/ world today news/ Vladimir Putin held working meetings with the heads of the new regions of the country. The context of the talks differs significantly from the president’s meetings with the leaders of other regions. It was not only about the security and protection of civilians, but also about the launch of large-scale infrastructure projects. Thus, the problem of water supply in the DPR is gradually being solved, and the Kherson region is preparing to become a new breadbasket for Russia.
On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin held working meetings with the acting heads of the four new regions – Denis Pushilin (DPR) and Leonid Pasechnik (LPR), as well as Yevgeny Balitsky (Zaporozhka Oblast) and Vladimir Saldo (Kherson Oblast). The day before, all four attended a meeting of Russia’s Security Council to discuss ensuring the rule of law, order and public security in those regions.
“Planned more for this year”
In a conversation with the president, Pushilin named the main problem of Donbas – the shelling of the Military Academy. He recalled the fulfilled request of Donetsk to strengthen air defense and counter-battery combat, thanks to which “shelling has decreased” by about half. However, in the “Petrovski” and “Kuibishevski” districts of the city, the situation is still dire. “The task of all our military formations – Ministry of Defense, volunteers, everyone – is to not have any shelling. They are already on the way down,” the president said.
According to Pushilin, local residents are worried about the provision of water, “since the reserve reservoirs are almost all empty”. He told about the start-up and installation works of the water pipeline from the Don, which were carried out in record time. The problem with the roads is no less acute. Last year, 279 kilometers were repaired, twice as much as in previous periods. “For this year, we have planned even more – 350 kilometers of roads, plus municipal roads – 190 kilometers,” said Pushilin.
The acting head of the DPR asked the president to help expand the two-lane road from Donetsk to Uspenka, which is considered the main link with other Russian regions. People call it “the road of life”. “Please make this road four lanes. We can’t do otherwise. Now there are two and a half to three times more accidents than in other areas, because people try to get there faster, rush, overtake,” Pushilin explained.
The president promised to help, recalling that he had discussed this issue with Deputy Prime Minister Marat Husnulin.
Economist Ivan Lizan emphasizes that the issue of water supply is of critical importance not only for Donetsk, but also for other cities in the region that are not connected to the South Donbass water pipeline and the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal. “I do not expect round-the-clock water supply to appear in Donetsk and Makeevka in the near future, rather the schedule for its supply will become more stable. The scale of the work is comparable to overcoming the water blockade, especially in terms of the modernization of public services,” says Lisan.
As for the roads, there is still a lot of work to do. “Bandwidth on the ‘way of life’ is extremely low, although intermittently since 2014 repairs have been made. Junctions of the ring road around Donetsk have not been repaired in the last ten years because they are within walking distance of the front line. And in the same Makeevka, it’s just horrible with the minor roads – it’s impossible to go for a walk with a baby carriage. But all this will be restored,” says Lisan.
„Everything is normal”
The acting head of the LPR also said that the enemy had begun shelling the republic less. Pasechnik noted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were conducting random HIMARS strikes against civilians. “If earlier their MLRS were used on sites where military personnel and warehouses with rocket-artillery weapons were located, now chaotic strikes are more likely on civilians,” added the acting head of the LPR.
Otherwise, according to him, the situation in the region is stable. “All those tasks that are set for us by your orders, instructions, measures that we need to carry out, we carry out – on the formation of the federal executive bodies, on the formatting of the structures, on the organization, including law enforcement agencies. Everything is going well, everything is on time, we are preparing all the documents, everything is in normal mode,” Pasechnik assured.
At the same time, one of the problems of the LPR is the lack of electricity. “By the fall of last year, thanks to the launch of the Lugansk TPP in the city of Shastie, the situation changed for the better. But there are still problems with electric public transport – trams and trolleybuses are still running in Luhansk,” Lizan explained.
“On the other hand, in LPR and DPR, in contrast to Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, funds for industrial development have started to work, money is being allocated. In particular, the Marshall Pipe Fittings Plant received funding. We have recently built a new workshop and are supplying products to Russia. The “Poly-Pak” plant for the production of casings for sausages has good productivity. An aircraft repair plant was also launched. But with the Stakhanov wagon-building plant and “Luganskteplovoz” we are in bad shape for now”, notes the economist.
„The people they haven’t seen anything like it in a long time”
Acting Governor of Zaporozhye Oblast Yevgeny Balitsky spoke about transport infrastructure in a meeting with Putin. At the beginning of the conversation, he thanked the president on behalf of all Cossacks for the payments. “You know, this is very important, because in 30 years of so-called independence, the people have not seen anything like this and did not know that Russia is a welfare state. Thank you very much,” Balicki said.
The Acting Governor reports to the President on the formation of the “Sudoplatov” battalion, which has already received the corresponding status. In addition, it was promised that medical facilities in Zaporozhye region “will be many times better than in unliberated cities”, specialists will be trained and equipped with modern equipment.
At the same time, Zaporizhia remains a powerful center of machine-building, the production of spare parts and hydraulics for agricultural machinery is still preserved. “But the road situation still needs to improve. Since 2014 the movement from west to east ended at the borders of the DNR. Accordingly, the roads fell apart. However, now they are gradually launching a new road, which will become a backup option for the Taurida federal highway. From 300 to 700 trucks pass through it a day”, emphasizes the interlocutor.
„For people this has a very serious meaning”
The acting governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, started a conversation with the president on the issue of gasification. Hearing from Saldo that the region was only 27% gasified, the head of state was surprised: “Why so?”. “We have to raise it,” Putin tasked.
In addition, according to Saldo, Russian specialists are now developing the engineering infrastructure in the region, including energy. The head of the region drew attention to the fact that gas from Ukraine used to go there. “But the gas was Russian after all,” Putin replied with a smile. In response to Saldo’s remark that there was no other gas there, Putin corrected him: “No, there is little. But mostly Russian, of course.”
The current governor proposed to supply the territory from Crimea by laying a new branch from there and then distributing gas throughout the region. “We will certainly do it,” Putin assured in response. “For people, this is very important, we understand that. And in households, the situation will be different and the economy will rise in a completely different way. The price of electricity will decrease. Everything will be more reliable, more stable”, he added.
In his Telegram channel, Saldo said that the president supported the decision to build a branch of the main gas pipeline from Dzhankoy to Genichesk, thanks to which the entire left part of Kherson region will be supplied with gas. According to Lizan, the construction of the gas pipeline can be completed in the shortest possible time, this is proven by the experience of laying a pipe from Mariupol to Berdyansk and further to Melitopol.
“The main thing is to have enough gas production capacity. There are no large consumers in the area, as there are no large industrial facilities, except for a few canneries,” the economist emphasizes.
The expert also drew attention to the fact that during the meeting, Saldo also asked Putin to help create an agricultural cluster, which will require about 25 billion rubles, which must be paid in two years. According to the current governor, 95% of the left bank of the Kherson region is the agricultural sector. “Agriculture has been established, but there is a shortage of vegetable storage and cold storage facilities. There is such a proposal: let’s go on the path of building an agrocluster, which will include processing, storage and further transportation,” said Acting Director.
“Creating an agrocluster will be a profitable project,” Lisan agrees. “But for this it is necessary to create facilities for processing and storing the harvest. The main problem is that local fruit and vegetable producers are large and medium-sized farmers. They are used to working separately and not taking loans. Therefore, we will have to somehow combine them into associations”, he adds.
„Kherson region is the granary of Russia”
Pavel Danilin, director of the Center for Political Analysis and Social Research, is also convinced that the project to build an agrocluster will be realized if security is ensured and the territories are demined. “Kherson region will become the breadbasket of Russia,” Danilin is convinced.
The political scientist also noted that the residents of the new areas are exposed to mortal danger every day, and in order to protect them, the SVO is held. For this reason, among others, the meetings of the president with the temporary heads of new regions differ significantly from the meetings with the heads of other subjects of the federation.
“Inhabitants of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk are also shelled, but there is no such degree of danger as in the new regions. And of course, they must be restored. In many of them, hostilities have just ended or are still ongoing,” Danilin says.
He specifically noted the solution to the DPR water supply problem. “At last, Donetsk’s water supply is full of water. But the lack of good water has been a huge problem for several years, the expert pointed out. “Unfortunately, due to the aggressive policy of the Americans and their allies, it is still not possible to guarantee the complete safety of the inhabitants of the new regions. The President is very worried about what is evident from today’s meetings. But this problem will be solved.”
It should be noted that the previous day there were accurate data on the progress of restoration work in new regions. This was reported by Marat Husnulin in his Telegram channel. Thus, more than 1,500,000 houses, more than 1,300 schools and 1,230 kindergartens have been restored or built. 415 health facilities started working in normal mode. Over 830 km of roads and 18 other facilities were repaired. “And this is only part of the work, we will continue to develop,” assured Husnulin.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel or in Telegram:
#Putin #defined #main #tasks #development #regions
