Report and respect – Newspaper Kommersant No. 50 (7495) dated 03/24/2023

During the consideration of the government report for 2022, State Duma deputies asked Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin questions and made their proposals. In response, he showed understanding and called for joint work. As a result of the report, the leaders of the factions unanimously recognized that the government had coped with the main tasks in the face of sanctions pressure on Russia. True, this did not prevent representatives of the left parties from recalling their traditional opposition values, and the head of A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP), Sergei Mironov, even reproached the Cabinet for the lack of a “look beyond the horizon”, but the prime minister did not agree with him.

The first question to Mikhail Mishustin was asked by Nikolai Kolomeytsev (KPRF). He noted that in 2022 Russia had a record grain harvest, but the positive effect was spoiled by customs duties, which the communist proposed to cancel. The prime minister responded with unexpected enthusiasm: “Give us suggestions, we will consider measures.”

Yana Lantratova (SRZP) asked Mr. Mishustin if the government plans to offer an alternative to the Unified State Examination (USE). The Prime Minister replied that representatives of all factions asked him this question during recent meetings, but the topic needs serious study, because “children from distant corners, from villages and villages can enter leading universities with the help of the Unified State Examination.” Here, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin considered it necessary to intervene, who said that when deputies collected questions to the government report through social networks, about 20 thousand of them came and the USE problem was among the five most frequently asked questions by voters. “It is quite obvious that if there is a demand from society, this question must be answered,” Mr. Volodin said instructively.

Sardana Avksentieva (“New People”) raised the topic of “smart protectionism”, which is based on the increase in duties on goods from unfriendly countries. Mikhail Mishustin praised this term itself and said that such duties are already being introduced, at the same time inviting deputies to join this work.

Speaker Volodin asked the head of government to support the ban on vaping: “Children must be saved. Because addictions, everyone walks around with these devices. Clearly, no one can answer how harmful. Here the Minister of Health supports us, but his voice is somehow very weak and is not heard in the government.” “We always support measures that increase life expectancy and reduce harmful factors,” Minister Mikhail Murashko, mentioned by the speaker, confirmed. And the Prime Minister promised that the Cabinet of Ministers would consider the issue of banning vapes and form its position.

Viacheslav Volodin again took the floor to celebrate the achievements of individual ministers, who, in his opinion, would long ago have become heroes of socialist labor if they had worked in Soviet times. “We have to talk about this as well, because we are now getting closer and closer to the action of the factions. Where does everything go legally? Either in criticism, or the other side is approval, ”the chairman of the chamber shared the sore point.

He was also concerned about the shortage of engineers in the country: “We have state-funded places, they should be given as a priority to engineering specialties. And at the same time, do not produce those who do not create anything – right, colleagues? At the same time, the speaker suggested making scholarships for engineering disciplines at universities twice as high as those for the humanities. “Therefore, if there were more determination, confidence of Falkov’s colleague (Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov. – “Kommersant”) …” Mr. Volodin began dreamily. “He is a decisive and confident minister,” Mr. Mishustin assured the speaker. “Prepare proposals.” Vyacheslav Volodin did not delay and a little later asked the head of the Duma Committee on Science and Higher Education, Sergei Kabyshev (SRZP), to work on this issue together with the relevant ministry.

Finally, the head of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Nina Ostanina (KPRF) proposed to establish in the legislation a single concept of a large family. Mikhail Mishustin agreed with this need, but noted that there are “nuances – budget expenditures”, because families with many children are entitled to benefits and payments. Therefore, “it is necessary to carefully look at everything,” he concluded.

After that, the speeches of the representatives of the factions began, who honestly tried to fulfill the speaker’s request and dispense with unambiguous “criticism” or “approval”.

So, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov acknowledged that the government’s report “is of a complex nature”, but immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the country: “Prices are on the rise, the communal is growing.” “You will not accumulate resources without nationalizing the raw material base and industrializing the country,” the Communist sternly warned the head of government.

LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky praised the work of the Cabinet of Ministers in 2022: “We have before us a government that has defeated the sanctions.” And then, taking the opportunity, he drew the attention of Mikhail Mishustin to his fellow party member Alexei Ostrovsky, who had recently resigned from the post of governor of the Smolensk region. “We expect that our outstanding colleague will find a worthy place in government structures,” the liberal democrat said pointedly.

“Sanctions do not work, and we realize that there is a considerable merit in this of the government,” Sergey Mironov, leader of the SRHR, in turn, began with a good word. But in the end, he also did not do without a share of criticism, noting that the government responds to challenges promptly, but where is the “strategy of socio-economic development, where is the look beyond the horizon?” In addition, Mr. Mironov, just in case, reminded the prime minister that his party still stands for Russia’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization, the abolition of pension reform and the indexation of pensions for working pensioners.

The leader of the New People, Aleksey Nechaev, spoke about the value of human capital. In his opinion, losing professionals is “more terrible than oil revenue.” “Today, some of our specialists have gone abroad for various reasons. We should not label them or burn bridges in a revealing way. The government is doing the right thing not to frighten those who have left the country, not to impose extra taxes on them,” Mr. Nechaev found something to praise the Cabinet of Ministers for. Today, in his opinion, it is important to develop practical education, support start-ups, “create such opportunities in the country that those who left would envy those who remained.” He also called for helping Russian manufacturers with “smart protectionism”, and for small and medium-sized businesses by providing unused premises of abandoned sanatoriums, children’s camps, industrial zones, and municipal buildings.

Well, Andrey Makarov, the chairman of the Committee on Budget and Taxes (United Russia), considered it necessary to end the series of speeches from the factions with a decisive, but deeply reasoned “approval”. He called the main result of the government’s work in 2022 “the creation of a mechanism that can effectively respond to any challenges.” “If earlier it took years to implement an idea in law, today it takes weeks, or even days,” United Russia emphasized.

In his closing remarks, Mikhail Mishustin apologized to those deputies who did not have time to ask their questions, and invited them to talk to the government. He also disagreed with Sergei Mironov’s reproach for the lack of a “look beyond the horizon” and assured all those present that the strategic planning system is the basis of the government’s work. Seeing off the prime minister, the deputies gave a standing ovation.

Ksenia Veretennikova