempted to take away
Kozlov’s warm camouflage jacket. “How could the feisty Tajiks know
that Oleg was recently named a Hero of Russia?” the paper wrote. “In
the brawl with the policemen, he showed that he was not only a good
sniper, but a pretty good boxer as well.” According to the newspaper,
“Oleg made it out of the fight with the jacket on, only to get a
dressing down from his superiors.”
Later, Kozlov turned down the chance to train in a military school and
left the border forces. He spent two years as a civilian then joined
the 191st Motorized Infantry Guard Regiment in Kurgan-Tyub under
contract as a sergeant major. In January 2001, an article about him,
“The Choice of Warrant Officer Kozlov,” appeared in the official
Ministry of Defense newspaper Krasnaya zvezda (The Red Star). It did
not mention his lack of citizenship, although it did mention his lack
of housing.
On December 19, 2002, Kozlov became known to the whole country. True,
he pronounced his name indistinctly in his nervousness. Because of
that, he was referred to in the media (even in Krasnaya zvezda in
the article “Every Question Is the Main One” on December 21, 2002)
under the name Orlov until December 25. Then it became known that the
president had kept his promise and signed Order No. 1439 granting
citizenship to Kozlov, his wife Svetlana and children Vlada and
Anastasia. The media got his name right after that.
The process of granting them citizenship had begun quickly. An hour
after the broadcast on December 19, Kozlov was invited to come to
the Russian embassy. Tajik officials reacted to the broadcast as well.
Even though he did not mention his housing problems to Putin,
on December 31, he moved to a new three-room apartment provided by
order of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov. Kurgan-Tyub Mayor Subkhon
Rakhimov handed the keys to Kozlov personally and a sign was mounted
at the entrance to the building saying “A Hero of Russia lives here.”
The story does not end at this happy point, however. In April 2003,
Krasnaya zvezda ran an article entitled “Does Russia Need Heroes?”
with the subtitle “The citizenship of Russian servicemen has become
a pawn in political games.” Kozlov’s situation was depicted in an
entirely different light in that article. Here is an excerpt from it:
“Some journalists couldn’t resist the temptation of sensationalism…
The sergeant major [Kozlov] was gullible and inexperienced in political
intrigues and information games’… The Hero of Russia did not suspect
that someone would simply use him as a blind’ to fulfill a certain
task… It is sad that the question he presented lead millions of
television viewers into confusion… Oleg Kozlov could have calmly
formalized his Russian citizenship without the broadcast and appeal
for help. The sergeant major just didn’t have tome because of service
duties… The issue of formalizing citizenship was very quickly solved,
which clearly did not fit into the plans of some political circles…”
In an interview in May 2003 in Krasnaya zvezda, Maj. Gen. Yury
Perminov, commander of the 201st Division, said of Kozlov that “He
never coma to me with that question for some reason. Obviously,
individual servicemen have not figures something out here or are
sincerely confused. We are conducting explanatory work.” Just what
“explanatory work” they did on Kozlov is not known. In 2004, he left
the Army and moved to Moscow.
Question: Natalia Bugaeva, an 11-year-old resident of Birobidzhan,
Jewish Autonomous District, asked the president why they put up an
artificial tree in the town square instead of a live fir.
Answer: The president recalled that December 19 was Jewish Autonomous
District Governor Nikolay Volkov’s birthday. “I think it would
be correct for the governor to give himself and the residents of
Birobidzhan a New Year’s present and put up a live tree on the square,”
he said.
The next day, a natural fir was brought from the taiga to the town and
set up next to the artificial tree. Later the local administration
opted for a mixed tree: live branched mounted on a metal frame. The
Vlast correspondent for the Jewish Autonomous District reports that
a place has been designated on the town square where a tree from the
taiga will be transplanted for use as the municipal New Year’s tree.
Qusetion: “I am 106 years old. I receive a pension of 1200 rubles.
Why is my pension so small?”
Answer: The president read the question from Anna Shaginyan of North
Ossetia himself and promised that the Pension Fund would check her
account and “if there is the slightest reason to raise it, it will
be done.”
The Armenian community in North Ossetia tells Vlast that, after her
call to the president, Shaginyan’s pension was raised by 500 rubles.
She received that pension only for a few months, dying on May 10,
2003. In December 2003, Izvestiya newspaper cited head of the North
Ossetian pension fund Bella Ikaeva as saying that Shaginyan’s pension
had been 1612 rubles. The reason for the modest size of the pension was
that she had a short wok history (only 27 years) and low-paying jobs.
Live December 18, 2003
Question: Lyudmila Karachentseva thanked the president for help during
a flood, but said that “Now we don’t have water. There is 1 million
rubles allotted to a waterline next year, but the estimated cost of
that line is 62 million… How can we overcome this problem?”
Answer: “I think the necessity of restoring your waterline has
been taken into consideration by the territorial authorities and
the money should be received,” Putin answered. “But, in any case,
I will nonetheless check on it. I promise you that.”
Stavropol authorities did not react to the president’s promise and, in
August 2004, Dmitry Medvedev, head of the presidential administration,
wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov asking him to deal
with the problem personally. The administration of Novaya Derevnya
tells Vlast that there is still no waterline in the village.
On September 27, 2005, during another live broadcast, Putin drew
special attention to that problem, saying that Stavropol Region
Governor Alexander Chernogorov’s career depends on its solution (the
president was forward his nomination to the regional legislative
assembly for confirmation within days). On September 28, the
first bulldozer appeared in the village and 80 million rubles were
allotted for the construction of the waterline and 15 organizations
became involved in the project. By the middle of October, the four
settlements that make up Novaya Derevnya (population 607) are supposed
to have water.
“When the village council found out about the broadcast, they thought
for a long time,” Karachentseva recounted, “about what question was
most important to ask the president: about unemployment, drunkenness,
the bankruptcy of the collective farm or that there is no bath in
the settlement and nowhere to bathe. We decided that the question
about the water was the most important because there is practically
no water in any of the settlements.”
Governor Chernogorov told Vlast that the administration had learned
its lesson that “work has to be done a lot more quickly.” He
said that it would cost 130 million rubles, but “the task will be
completed.” Members of the governor’s staff consider the issue a
political ploy by enemy forces. “There are more than 50 settlements in
the territory without water or gas, especially in the eastern part,
but they don’t complain to the president,” noted a source in the
regional administration.
Question: Yakutsk resident Valentina Alexeeva asked the president
to help her obtain an apartment and asked when she would receive
compensation for her son, Alexey Arkadyevich Alexeev, who was killed
in the taking of Grozny on February 4, 1995 and posthumously awarded
the Order of Bravery.
Answer: Putin expressed confidence that the compensation had already
been paid, adding that “I will definitely find you and we will
definitely solve the problems that you mentioned.”
Vlast was unable to find Alexey Arkadyevich Alexeev in the lists
compiled by human rights activists of the dead and missing in Chechnya
for 1994-1996. That may be the result of a lack of full information
from the authorities.
In August 2004, the Alexeev family was given the chance to participate
in the cooperative construction of housing for 35 percent of its
cost. In Yakutsk, that is a good deal. Alexeeva was not satisfied with
it, however, and contacted the presidential administration again,
complaining that the housing wasn’t free. The administration of the
president of Yakutia explained to the administration of the president
of Russia the steps that had been taken, to the satisfaction of
the latter.
Question: Svetlana Olkhovikova, a 15-year-old from Voronezh, asked
the president how she could make her dream come true. “How realistic
is it for a girl to study to be a rescue worker in the Ministry of
Emergency Situations institute?”
Answer: “Girls in Russia today are accepted in practically all the
educational institutions of the Ministry of Defense except, let’s say,
the paratroopers’ school.”
A Vlast correspondent found Svetlana Olkhovikova in Voronezh. She
is now studying in the first year in the international relations
department of Voronezh State University. She did not enter Voronezh
State Technical University, where there is rescue training offered.
“I dreamed of saving people from fire. But I learned that it would be
hard for me to find working in Voronezh with that specialization,”
she said. Now she hopes to become a specialist on relations with
China. She said that she received no offers from the Emergencies
Ministry after her conversation with the president.
Question: “My son heard that your dog has a large number of
offspring… I ask you to send him a letter saying that it isn’t
possible… to give him a puppy.”
Answer: The president read the question and answered, “Why isn’t it
possible? It is possible. I just have to know that the puppy is going
to as good home. We will speak about that later.”
There is no information accessible about the president giving any
boys puppies. But Channel One reported on February 21, 2004, on two
lucky puppy recipients, pensioner Alexey Belevets in Rostov Region
and six-year-old Katya Sergeenkova in Smolensk. They had asked
the president for puppy through other channels. Vlast has learned
that Belevets’s puppy lives in the settlement of Novozolotovka in
Neklinovksy District and is named Darina. She is doing well and,
unlike the other dogs of the village, lives in the house. The puppy
is friendly and devoted to the members of the family, including the
four cats, two parrots and one German shepherd. The other recipient
of a presidential puppy enter first grade this year. Her puppy is
officially named Oscar, but called Osya by family members. He is now
being leash-trained. According to the Austrian publication Presse,
Putin also gave Austrian President Thomas Klestil two puppies in
February of last year.