Dmitry Medvedev had a working meeting with Nikolai Merkushkin. Dmitry Medvedev gave a positive assessment of the situation in the region Merkushkin Medvedev

Elimination of inefficient managers will give people hope for the future

The new governor of the Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, said that his region is awaiting an audit in all areas. Indeed, a lot of problems have accumulated in the region, and a significant part of them are connected with the name of the previous head. "MK" found out from experts why Nikolai Merkushkin, despite all his scandalousness, after his resignation did not follow the ex-head of Mari El Leonid Markelov to the pre-trial detention center, and what now awaits the Samara region.

Azarov Dmitry

Dmitry ORLOV, head of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications:“Nikolai Merkushkin, of course, resorted to political electoral practice that is completely unacceptable for the Samara region, inadequately assessed what was happening, aggravated relations with the elites, and so on. The attitude towards Merkushkin in the federal center is very wary. Moreover, this situation persists for quite a long time. But this does not mean that his resignation should be shameful. His services to Russia are obvious - he is one of the heavyweight governors. Therefore, with all the obvious claims, it is not necessary to compare him with Markelov. His resignation is voluntary and due to a frankly insignificant but still appointment to a new post.

Alexander KYNEV, expert of the Civil Initiatives Foundation:“The fate of each individual governor is determined by his personal characteristics and his personal connections. Undoubtedly, Merkushkin had them and this was one of the main reasons why he sat in his post for so long.

Did the Kremlin want to say something by appointing Merkushkin to the post of special presidential envoy for interaction with the World Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples?

BEFORE.:“He led Mordovia for a long time, one of the most important regions of Russia with a strong Finno-Ugric identity, so this decision looks quite logical. It's an honorable resignation, and I don't think there's any subtext to it. On the one hand, the new position is connected with his previous political career, and on the other hand, it does not imply any concentration of efforts.

A.K.:“The position to which he was appointed looks quite comical. I think that in the coming months the Samara Region will be extremely grateful to the federal center. The presidential campaign in Samara can practically not be conducted, since its main event has already been done. Most likely, this is exactly the effect the Kremlin expected. The departure of a man who produced nothing but scandals in his post was undoubtedly a very powerful symbolic gesture. By and large, the elimination of negative news is already perceived as positive news. This is the update trend. If the appointment of governors in the spring of 2012 in the protest regions looked like some kind of punishment, now it looks more like issuing some hope to those regions in which the situation looked the most depressing and hopeless.

- Should we expect any changes in the Samara region?

BEFORE.:“There are serious problems, some of which are due to Merkushkin's legacy. The new governor, Dmitry Azarov, will have to rebuild the electoral configuration, which implies more space for dialogue than under Merkushkin, a new system of relations with the elites, in particular, a number of companies focused on Merkushkin, will have to lose their preferences, and will have to rebuild relationships with the automotive business from Tolyatti and so on. In addition, there is a specific project that is important for the federal center - the Samara Arena stadium, which needs to be commissioned for the World Cup, but whose readiness is not at a high stage. However, Azarov is a competent local leader who is well received by regional elites and trusted in Moscow. He also has a fairly high interregional influence due to the fact that he previously headed the Interregional Coordinating Council of United Russia. If we compare Azarov with Merkushkin, the new head of the region has much more influence within the region and more opportunities for interaction with local elites.”

A.K.:“From the point of view of global events, little depends on the governor, because when you sail on the Titanic, all the cabins are on the same ship. So the appointment of Azarov will not affect the situation in the automotive market. But from the point of view of the psychological situation, the region will be able to breathe. The last few years there has been the most severe pressure, they were persecuted for any dissent. It shouldn't be like this now."

- Can the appointment of Merkushkin to the post of governor of the Samara region be a mistake?

BEFORE.:“Merkushkin's experience in managing the Samara region showed that a completely successful and adequate leader of one region, and he led Mordovia for 17 years, can be completely alien in another region. I would not say that his appointment was a mistake, rather it is about the incompatibility of the leader and the region.

A.K.:"Yes. Automatic transfer of experience from a small depressive region (Mordovia) to a large and complex region, with a heavy elite (Smolensk region), was initially an unjustified attempt. In practice, the whole experience of Merkushkin turned out to be completely out of place and caused a completely natural reaction. What the lobbyists of this appointment were counting on is unknown. Perhaps they hoped to turn the Samara region into Mordovia, but nothing came of them.”

On December 8, 2015, an unprecedented event took place in Samara - a meeting of the State Council was canceled at the last moment, most of the participants of which had already arrived in the city. Waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin. But board number 1 never arrived in Samara. According to official information - "due to non-flying weather." Although Kurumoch Airport continued to receive other flights. As a result, the State Council was moved to Moscow. And then… instead of the presidential plane, a whole plane with security forces arrived in Samara. So in the Samara region, a comprehensive check by law enforcement agencies of the activities of Governor Nikolai Merkushkin began. It is not yet clear what a representative team of employees of the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General's Office and the FSB was able to accumulate for the establishment of the Samara region, including Mr. Merkushkin himself, who has been the governor of Samara since 2012.

After all, despite the fact that Nikolai Merkushkin managed to hold the position of head of the neighboring Mordovian Republic in the Volga Federal District for 17 years (five terms!), Almost all election campaigns were accompanied by various kinds of scandals, including the most “bloody” ones. For example, on February 15, 1998, Merkushkin was elected head of the Republic of Mordovia for the second time, receiving 90.78% of the vote. Such a resounding victory happened because Merkushkin's main rival, State Duma deputy Nikolai Medvedev, withdrew his candidacy a month before the elections. In early January 1998, his father, 67-year-old Pavel Medvedev, was killed. On the night of January 7, he was inflicted 17 stab wounds in the region of the heart. Medvedev-son considered the murder to be custom-made, committed in order to put pressure on him. And even repeatedly insisted on a thorough investigation of this murder. As part of the investigation, law enforcement agencies did not have a single question for Nikolai Merkushkin, who, as a result of this whole story, turned out to be a winner ....

In October 2003, two days before his arrest, Yukos owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky flew to Saransk on purpose to meet with the head of Mordovia, Nikolai Merkushkin. According to rumors, Khodorkovsky brought almost 2 billion rubles in cash - Yukos's investment obligations to the republic over the past three years. The head of Yukos, sensing something was wrong, apparently decided to close the financial debt? They say that part of this money went to the completion of the Start stadium in Saransk, so that Merkushkin would have something to report to the federal authorities for cooperation with oilmen. But this was just a pitiful handout to the region, through which Yukos, with the help of a chain of its firms, sold millions of tons of oil for a long time, evading billions of dollars in taxes.

After the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, it turned out that there were as many as six such Yukos companies in Mordovia (Ratmir, Alta-Trade, Yukos-M, Yukos-Mordovia, Fargoil and Mars XXII). Through these so-called internal offshores (in Mordovia at that time there was a preferential taxation regime for Yukos), oil was purchased from the producing companies Yuganskneftegaz, Samaraneftegaz, Tomskneft at a price below the market, and then sold on the external market with the help of Cypriot and other offshore companies already quite different, exchange prices.

For example, during the audit, the head of Mars XXII, Tatyana Subbotina, told the Ministry of Taxes and Duties that there was only one staff in the company, and “in fact, the financial and economic activities were carried out by Yukos Oil Company. The executive director of Yukos-Mordovia, Elena Gavrilina, said that she did not know where the products sold by her company were located and how they were transported. Despite all the signs of bogus, all the Mordovian firms of Yukos in 2001-2003 had billions of dollars in turnover.

Only the company "Fargoil" daily sold "Mordovian oil" in the amount of 3 million dollars - every day! In 2001-2003, Fargoil "sent" half of all the oil delivered on the list (an average of 25-35 million tons annually) for export at a price of $145-150 per ton. The other half went for processing to the Yukos factories. Part of the oil products on the balance sheet of Fargoil (about 10–15 million tons) were sold on the domestic market through Yukos-M.

In the period from January to December 2001, Fargoil's accounts, under the guise of profit from its own activities, accumulated net profit in the amount of more than 118 billion rubles, in 2002 the amount amounted to about 126 billion rubles, by the end of 2003 - 236 billion rubles.

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, as a result of the application of this scheme, the interests of mining companies were infringed, and they lost at least $11 billion. The lion's share of the excess profits received by offshore companies was paid as dividends to the founders of these offshore companies - top managers and major shareholders of Yukos (Khodorkovsky, Nevzlin, Shakhnovsky, Brudno, Lebedev, Elfimov, Malakhovskiy, Valdes, Pereverzin, etc.). The Prosecutor General's Office qualified their actions as the legalization of proceeds from crime.

Fargoil alone was then assessed by the tax authorities with an additional 130.24 billion rubles ($4.43 billion) in taxes for 2001-2003, the largest amount among all of Yukos' trading firms. In total, about 78% of claims related to the revision of taxes paid by Yukos in 2000-2004 fell on the territory of Mordovia.

And all this became possible thanks to the head of the Republic of Mordovia, Nikolai Merkushkin, since he had the keys to the "tax paradise" for Yukos.

And the main mystery of all the numerous criminal cases against the top management of Yukos is why the law enforcement agencies did not have questions to the head of Mordovia, Nikolai Merkushkin?

Former Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin said: “Companies (YUKOS. - Ed.) diverted funds from several regional budgets, and the federal one had to compensate for the resulting gaps in regional incomes and transfer additional assistance to the subjects. It's a shame that companies that call themselves transparent and socially oriented kept silent about the fact that they received these incomes from the so-called tax optimization not even due to high oil prices, but simply due to an agreement with individual governors.

The most interesting thing in this scheme is that in Mordovia this money left the region forever. For example, without spending any effort, the Fargoil company in two and a half years, according to the Accounts Chamber, received benefits in Mordovia for 36 billion rubles. At the same time, she undertook to invest only 1.2 billion rubles in the region ...

Giving evidence in court, Mikhail Khodorkovsky himself claimed that Yukos could have received tax breaks in 70 Russian regions, but for some reason concentrated its offshore activities in Mordovia. Does this mean that the Yukos management was most comfortable working with Nikolai Merkushkin? Did he turn out to be the most unpretentious, "gullible" of all the leaders of 70 regions of the Russian Federation?

According to the most conservative estimates, the government of Mordovia, having provided LLC Fargoil, Yu-Mordovia, Ratmir and other Yukos offices registered in Saransk with preferential tax treatment in 2001-2003, deprived the residents of the republic of additional budget revenues in the amount of more than 80 billion rubles.

Given that the population of the Republic of Mordovia does not even reach a million people, with these funds it was possible to solve all the problems here for many years to come: roads, housing and communal services, apartments, education and much more. And Mr. Merkushkin built only one stadium?!

It is worth noting that Governor Merkushkin provided his friends from Yukos not only with tax benefits, but also provided political support. Thus, Leonid Nevzlin, one of the main leaders of YUKOS, sat in the Federation Council for quite a long time as a senator from Mordovia. Another major Yukos shareholder, Vladimir Dubov, tried to get into the State Duma from Mordovia on the United Russia party list. The press wrote that Vladimir Dubov allegedly even presented Nikolai Merkushkin and his colleagues with Audi and BMW cars for political support.

Leonid Nevzlin, in my opinion, cynically, then commented on his appointment to the Federation Council as follows: “I regard the approval of my candidacy as high confidence on the part of the republic. Thanks to the interaction, we will be able to solve important issues related to the development of Mordovia.”

After the arrest of Khodorkovsky, both of these figures went on the run. Dubov's accusations of multimillion-dollar embezzlement have not yet been removed. To this day, Nevzlin is on the international wanted list of Interpol on charges of organizing the murders of the mayor of Nefteyugansk, Vladimir Petukhov, and other people objectionable to Yukos.

As the "information portal" TLTgorod.ru "wrote, once four deputies of the State Assembly of Mordovia signed a request to the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia with a demand to check the legality of granting tax benefits to subsidiaries of the Yukos oil company. The request noted that the law of the Republic of Mordovia "On the conditions for the effective use of the socio-economic potential of the Republic of Mordovia", on the basis of which cooperation with Yukos was built, was not submitted for discussion by the deputies. Local legislators had no idea how the money received by the republic from Yukos was spent.

Merkushkin's reaction followed immediately. Three of the four signatories were charged with criminal cases. Anatoly Sardaev suffered the most for his “curiosity”. He not only lost his post as head of the Mordovian branch of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Russian Post, but, in the end, found himself behind bars.

For his friends from YUKOS, Merkushkin was ready to tear his opponents to shreds. It is a pity that the irremovable head of Mordovia did not show the same zeal in improving the life of the population of the republic entrusted to him.

The results of the “fruitful” work of Merkushkin’s team as head of the republic are eloquently evidenced by at least the following fact: in the rating of Russian regions in terms of family well-being, which is compiled annually by RIA Novosti, Mordovia constantly occupies “honorable” places at the end of the list. For example, in 2012, just when Merkushkin left the republic, Mordovia ended up in last place in this rating out of 83 regions. At the same time, it is surprising that the Mordvins let such problem regions as Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria go ahead. Considering that there are several rather large enterprises in the territory of Mordovia, this indicator is very low.

In 2013, Mordovia became the anti-leader in terms of debt burden with a burden of 171%. In 2014, this region in the same debt rating of all regions of the Russian Federation took second place - from the bottom. Merkushkin left an excellent legacy to his successors.

Apparently, the Samara region, which has been ruled by Merkushkin for the fourth year, is also waiting for a debt hole. At the end of 2013, the regional budget deficit increased by 5.8 billion rubles and amounted to 14.34 billion rubles. In 2014, the budget deficit was already 8.5 billion rubles, but revenues from the federal center amounted to 11.48 billion rubles. As a result, the actual deficit is 20 billion rubles!

The volume of public debt of the Samara region as of November 1, 2015 amounted to 60.3 billion rubles, or 46.6% of its own budget revenues. According to the explanatory note to the regional budget for 2016-2018, the volume of the state debt of the Samara region as of January 1, 2017 will amount to 68.5 billion rubles.

Governor Merkushkin explains the growing debt of the Samara Region by the fact that a stadium and related infrastructure are being built to host the 2018 World Cup in Samara. At one time, Mordovia, as a result of cooperation with Yukos, also remained with the stadium.

Speaking to various audiences with his messages, from year to year Merkushkin stigmatizes his Samara predecessors and accuses him of the collapse of the region's economy. Of course, he is silent about his Mordovian experience.

Nikolai Merkushkin: “When I first started my work, I decided to take a walk. I met girls in the city center who run 100 meters to the pump for water. I ask: “Where are you with the buckets?”, And they answer: “Our mother erases.” In the historical center, the windows of some houses are boarded up with boards, on one such building I saw the inscription: "People live here." This is a reproach to the authorities. There are two barracks across the road on Uritsky Street, people go to the toilet in the open air, and 30 meters away is the new government building. This happened in Latin America, but it has already been overcome.”

After repeated comparisons of Mordovia with the Samara region, not in favor of the latter, a logical question arose in the ranks of the audience, which someone shouted out: “Do you regret that you transferred to the service here?” In response, Nikolai Ivanovich only sighed heavily.

However, the head of Mordovia himself, whom the people affectionately nicknamed Mordvabashi, does not live in poverty. In particular, rumors circulate in open sources that to this day large enterprises of the Republic of Mordovia are under the control of Nikolai Merkushkin's relatives. Although he has long been in charge of another region. And in the Samara region, Nikolai Merkushkin has also already accumulated initiatives that can be called “strange”. Apparently, YUKOS taught him to think broadly and outside the box. For example, recently the Samara governor has been haunted by the 660 billion rubles of savings of Samara residents in various banks in the region or just under the mattress. “These are six regional budgets! Nikolai Ivanovich exclaims dreamily.

“For many countries of the world, population accumulation has become a driver of economic development,” Nikolai Merkushkin recently said from a high rostrum to the audience listening to him. “A year and a half ago, the second phase of the Suez Canal was built in Egypt with money raised from the population.” And he proposed to apply a similar mechanism in the Samara region.

Merkushkin has already instructed to develop a mechanism for issuing bonds for the population by February 1, 2016, without going into details of how exactly the regional authorities intend to provide this loan. It is already clear to many whose welfare will be driven by a relatively honest deprivation of their savings from the population of the Samara region.

Leonid Nevzlin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The beginning of a thorny path. 1994

The Accounts Chamber of the Samara Region conducted 350 inspections and revealed violations worth 16.5 billion rubles in 2014 alone. It turned out that corruption and misappropriation of state funds are rampant in almost all spheres of the Samara civil service.

“The most interesting “thefts” took place in the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Samara region. The damage was inflicted to the regional budget for a total of 1.5 million rubles. The specialists of the joint venture found out that round tables and seminars in hotels were paid for this amount, which in fact were not held!

During the audit of the activities of JSC "Technopark" revealed violations totaling over 100 million rubles. The auditors recognized the work of the management of the OJSC as ineffective, since “during its existence, the company was unable to fulfill the tasks assigned to it”, namely, the technopark itself was not created in Samara.

The auditors discovered multimillion-dollar violations in the State Unitary Enterprise "Samara Regional Property Treasury", which actually duplicates the functions of the "local Federal Property Management Agency". But, as we can see, these “revelations” were not followed by any reaction from the Merkushkin administration. Maybe there are some special reasons why Nikolai Merkushkin is in no hurry to fight the "gray zone" of the Samara economy?

From the moment Merkushkin came to power in the Samara region, the head of the Investigative Committee of the region was the notorious Vitaly Gorstkin, famous for the fact that in 2011 he "earned" 2.5 times more than the chairman of the TFR Alexander Bastrykin (18 million rubles). Vitaly Gorstkin, as inspectors from Moscow found out, was such a loyal person that in the end he completely ruined the work in the department. For which he was dismissed personally by Vladimir Putin.

Since 2014, Valery Samodaykin has been the head of the Investigative Committee of the IC in the region, with whom it is not so easy to agree, if at all possible. And in November last year, the Investigative Committee of the Samara Region unexpectedly set in motion cases that had once been closed due to the lack of corpus delicti. These are cases of misappropriation of multi-million sums spent on the construction of the Zhiguli Valley industrial park. The suspect, against whom a large-scale fraud case has been initiated, is Vladimir Rylkin, ex-director of the Capital Construction Department. However, experts have no doubt that the circle of accused will become wider in the near future.

And now the Moscow brigade of security forces with a comprehensive check has also come. As you know, at the end of last year, the Kremlin’s website published an instruction from the President of the Russian Federation to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Tax Service and the Accounts Chamber, by April 1 next year, to organize checks on where the budget money spent on the construction of technoparks in the Russian Federation went.

Is it possible that the unsinkable Nikolai Merkushkin will again be able to sit in the governor's chair even in this catastrophic situation?

Late in the evening yesterday, the governor of the Samara region was summoned for an interview with the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev.

According to unofficial information from a Zasekin source, Dmitry Medvedev warned Nikolai Merkushkin about the need for high-quality and timely commissioning of facilities being built for the World Cup and still problematic, including the Samara Arena. In addition, Medvedev expressed concern about the socio-economic situation in the region and the ongoing protest activity.

In turn, the press service of Merkushkin tenderly reports that during the working meeting, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation supported the request of the Samara Governor to allocate funds from the federal budget to complete the construction of a children's clinic in Togliatti for 500 visits per shift, and also instructed Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva to support the implementation of the project of the Gagarin Center scientific, educational and technical innovation complex on the principles of public-private partnership. Another important topic of discussion, according to the governor's press service, was the construction of key road infrastructure facilities in the region, including the Frunzensky bridge.

However, the transcript of the conversation between Medvedev and Merkushkin, published on the website of the Russian government, was probably the most innocuous fragment of yesterday's meeting.

Dmitry Medvedev: Nikolai Ivanovich, before we discuss current affairs, could you say a few words about the situation in the region? I mean both the economy and, of course, the fulfillment of social obligations, including those programs that we consider as the main ones for the development of the social sphere - the construction of schools, the completion of the kindergarten program and housing programs.

Nikolay Merkushkin: In general, the situation is normal. We are actively working on the implementation of presidential decrees, work on the key programs you mentioned. We immediately actively joined the school program. We received a significant amount - one of the largest in the country. Three schools have already passed.

Dmitry Medvedev: What is the general need for construction? How much will it take for the coming years? I mean the number of places and schools.

Nikolay Merkushkin: Approximately 80-85 schools throughout the region require major repairs.

Dmitry Medvedev: So it doesn't have to be brand new?

Nikolay Merkushkin: Approximately 28 schools are new buildings, the rest are overhauled, they need serious investments.

This year we will introduce three more schools as part of this program. One for 1500 places is an experimental school. Both ministers of education were there - both the former and the current one, they looked at this school. On September 1, children will come to it. And it will be ready by August 1st.

Dmitry Medvedev: Large schools are, in a number of cases, a way to create special conditions for education. Previously, we were always afraid of large schools, but in fact, in large schools, a number of educational tasks can be solved very efficiently. I saw a similar school not so long ago in the Penza region. You have fifteen hundred students. And it's pretty much the same there. Fifteen thousand students. This may be a trend. This does not need to be done everywhere, but in large areas, sleeping areas where many people live, this is normal.

Nikolay Merkushkin: This is a new microdistrict, where a lot of housing is being built now, so we are conducting a school program. We have now presented six more schools there - for this year and next year. We prepare design and estimate documentation.

As for kindergartens, we have almost completed everything by the deadline - by 2014. That is, there was practically no queue - children from three to seven years old were provided for everyone. But our birth rate was growing, and there were about 1,500–2,000 people who left school and those who came to the age of three every year. And we still have to introduce about 10 kindergartens a year now, so as not to accumulate a queue. This year we will introduce 9 kindergartens, next year we plan to introduce about as many more, and we will have to add one more year, and then, apparently, this base will already correspond to the demographic situation that is developing in the region.

With regard to housing construction, we have significantly increased the volume of housing construction, and reduced the price in six to seven years. It even started before me. Since 2010, the price of housing has decreased by 6%. And construction volumes have doubled over the years. And we are building the largest volume, share, under the Housing for the Russian Family program, which the government has approved, in new buildings. We received the largest amount that stimulates such new developments under the Housing for the Russian Family program. The price per square meter of housing that we sell in accordance with the program is 35-37 thousand rubles. Now 132% in four months - the growth of the market for this housing to the level of last year.

Dmitry Medvedev: This is precisely the growth of so-called economic housing. Or now this design is already becoming a thing of the past - we are changing the legislation, this is called “standard housing”.

Nikolay Merkushkin: Standard housing. In accordance with the program "Housing for the Russian family . We should already present ready-made housing, without additional finishing and so on, and the price is 35-37 thousand per square meter. It is clear that it is not easy with the developer there, but we are stimulating, including from the federal budget. And we co-finance infrastructure - kindergartens there, schools are being built there right away, sports facilities, roads, the territories of these new buildings, large areas are being improved. We fit into these price parameters, and the process is quite active.

Dmitry Medvedev: What tools are used to purchase housing?

Nikolay Merkushkin: Mortgages in general. 70% of the purchased housing is a mortgage.

Dmitry Medvedev: What are the mortgage rates? Is it stable now, growing or declining? It is different in different regions.

Nikolay Merkushkin: She is declining. In the first two months there were fluctuations, there was some state support. In January-February, demand fell. And somewhere since the end of March, demand has gone. And now housing is being bought, a mortgage is being taken. Mortgages are up to 11%.

Dmitry Medvedev: Our joint task is to work on lowering the rate. This, of course, is largely a banking issue. And we all proceed from this and expect that in the face of a reduction in the key rate, mortgage financing and the mortgage loan rate will decrease in proportion to this. We have to reach, we have been setting this task for ourselves for quite a long time, at a credit rate of 6-7% throughout the country. I believe that the macroeconomic conditions for this are generally ripe.

Nikolay Merkushkin: Plus, we still receive taxes from the builders.

They discussed, in particular, the situation with the construction of new schools, as well as the progress in the implementation of the program "Housing for the Russian family" in the region.

From the transcript:

D. Medvedev: Nikolai Ivanovich, before we discuss current affairs, say a few words about the situation in the region. I mean both the economy and, of course, the fulfillment of social obligations, including those programs that we consider as the main ones for the development of the social sphere - the construction of schools, the completion of the kindergarten program and housing programs.

N. Merkushkin: In general, the situation is normal. We are actively working on the implementation of presidential decrees, work on the key programs you mentioned. We immediately actively joined the school program. We received a significant amount - one of the largest in the country. Three schools have already passed.

D. Medvedev: What is the general need for construction? How much will it take for the coming years? I mean the number of places and schools.

N. Merkushkin: Approximately 80-85 schools throughout the region require major repairs.

D. Medvedev: So it doesn't have to be brand new?

N. Merkushkin: Approximately 28 schools are new buildings, the rest are overhauled, they need serious investments.

D. Medvedev: Large schools are, in a number of cases, a way to create special conditions for education. Previously, we were always afraid of large schools, but in fact, in large schools, a number of educational tasks can be solved very efficiently. I saw a similar school not so long ago in the Penza region. You have fifteen hundred students. And it's pretty much the same there. Fifteen thousand students. This may be a trend. This does not need to be done everywhere, but in large areas, sleeping areas where many people live, this is normal.

N. Merkushkin: This is a new microdistrict, where a lot of housing is being built now, so we are conducting a school program. We have now presented six more schools - for this and next year. We prepare design and estimate documentation.

As for kindergartens, we have almost completed everything by the deadline - by 2014. That is, there was practically no queue - children from three to seven years old were provided for everyone. But our birth rate was growing, and there was a difference of about 1,500–2,000 people leaving school and those coming by the age of three. And we still have to introduce about 10 kindergartens a year now, so as not to accumulate a queue. This year we will introduce 9 kindergartens, next year we plan to introduce about as many more, and we will have to add one more year, and then, apparently, this base will already correspond to the demographic situation that is developing in the region.

In terms of housing construction, we have significantly increased the volume of housing construction, and reduced the price in six to seven years (this even started before me). Since 2010, the price of housing has decreased by 6%. And construction volumes have doubled over the years. And we are building the largest volume, share, under the Housing for the Russian Family program, which the Government has approved, in new buildings. We received the largest amount that stimulates such new developments under the Housing for the Russian Family program. The price per square meter of housing that we sell in accordance with the program is 35-37 thousand rubles. Now 132% in four months - the growth of the market for this housing to the level of last year.

D. Medvedev: This is precisely the growth of so-called economic housing. Or now this design is already becoming a thing of the past - we are changing the legislation, this is called “standard housing”.

N. Merkushkin: Standard housing, in accordance with the program "Housing for the Russian family . We should already present ready-made housing, without additional finishing and so on, and the price is 35-37 thousand per square meter. It is clear that it is not easy with the developer there, but we are stimulating, including from the federal budget. And we co-finance the infrastructure - kindergartens, schools are being built there right away, sports facilities, roads, the territories of these new buildings, large areas are being improved. We fit into these price parameters, and the process is quite active.

D. Medvedev: What tools are used to purchase housing?

N. Merkushkin: Mortgages in general. 70% of the purchased housing is a mortgage.

D. Medvedev: What are the mortgage rates? Is it stable now, growing or declining? It is different in different regions.

N. Merkushkin: She is declining.

In the first two months there were fluctuations, there was some state support. In January-February, demand fell. And somewhere since the end of March, demand has gone. And now housing is being bought, a mortgage is being taken. Mortgages are up to 11%.

D. Medvedev: Our joint task is to work on lowering the rate. This, of course, is largely a banking issue. And we all proceed from this and expect that in the face of a reduction in the key rate, mortgage financing and the mortgage loan rate will decrease in proportion to this. We have to achieve (we have been setting this task for ourselves for quite a long time) a credit rate of 6-7% throughout the country. I believe that the macroeconomic conditions for this are generally ripe.

N. Merkushkin: Plus, we still receive taxes from the builders.

D. Medvedev: This, of course, is a warming up of the economy - regional and federal.

N. Merkushkin: We will now partially compensate families with many children under the Housing for Young Families program (we have 12,000 queues there, mostly Togliatti residents - about 7,000). Next year we want to give 200 million to pay off part of the rate to these categories so that the rate is approximately the one you mentioned.

D. Medvedev: This is indeed a very important social direction. I ask you to take care of them too.

New airport and future stadium

Dmitry Medvedev and Nikolay Merkushkin officially opened the new terminal of Kurumoch airport.

The opening of the terminal will provide great opportunities not only for Samara, but also for the Orenburg region, Ulyanovsk, - said the head of the region.

Dmitry Medvedev praised the European-class terminal, which will be able to receive more than 3.5 million people a year.

The construction of a new terminal in the Samara region is a good example of infrastructure renewal, the Prime Minister noted.

The head of the region presented Dmitry Medvedev a model of a stadium with a glass dome, which will be built in Samara for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, projects for the planning territory of the Gagarin Center technopark, a universal sports complex with artificial ice, an indoor cycle track and a television tower. The head of the Government of the Russian Federation expressed his readiness to provide additional support at the federal level.

Russia needs its own planes

Dmitry Medvedev held a field meeting in Samara on the development of Russian air transportation. He noted that, despite the crisis in the economy, in 2014 they showed an increase of 18%.

The Government of the Russian Federation is taking a set of measures to support air transportation, to reduce the cost of tickets, they are included in the anti-crisis plan. There are various federal programs, including subsidizing regional transportation. 9 billion rubles were allocated for these purposes last year, the prime minister noted.

Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov said that the anti-crisis plan provides for fixing the VAT rate for airlines at 10%. This will lead to an increase in shortfalls in federal budget revenues by 20 billion rubles.

Nikolai Merkushkin emphasized that the Samara region is an active participant in the regional transportation development program.

During the program, 66,000 passengers took advantage of this opportunity. The region's budget includes funds for further co-financing of these programs, - said the head of the region.

Plenipotentiary Representative of Volga Federal District Mikhail Babich believes that the next step in supporting regional aviation should be the production of domestic aircraft with a capacity of 20-30 and 50-70 people.

A few years ago, the RKPTs "Progress" created an 18-seat aircraft "Rysachok". Approximately 250 - 300 million rubles more are required to complete the tests and put into operation, - Nikolay Merkushkin noted. And he stressed that in the province at Aviakor there are all the possibilities for the production of the Il-114 aircraft, the same enterprise has experience in creating the An-140, similar in size to it.

Experts believe that in three years it is possible to obtain this aircraft in a modernized form, and in 4 - 4.5 years - in a digitized form. We are ready to implement the project in the form of a public-private partnership, to invest budgetary funds in the organization of assembly production, - Nikolai Merkushkin concluded.

BY THE WAY

At a personal meeting with the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Merkushkin spoke about significant projects that are being implemented in the Samara Region: modernization at AvtoVAZ and Novokuibyshevsk Oil Refinery, space projects of JSC Kuznetsov.

Speaking about the socio-economic life of the region, Nikolai Merkushkin noted that the unemployment rate has not increased. And the implementation of projects in the field of agriculture will provide jobs for those who have been laid off. The situation with rising prices is still problematic in the region. This is due to the fact that most of the products are imported to us from other regions. Nevertheless, a special commission is monitoring prices, and thanks to its activities, the situation is stabilizing.

The governor also noted that in January revenues to the regional budget decreased by 13%, however, in February everything returned to its previous level.

I see that the situation in the region is under control. Dmitry Medvedev. The head of government gave a positive assessment of the socio-economic state of the province.