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  • AN ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING

    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.
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