Andrey Kolesnikov’s report on how Vladimir Putin received his presidential ID

On April 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin received the head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, in the Kremlin to present the Russian Presidential Certificate. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov In this regard, I was concerned about several fundamental considerations at once.

Vladimir Putin and Ella Pamfilova met in the office of the Russian President. Here the head of the Central Election Commission presented the President of Russia with a certificate of the President of Russia.

Someone once decided that this ID should look exactly like this: like any Soviet-style official ID; not to be conspicuous, but to be solid and comfortable; Well, so that with one movement of your hand, when you are stopped for speeding, you can throw it out the window – there you go! What is it: a dream, not a certificate.

The ID was in an open cherry wood box. However, at first Vladimir Putin did not even touch either the box or the ID itself, which, you see, is strange. (Did he touch the others, of which he must have a whole collection? Does he even carry them with him?) Moreover, he closed the box, as if the sight of it gave Vladimir Putin some kind of emotion that he did not want to show to the world.

However, in fairness, it must be said that later the president nevertheless picked up the presidential ID and looked at what was written there.

Meanwhile, a question arose. If Vladimir Putin now had a certificate, can we consider that the countdown of his new presidential term has begun?

After all, the certificate must be dated, since it has just been presented, to today’s date. And then the inauguration ceremony on May 7 is a formality in this sense? And shouldn’t all procedures (such as the resignation of the cabinet of ministers, and this is even inconvenient to write in parentheses) automatically shift to the left this afternoon? After all, we have a new president of Russia. It’s always been like this, yes: new crusts – new life.

— Vladimir Vladimirovich, let me present you with a certificate! – Ella Pamfilova exclaimed.

“Thank you,” the president thanked him standing. “Ella Alexandrovna, thank you very much and all your colleagues both in the Central Election Commission and locally!” The work was difficult, I understand that, but very important for the country, for the internal stability of the state, especially today.

The main thing is that the country survived.

Here, however, the president suggested sitting down. He seemed to imagine what the head of the Central Election Commission would say next.

“Of course,” admitted Ella Pamfilova, “the results of these elections are amazing!”

That is, they surprised even her, who seemed accustomed to everything.

– They are unprecedented! – added Ella Pamfilova. – Well, I thought about it, right here all the numbers are there, Vladimir Vladimirovich, all the statistics…

She made it clear that this was far from the main thing.

“But the most important thing is how wise our people turned out to be!” – admitted Ella Pamfilova. – Unprecedented consolidation of society and the understanding that this is not just the choice of a president, but this is actually some important stage in the battle for Russia!

It’s really good that we sat down.

I wanted some clarification. And they did:

“It happened both among people and within our system,” said Ella Pamfilova. “It’s so complex, seemingly consisting of representatives of many parties (but in fact from one? – A.K.)… But this consolidation, solidarity, that now we are all fighting for the country!..

“It is so,” confirmed the president.

He seemed to really like these words.

“This is how the elections turned out,” Ella Pamfilova became even more inspired, “despite the incredible, I would even say, hysterical machinations of our ill-wishers!” This time there was such indecent interference in the process!

She, as often happens, was overwhelmed with feelings. But this time – especially. However, the reason was not ordinary, but surprising.

“But we’ve always gotten used to it, for a long time…” she continued, and her thoughts didn’t quite keep up with the words, but that’s okay, nothing!.. “We’ve already gotten used to standard types of intervention, I don’t even want to talk about it!” .. But along with this, suddenly such ugly forms began to be used!.. That is, they went into all seriousness…

She did not yet say who exactly, but it was already clear: those who tried to oppose the choice of the people of Russia.

“But in fact, they also played a big role in uniting our people… By what they do…” stated Ella Pamfilova.

The head of the Central Election Commission probably had in mind such actions as, for example, unauthorized arson of polling stations.

— And the turnout can be high, and the result can be high! And what to do in such situations?.. And the most cynical, disgusting thing is that they relied on terror,” admitted the head of the Central Election Commission. “This is something that has never happened before!”

But who? Who was behind this? I didn’t want to just guess anymore. I wanted to hear simple, clear words. And, by the way, they sounded.

– Why? How can you reduce turnout?.. Intimidate people, cause fear, panic. That is, with the help of their Ukrainian accomplices sitting in Kyiv, they practically organized terror!

Apparently, the conversation was about Western curators, since Ella Pamfilova did not even stop at Ukrainian accomplices. They also had other accomplices.

“We all saw this,” she said. “This is not only in relation to our border territories… These explosions, killings of people and everything together…

There was obviously something that we weren’t even told about.

“Our commission members also faced the same thing: telephone threats, attempts, say, to blackmail and much more… Intimidation… This is probably the biggest difference in what they did.

One could only guess what she had to endure. But today has finally arrived. No, like this: so that today still comes.

“You know,” continued the head of the Central Election Commission, “it’s surprising that some new forms have appeared… In my opinion, there are two aspects: hitting turnout, and the second, understanding what the results could be… But we have created an unprecedentedly transparent, open system!” ..

It was no longer very clear. But I was still aware that Ella Pamfilova was talking about something important to herself.

— The system is very stable, and it just shows everyone: what’s really going on?! Nowadays it is becoming more and more difficult to lie and make fakes! That is, to oppose this!

The choice of the people.

So amazing.

Andrey Kolesnikov