We have unclear landmarks of development

Old Ladoga is an important cultural tourist center. Merely in December President Putin signed an order of the celebration of the 1250th anniversary of the village however the gas has already been delivered, the perfect modern roads have been constructed, the churches have been restored. The local church of the XII century looks like it was built yesterday.

Owing to the visit of Vladimir Putin a village with a population of two thousand people could taste all the “pleasures” of the capital life: the blocked roads, traffic jams, police officers (they were delivered by 5 buses) checked the documents at every corner. The cars patrolled the streets and relocated non-properly parked cars. Hundreds of people turned out to see it.

The President arrived to the village on the board of the boat “Pallada”. It embarked at the newly constructed embarcadero that will accept tourists. He started his excursion from the ancient fortress. A burial hill where according to the latest research Oleg the Oracular was buried was shown to the President. The burial hill was certainly dug out, the local guides told that a spearhead and a cubit were found there as well as char pine branches. “The dead bodies were burnt at that time…heathens”, - explained the specialists.
After the burial hill Putin was accompanied to the main local sightseeing, the church of Assumption of the Holy Mother. The church was erected in the XII century. The prince gates were opened for the visit. A plenipotentiary in north-west region Valentina Matvienko accompanied the President everywhere. Now, not a single event of the President in north-west region takes place without her. Having watched the fortress and the museum Putin and Matvienko went to meet the local intelligentsia.

The primary plan envisaged a meeting on the questions of municipal reform and local self-government in Old Ladoga. That’s why an author of the reform deputy head of the President administration Dmitry Kozak came here. Even a local cultural center was specially reconstructed and renamed to the leisure information center. If not pay attention to the small of paint, the “center” is perfectly appropriate for the meeting. However they decided not to have a meeting at the last moment replacing it with a meeting with the representatives of local elite.

The sightseeing and the foundation of the memorial stone for the 1250th anniversary of Old Ladoga made a big impression on the President. In started his speech with the words: “We pay very little attention to the historical monuments and this is also the grass-root of our problems. If we do not know our history very well, we’ll have the unclear landmarks of our development.” The official subject of the meeting is a development of the small towns. In fact each head of the local towns ask the President about something different. The President promised to someone the Internet-schools, to another one the credits for small businesses.

Somebody complained to Putin that the schools of Leningrad region do not have enough money for implementing the Internet. “It would be ideal if we run a separate line for that but you could merely finance us because the Internet is very expensive.” The President answered that there will be Internet in small towns. He also promised to reduce a single social tax and VAT and to take in the taxes domiciliary. The President complained about the excessive interference of the officials to business.

Putin spoke very emotionally: “It doesn’t matter how many officials you cut down, three years later their amount became bigger and bigger. It’s a waste of a budget for nothing!” However these general problems didn’t touch the public. They asked Putin to give schoolbooks and buses to the schools, to alleviate the credit procedures, to write off the debts from public housing, to deliver gas and etc. The President noted everything, promised his assistance consulting Valentina Matvienko. The local officials were fascinated. Putin waved farewell to the crowd gathered in the street and rushed to Moscow.



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               A photo from “LENOBLINFORM” site