Mikhail Mishustin began a series of meetings with representatives of Duma factions

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin began a series of meetings with Duma factions on the eve of the government’s annual report to parliament on Monday by communicating with deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Liberal Democratic Party. The Communists focused on scientific, educational, price and political issues, while the Liberal Democrats emphasized regional development, sports and housing and communal services. At the same time, the cross-cutting theme of both meetings was migration policy, the discussion of which was facilitated by the recent terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow.

Mikhail Mishustin opened both meetings with a commentary on the terrorist attack on March 22 at Crocus. “The culprits will be punished,” he promised. “They deserve no mercy.” The prime minister thanked the emergency services workers, ordinary citizens who evacuated and protected people in moments of tragedy, as well as donors, expressing the conviction that “no terrorists will be able to intimidate the country in which such people live.” And moving on to the topic of interaction between the government and parliament, Mr. Mishustin in both cases emphasized the special importance of this process: “We understand that the position of parliamentarians is formed primarily by feedback from people, therefore we pay the closest attention to the initiatives and proposals expressed by the factions.”

As for party specifics, the head of government thanked the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for effective interaction “primarily” on agricultural issues, as well as on issues of industrial and social policy (especially in terms of protecting large families) and Eurasian integration.

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov began his response speech with a call for unity: “The tragedy that befell our country should unite us as much as possible, mobilize us to solve the main task that the president set in his message – victory over the Nazi-fascist forces that captured fraternal Ukraine.” According to the communist, the Russian government now faces three tasks: “to mobilize all resources and each of us,” “to unite society,” and “to master the latest technologies.”

Among more specific topics that should be given special attention, Mr. Zyuganov named the deterioration of housing and communal services networks, migration challenges, issues of science and education, as well as rising prices. “Your government is more effective and efficient,” admitted the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. “But as an experienced politician, I am extremely worried that the financial and economic bloc is crawling along the old rut, and it’s high time to get out of it.” With the previous financial and economic policy, it will not be possible to reach global growth rates, Gennady Zyuganov traditionally warned: “There is experience, there is specific practice, there are reserves accumulated by your team. Let’s decide together, we will support your proposals as much as possible.”

The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation also spoke out on pressing, in his opinion, political issues. “I was holding in my hands the Harvard project on the liquidation of the USSR: the first chapter is perestroika, the second is democratization, the third is liquidation,” he said, explaining that just now the opponents of the Russian Federation “have begun liquidation.” “And no ISIS (terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation.— “Kommersant”)… This is complete nonsense! Although all this is the creation of the CIA and MI6, and everything we saw this time was their work! In the same context, the communist criticized the nomination of the now deceased oppositionist Alexei Navalny for mayor of Moscow in 2013 and complained that Vladislav Davankov, vice-speaker of the State Duma from the New People party, is now being “cheated”: “Not a single new thought, not a single new law, not a single new idea, not a single new word, they pumped me up, they gave me a lot of money.” “Ask to show the voting results of our cadres abroad, and you will gasp,” Mr. Zyuganov assured, obviously referring to the high results of presidential candidate Davankov in foreign polls. “Therefore, we must take measures in a timely manner!”

Mikhail Mishustin refrained from making political comments, but reminded the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation about the growth in real incomes of the population, and also promised to continue investing in high-tech industries and the development of educational programs (in particular, the “Professionality” program).

The Prime Minister thanked the members of the LDPR, who appeared in the White House after the communists, for their achievements within the framework of parliamentary diplomacy, substantive joint work with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Sports (in particular, in organizing the Games of the Future in Kazan), amendments to the Tax Code, as well as initiatives to support SVO participants and social issues.

LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky, in turn, called the past year “very difficult”: “At the same time, we, as a constructive opposition, consider this year to be effective.” He was also glad that the government was listening to the proposals of his faction (60 of its initiatives became laws), and called for expanding the dialogue. “The dialogue is sometimes difficult, there are differences on a number of issues,” Mr. Slutsky admitted, but immediately made a reservation: “This is how it should be when the government works with an opposition party, this is completely normal. But in dispute the truth is born.”

Moving on to specifics, the LDPR leader called for “special measures” to be taken in connection with the tragedy of March 22 (in particular, to support party initiatives to tighten the conditions for issuing Russian citizenship and the rules for the stay of foreigners in Russia), as well as to work on proposals related to regional development, — on reducing disparities in the socio-economic situation and income of the population in different regions. “Russia is bigger than Moscow: this is a task at the national level,” the politician reasoned, later adding the topics of housing and communal services and mass sports to “particularly important ones.”

In his response, Mr. Mishustin assured the deputies of the effectiveness of the salary monitoring system in the regions (obviously, reacting in this way to Leonid Slutsky’s remark regarding the difference in income of state employees in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation): “We will look together later, and if these options exist, then how At the very least, we’ll fix it all.”

At the end of the part open to the media, Mikhail Mishustin discussed in detail specific industry issues with representatives of the relevant Duma committees. In both parties, Kommersant was assured that the closed part was productive.

“An interested, constructive, professional conversation,” Yury Afonin, First Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Central Committee, described this part of the conversation. “Both Gennady Andreevich and the leadership of our party really liked it.” The government, the communist noted, also “found useful” a number of proposals declared by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation: “All key issues have been voiced, and we have an understanding on many of them.”

The head of the Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), also noted the government’s interest in the ideas of the parliamentary opposition, especially pleased with the Cabinet’s positive response to its own initiative on the rights of motorists (for more details, see the material on page 5): “In general, it should be noted that that recently the government is increasingly supporting bills of opposition deputies.” “It was a dialogue meeting, not a monologue,” the Liberal Democrat concluded with satisfaction.

Grigory Leiba