Report by Andrey Kolesnikov about how Vladimir Putin named two tankers at the Zvezda shipyard

On September 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the naming ceremony of two tankers of unprecedented size at the Zvezda shipyard. About how they were named and why they broke not “Soviet” champagne, but something completely different – a special correspondent of Kommersant Andrey Kolesnikov from Primorsky Krai.

The Eastern Economic Forum is hot in every sense (including literally). Agreements are signed, panel discussions, exhibitions, cultural festivals take place… The most popular sporting event has already become the “We Protect” race in support of the Russian President’s program for the conservation of the gyrfalcon. It would seem like a mystery – how can a race around Russky Island make life easier for a gyrfalcon.

But it turned out that the participants of the race paid 500 rubles for participation in the race. per person, they were listed, as the organizers explained, at the expense of the gyrfalcon. But still, especially in light of this new information, I’m not completely sure that Krechet is not a surname.

Moreover, there are few who even know what a gyrfalcon is (this, most likely, does not apply to the participants in the race). And this is the largest and fastest falcon in the world, from which you can’t run away, no matter how hard anyone tries.

By the way, the Falcon House appeared on the traditional “Far East Street”. Inside this morning I found several gyrfalcons. Their eyes were tightly covered with leather hoods, otherwise they would not have survived the invasion of all these VEF tourists greedy for gyrfalcons.

And the general director of the falcon center “Kamchatka” Shukhrat Razakov, who brought birds of prey here, said that he would soon go with them to the King’s Cup in Saudi Arabia.

“We’ll take this cup somehow,” he shrugged. “I already have a national team, 14 people…

– And what about falcons, how many falcons? – I greedily inquired.

– About a hundred already… Hundreds!

— How many teams compete?

– Only 200! And my falcons will be fresher…

I no longer understood who he meant: the gyrfalcons or the young people standing shyly behind him.

No, neither of them looked fresh now.

The Kamchatka pavilion itself looked more deserted. Here, inside, there was semi-darkness and one large monitor on which the life of the region flickered.

– You can just watch. Or you can invest! — the girl standing at the monitor looked promisingly into my eyes. “What category are you in?”

I would, of course, like to be in the second one. But I wasn’t even in the first one.

Nearby, young playwrights from Primorye read aloud a play by one of their colleagues. The point was that in the era of the Northern Military District, a wounded soldier asks to go back to the front. He was wounded in the arm.

– I need it quickly! – he begs.

“Then let’s cut off the hand and apply an iodine mesh…” the doctor jokes.

It seems that this is what we agreed on.

And everywhere, at every pavilion they sang. With good, I must say, gain. It’s just some kind of music salon, honestly.

“Well, why do I need this city without you, without you, without you…” came from the pavilion, for example, in Buryatia.

In a tent in the Khabarovsk Territory they promoted the “Battles of Khasan” board game.

At the Chukotka pavilion, before the start of the dance, the origin of the huge letter Z, filled with balls, baseballs and footballs, was explained. They said that Chukchi fighters are right now repelling the attacks of aggressors, defending their small and large homeland. Details were not specified. Yes, it seemed that things were uneasy in Chukotka.

— Sad stars

Looking for affection

Through blue eternity

They fly to the ground…

This, Magomayev’s, also came from somewhere…

The mood on Far East Street this morning was sentimental.

And the Russian President’s program in the Primorsky Territory began with the Zvezda shipbuilding complex. The naming ceremony of two Arctic ice-class tankers was expected here.

The names of the tankers were a little alarming. One was named “Valentin Pikul”, the other “Alexey Kosygin”. Soviet writer and Soviet statesman. Time seemed to stand still in the city of Bolshoy Kamen. And even confidently went backwards. It seems that the last 30 years have given the country, which is also not called the Soviet Union, new heroes. But apparently not.

On site it turned out that one of the earlier ships built at the shipyard was called Viktor Chernomyrdin. That is, he is still a more modern hero of almost our time. So, it’s still possible. And I imagine, for example, the nuclear icebreaker Boris Yeltsin. Surely this could be the case? But I understand that at best, “Andrei Gromyko” will happen.

An employee of the press service of the Rosneft company, Natalya Semenikhina, immediately said that the names of the ships are given by the customer (that is, “Rosneft”, if anything, has absolutely nothing to do with it), and even offered to find this customer in the crowd waiting for Mr. Putin’s arrival, but where It was very convenient that he disappeared.

The two tankers, meanwhile, aroused awe primarily due to their size. We haven’t built anything like this before. One, we were told, was a gas carrier, the other was a shuttle. Everyone, as it turns out, is expected of a ship being launched, has a godmother.

“Valentin Pikul has this… I’ll tell you now,” one of the organizers honestly recalled. “A female cosmonaut…

— Yulia Peresild? — I asked again hopefully.

“No,” he waved it off. “I’ll look in the program now… Where is it?.. Oh, here!” Elena Serova!

I found her later.

“Just call me correctly,” she immediately asked. “I’m a pilot-cosmonaut.” Otherwise, they sometimes call me “woman astronaut,” and it’s just painful, believe me.

She flew in 2014 and could see how Crimea entered its native harbor directly from the window, but did not see it, since in March 2014 she was a backup, and she herself flew only in September and spent six months in orbit.

– How did you come to your senses after this? – I asked her.

– What do you have in mind? – she asked quickly and nervously.

“After such a long flight,” I clarified.

“Ah,” she waved her hand carefree. “I’m short and adapt quickly.” This is important for us. Already on the second day I went…

Now she stood surrounded by construction workers like a godmother and was ready to cope again.

I had already talked before with an employee of another press service, the Zvezda shipyard, and she had already suggested:

— Perhaps Putin will go to the electorate.

The electorate, which surrounded pilot-cosmonaut Elena Serova while there was no president, was worried:

– Will it do or won’t it?

I’ll say right away: no, this time it didn’t work.

— How did it happen that you were offered to become the godmother of a tanker? — I asked Elena Serova.

“Nothing special,” she shrugged. “Moreover, I already have experience.” I am the godmother of the tanker “Prospekt Korolev”!

Yes, she was simply in great demand.

— What are your responsibilities as the godmother of such a huge tanker? – I clarified.

“The blessing of the ship,” Elena Serova listed, “saying the phrase “I name you”! Plus the bottle breaks on the side of the ship, of course!

– That’s all?

I mean, the godmother is for life. You need to take care. Major repairs, etc.

– Yes, another photograph! – Elena Serova remembered. – Presented to the crew with parting words. The connection should not be severed… Excuse me, I’m standing here with pies in my hand, I’m uncomfortable.

I noticed that she was indeed hiding two halves of the pie in her hands. They had been standing there in the wind for a long time, she was hungry and, apparently, froze.

— And what kind of champagne will you break? “Crimean”?

– “Soviet”! – assured Elena Serova.

With champagne, however, everything was not so simple. A bottle was tied on a rope at each side, and it was not difficult to zoom in on the label using a photographic lens. Alas. Santo Stefano Bianco Semisecco. Carbonated wine drink. Not champagne, not even sparkling.

And even more so, not “Soviet” (but, as it were, approached “Alexey Kosygin”). Later, one of those who tied the drink to the rope explained everything. The fact is that the “Soviet” glass is too thick. It may not break at the decisive moment. There have been cases.

Meanwhile, the event was still grandiose. And I asked Maxim Plugin, Deputy General Director for Production of SSK Zvezda, how did they do this, and even now?

“Everything is still on foreign equipment,” he admitted. “The only thing is that the paintwork is partially domestic.”

– Did you manage to build it? I suggested.

“It’s very difficult to change a project,” he shrugged. “If it exists, equipment is purchased for it.” The project has already been. The procurement process went on for a year and a half. Then the problem is to take it out of unfriendly countries that have imposed sanctions. And when everything was already here, it was paid for.

– Apparently, you got problems with payment? I asked.

“That too, of course. But the main thing – they took it out! Through endless negotiations. The contracts were concluded before the start of the SVO. But companies have obligations not only to their state, but also to us. They probably understand that the world situation can change…

– Do you really think so?

– Certainly! And then what? The spoons, as they say, were found, but the sediment remained! Large companies that cooperate with us, understanding the scale of our enterprise, still do not want to argue with us. Ways were found… Even at the government level… They handed over equipment to us. Now how can we launch it…

– But how?

— These are new competencies that are still being developed together with foreign manufacturers. I won’t hide the fact that we employ Korean specialists who are world leaders in the production of these vessels.

– That’s how…

– Yes. Mixed teams, for example, welders, 50/50… They work to transfer experience…

However, I didn’t see any Korean specialists here at the dock. They were still hidden. And rightly so, so as not to jinx it.

Vladimir Putin appeared between two tankers when it was already dark, and in some, no doubt, hope had already died. The captains and crews of both ships, lined up behind each other at the stern of their ships, were already released closer to the dry closets, which were placed somewhere in the depths of the pier, and they were already returning from there to duty…

“I am absolutely sure that with each new ship delivered, the level of localization on Zvezda will constantly increase,” Mr. Putin, who had two more meetings ahead in Vladivostok, told the builders.

They, of course, really wanted him to come up to them and take a picture.

But autumn, seasonal acute respiratory viral infections have already worsened sharply; At VEF, by the way, many “plus” based on the results of PCR tests. The builders were not in quarantine, everything was also only after tests.

No, they didn’t stand a chance.

Both bottles were cracked impressively.

The glass is thin.

Andrey Kolesnikov