Report by Andrey Kolesnikov about how Vladimir Putin opened the route to Arzamas

On September 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the city of Arzamas, where the new M-12 highway had arrived from Moscow even earlier. The opening was joyful and solemn. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov I couldn’t get enough of this splendor.

Elections in Moscow, the Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod regions have already begun, but on this day no one bothered to open the road from Moscow to Arzamas, cutting through all these regions, where, as a special purpose, people are now choosing those who will lead them for the next five years. It is strange that the new route was not laid through, for example, Chukotka and Yakutia – after all, heads of regions are also elected there. However, in the “zone of gravity,” as Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin put it, there are, no doubt, all other regions, including problematic ones (there are none).

No, never before has a new road opened for a single voting day (or Single Voting Day?) served the cause of elections so conscientiously.

Meanwhile, the road is really good, and that’s something you can’t argue with. New sections – more than 300 km. From Moscow to Arzamas, instead of seven hours, you can now, allegedly, get there in three and a half. And before the New Year, the Deputy Prime Minister said, this route will reach Kazan. And then there is the northern Moscow High-Speed ​​Diameter, which connects M-12 and M-11 (Moscow-St. Petersburg)… All this splendor has been separated for several years only by an undelivered section near Tver, but oh well, that’s not about that now…

And then the M-12 Vostok highway will go, as we know, to Yekaterinburg and Tyumen, and even further. (After all, there are new elections ahead—that’s what I wanted to write, but we still admit that it’s not just them.)

And plus “barrier-free wages,” as a correspondent for the Rossiya 24 TV channel put it. Here, it would seem, either a “barrier-free environment” or “payment of travel”… But no, “barrier-free payment” is also beautiful. Perhaps, however, these are new features of the calculation with the highway builders… When, in order to complete the road in time for the Unified Voting Day, they pay without any barriers at all.

And the atmosphere was, it seemed, truly festive. But really, is there any reason to be sad?

Moreover, right after the Russian President, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin spoke, and you won’t get a tan with him.

— This is more than half of the entire route to Kazan! – Marat Khusnullin exclaimed. – Never in the entire history of the country have we been away from an idea… from your order, Vladimir Vladimirovich!.. That’s when you gave the order, and we went last year in part… This year in half. .. And by the end of the year we will definitely go to Kazan… Less than three years have passed! And when, even by world standards!.. There are very few examples in the world of first class roads that were built in such a time. We managed to do this because you have been paying special attention in recent years!.. You made all the system decisions!.. We are fully provided with financing!.. And thanks to this, we were able to build such a beautiful road! Moreover, it is fully illuminated! Fully! Throughout its entire length! On this road we have gathered the best forces of our country! The best customer is Avtodor Group of Companies! The best designers, the best contractors!..

And most importantly, he simply forgot to mention, since he is not yet experienced in election technologies, the best governors.

But no, here it is:

“All governors, all municipalities worked in headquarters command mode!” Marat Khusnullin continued. “In fact, every day!” And thanks to this, we were able to build this road so quickly!

I wanted them to finally start singing.