Report by Andrei Kolesnikov about how Vladimir Putin met with deputies and senators and thanked them for what they do

On December 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with State Duma deputies and senators in the Hall of Columns and thanked them for what they do. Including, says Kommersant’s special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikovand for him.

They waited in the hall for the president, when everyone had already gathered and readiness number one was announced, for about another hour and a half. Everyone, it seemed, was here – but no, one person in the front row was missing.

And it even seemed to some that Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s place might have been left empty on purpose, and that now it will always be this way, despite the presence of Leonid Slutsky. In the end, he himself always says that Mr. Zhirinovsky is irreplaceable.

But as a result, Leonid Slutsky himself, having arrived later than others, did not hesitate to take this place. Everything, that is, as in life.

Gennady Zyuganov suffered more than anyone else during the wait.

The State Duma deputy kept sitting down next to him Nikolai Kharitonovwho, as you know, is tipped to be a candidate for the presidency of Russia from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and the two of them endlessly looked into a certain little red book that Gennady Zyuganov took out, looking for something in it, such an impression, something hidden.

And it was there, apparently.

Then Gennady Zyuganov explained to photojournalists in the hall that this was not just a notebook, no.

– Everybody is here! – he said. – All information for life and work. The phones that I need… Not all of them, but the ones that I need, I can always find here… And I will record any speech here! I write down special keywords – and then I can reproduce everything!

The authority of the red book grew before our eyes.

—Have you tried using a computer? – photojournalists asked 79-year-old Gennady Zyuganov.

– I tried it! — the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation waved it off. “But then the Tsar agents burned him down.”

He had a logical explanation for everything.

– And it is not necessary! “And then during Yeltsin’s time I was bugged all the time,” he recalled. “Everything was wiretapped!” But there are good people everywhere. Whatever they reported to the top, they immediately reported to me!

That is, he learned about himself from them. An amazing and bright option.

During this entire hour and a half, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation wanted to talk to people. And he said something about the benefits of doing yoga and about the fact that he, too, had not escaped this and that he had seen enough of all sorts of miracles in India…

From the company in the hall, the soul of which was the Vice-Speaker of the Duma Pyotr Tolstoy, stories about mature Azerbaijani eggs were heard for a long time. This topic excited the imagination of deputies.

But then a chair broke under Pyotr Tolstoy, and he began a long, irritated repair of it.

Meanwhile, State Duma deputies and senators could still be found in the foyer.

-Can you bang us? – they caught the photojournalists passing by.

By an interesting coincidence, the event began almost immediately after I entered the hall and settled in. Artem Zhogawho a couple of weeks ago asked Vladimir Putin to run for another presidential term (this is what his contemporaries will remember).

Well, now it’s like this.

This happened even after Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko and Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin entered the hall. Moreover, Valentina Matvienko came in and sat down in her place in the semi-darkness, and Vyacheslav Volodin spent a long time greeting everyone in the first row he passed by. He was not indifferent to these people and claimed reciprocity. And even after sitting down, Vyacheslav Volodin slowly and even somehow majestically and at the same time anxiously looked around with the air of a man who should have everything under control here, since he is one of the few who knows how everything should be.

Finally, Vladimir Putin appeared.

– Of course, I know, here in the hall there are people who experienced all this themselves (30 years of parliamentarism, which were celebrated in this hall, not counting the upcoming New Year. – A.K.), made appropriate decisions and can say: Well, these laws were passed, so what? They were not fulfilled! In some ways they were not fulfilled, in others they were fulfilled. A lot of things weren’t done, that’s true. Here Gennady Andreevich (Mr. Zyuganov – A.K.) is smiling, I see! He agrees with this.

They spoiled Gennady Zyuganov from the stage, needless to say. But it’s true: he was almost the only one who survived these 30 years as a parliamentarian from bell to bell, and all the time as the leader of the Communist Party. Isn’t this a deadline?

But then Gennady Zyuganov became serious again before my eyes, even darkened, and I seemed to understand why: Vladimir Putin was without a hat here too. Talk, don’t talk – it’s all in vain.

“Parliamentary traditions of conducting a constructive public discussion have developed,” the president said (however, parliament, as you know, is not a place for discussions. – A.K.), mutual respect for representatives of various political forces, taking into account the opinion of the opposition (Now, to find out its opinion, we need to somehow discover it, or something, and force it to declare itself, that is, to say everything as it is. – A.K.).

The President recalled his conversation with the leaders of the State Duma factions:

— Recent meeting with the leaders of the Duma factions, I think my colleagues will confirm (they instantly confirmed every single thing, which means it was so. – A.K.), it was very informative, specific! We then spoke with each of the faction leaders separately on issues of interest to the party and faction (What, by the way? After all, the only question of real interest now, and not that very interesting: who from these parties will be Vladimir Putin’s rival in the elections in March We talked about this, right? – A.K.)… We always remember the Novgorod veche (Well, maybe we don’t need to speak for everyone. – A.K.), they told us this in sufficient detail in schools . But such bodies of representative power were not only in Novgorod, in many other lands there were, as we will now say – subjects (Vladimir Putin himself laughed at this joke – A.K.), in Russian lands! Not only Novgorod was distinguished by this.

Governor Andrei Nikitin is unlikely to like this way of putting the question.

“Let me also remind you,” the president said, “that the amendments to the Constitution introduced in 2020, including expanding the powers of both chambers of the Federal Assembly, significantly strengthened their influence and status in a unified system of public power.

And also, as you know, the influence, status and powers of Vladimir Putin himself.

“I understand,” the president continued, “you are public people, you need to meet with people, you need to explain why certain decisions are made.”

But sometimes it’s simply impossible to explain.

Yes, deputies and senators have a difficult job. Vladimir Putin himself is freed from such a burden. Although a couple of times a year I have to tell him why it was absolutely necessary to raise the retirement age.

But the president encouraged his colleagues:

— You work professionally on these issues, and the decisions you make sometimes diverge from the general idea of ​​what is good and what is bad. But if a person understands and is internally confident in the need to make certain decisions, it is easier for him to convey his position to the voter.

The only question is how the deputy can convince himself that a decision needs to be made. However, this was never really a problem.

Having once again congratulated the deputies and senators on the 30th anniversary of the Federal Assembly and the Constitution, Vladimir Putin said goodbye to them. Then, reaching the exit from the hall, he turned around and said goodbye again.

He really has nothing to blame them for.

Andrey Kolesnikov