Igor zotov kalmykia biography. Igor Zotov: "Kalmykia has come out of the minuses this year"

A year of work is certainly not much. A year of work as the premier of an entire region, perhaps, one should not summarize, but think about what is remembered and what kind of groundwork has been made for the future. November 13, 2012 at the 41st session of the People's Khural Igor Zotov

Approved for the position of the Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the majority, his figure was unexpected, however, even some ministers admitted that they learned about the appointment only at the session. Nevertheless, 26 of the 27 legislators of the republic who took part in the session, unanimously voted for his candidacy. I must say that such unanimity could not often be observed over the entire five years of the fourth convocation. But the question "why" did not arise then, does not arise now. Then, on the eve of the session, all parliamentary factions held preliminary meetings with the future prime minister, and, judging by the voting, these meetings showed them that Zotov must be believed that the Head of Kalmykia, Alexei Orlov, did not bet on him by chance that he, Igor Zotov, would really be able to work. and will benefit the republic.

During the year of his work, the prime minister personally got acquainted with the whole republic. Although, it would be more accurate to clarify that in less than a year. During one of the interviews that "KS" took from the prime minister in August, Zotov recalled that at the beginning of the work, the journalists expressed doubts that he would have time to visit all regions of the republic in a short time, and confirmed that he did succeed. ... Moreover, it was possible not in passing, but to carefully and thoroughly study the problems, features, prospects, potential of each region.

For a year of work, the government under the leadership of Igor Zotov managed to draw up a package of laws, the adoption of which made it possible to multiply monthly payments to parents of foster children, gave young teachers the right to receive a land plot free of charge, create real conditions for the development of investment directions, and increase the amount of monthly payments to labor veterans of the Republic of Kazakhstan. and the mothers of the deceased participants in local conflicts.

In addition, which is very important, this year the planned volume of non-tax revenues to the republican budget was fulfilled at the end of August.

To be honest, all of the above is what "KS" remembered "offhand". Moreover, it is difficult to assess the activities of Igor Zotov separately, after all, all the work that has been done today shows that the prime minister is working in a team. In the team of the Head of Kalmykia, which the members of the Federation Councils during their working trip to Elista in April rightly called a team of like-minded people and associates. It's just that everything that has been said is an example of the fact that even in our republic, which is not rich in natural resources and broad economic opportunities, it is possible to create and multiply, the main thing is to work hard, without fuss.

We think that the work of today's team, which is in power in Kalmykia, appeals to the majority, and the hope for success in the future has grown stronger. What else can you say about the year of work of Igor Zotov? Probably, seemingly little things should be noticed. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan likes Kalmyk dances, he considers Basan Badminovich Gorodovikov to be an example for himself and read about him the book "People's General" by Alexei Balakayev, and on his table lies one of two volumes of "Essays on the History of the Kalmyk ASSR."

Opinions

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Mikhail ADUCHIEV, head of the administration of the Iki-Chonosovskiy CMO, Tselinny district:

I have only been working for a month and a half as the head of the administration of the Iki-Chonosovskiy CMO, but I know from the work of the Prime Minister Igor Zotov. He does not make loud statements, he approaches everything professionally and deliberately. And I am also impressed by the fact that Igor Aleksandrovich knows a little Kalmyk language. Even at the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Tselinny District, he greeted the residents in the Kalmyk language. I, of course, do not know him closely, but he gives the impression of a modest person.

In the summer, the chairman came to Iki-Chonos, after which water began to flow to our village. That is, he took note of the problem and solved it. And today, I know that Igor Alexandrovich is following our question.

Nadezhda ILYANOVA, member of the regional branch of the All-Russian Popular Front:

Igor Zotov is an interesting, demanding, progressive manager. As a person, I don't know him, but how I met with the leader. Impressed, he can enter into any topic, he makes decisions in a multidisciplinary manner. I really like him as a professional and, which is important for a leader of this rank, Zotov is a strategist. He looks forward to the future. For this I appreciate him, many do not see tomorrow, but he sees, determines the directions, sees these directions strategically, he, in my opinion, is a worthy chairman of the government.

Vitaly DAGINOV, representative of the Head of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the People's Khural:

A year ago, when the parliament of the republic unanimously agreed to the Head of Kalmykia, Alexei Maratovich Orlov, to appoint Igor Zotov as chairman of the government, I was sure that Igor Alexandrovich would be able to bring a fresh stream of energy into the development of our region. Today I can say that my hopes are justified.

Igor and I met when I worked at the Russian Agricultural Academy, since then we have been friends, and I know that he is a professional and very hardworking. Let me remind you that he came to the post of prime minister with a program for the development of the republic. This is how he is in everything, he anticipates and, of course, then clearly performs. Zotov is a man of his word. I wish him success and the implementation of plans for the development of Kalmykia.

The People's Khural hopes that Igor Zotov will attract investors to Kalmykia.
Photo from the official website of the government of Kalmykia

Muscovite Igor Zotov became the new chairman of the government of Kalmykia. Yesterday the People's Khural (parliament) of the Steppe Republic unanimously approved his candidacy, proposed by the head of Kalmykia, Alexei Orlov. Experts believe that the choice of the new prime minister was dictated by the lack of investment resources in the republic.

As expected by NG (see), the Moscow Varangian became the new head of the Kalmyk government. 42-year-old Igor Zotov, who until now held the post of deputy minister of economy and trade of the republic and resided permanently in Moscow, was yesterday unanimously approved by the deputies as head of the regional cabinet of ministers.

A native of Lithuania and a graduate of Moscow State University, Zotov has been a representative of the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Kalmykia in Moscow since the end of 2010. Zotov's duties included the search for investments for the republic, thanks to which he acquired quite influential connections both in the presidential administration and the capital's mayor's office, and in Russian business circles. Some Elista experts call Zotov a person close to the new member of the Federation Council from Kalmykia, Yuri Alpatov, who headed one of the prefectures of Moscow during the era of Yuri Luzhkov.

“The choice of Zotov as the prime minister of Kalmykia indicates that the investment direction in the activities of the new republican government will become an absolute priority,” political expert Svetlana Kolosova said in an interview with NG. “They expect a lot of money from Zotov in Elista today, and his new status should allow more efficient use of the contacts he has developed over the past year and a half in Moscow.”

NG sources in the circle of Alexei Orlov appreciate the business qualities of the new prime minister, especially emphasizing his “non-involvement” in purely internal Kalmyk political and apparatus intrigues. It is interesting that, on the whole, Orlov's opponents from among the "new" Kalmyk opposition, oriented towards the former circle of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, also assess Zotov's figure positively. “It seems that at the first stage, competing groups of influence in Kalmykia expect to enlist the support of the new prime minister. This will help Zotov avoid criticism from the opposition, at least during the first months of his work, ”political expert Vladimir Pavlov said.

According to political scientist Vitaly Arkov, the appointment of the Moscow Varangian to the post of Kalmyk prime minister testifies to the growing influence of the new senator Yuri Alpatov in the republic: “The lack of significant investments, hard cash necessary for the development of the socio-economic sphere is the main problem for Kalmykia today. Lack of financial resources does not allow Alexey Orlov to implement a number of key economic projects, which he nevertheless will have to present to voters before, possibly, early elections for the head of Kalmykia. The appointment of Yuri Alpatov as a senator, and his man Igor Zotov as prime minister, indicates that it is Alpatov that Orlov is counting on in the first place when solving the most difficult investment problem. Of course, this increases the political weight of Alpatov within Kalmykia, makes him a political figure number three, right after Ilyumzhinov and Orlov. "

Political expert Yevgeny Unkurov, commenting on Zotov’s appointment, told NG that “now we should expect a part of Kalmyk officials to join the opposition”: “Various clans and interest groups fought for almost a month to promote their people to the post of prime minister. Zotov's appointment ruined their plans. Now one part of the officials will engage in intrigues and discredit the new prime minister, while the other will begin to drift into opposition, strengthening the position of Orlov's opponents. "

However, the same Unkurov admits that “if the elections for the head of the republic were held next Sunday or even in September 2013, Orlov would have easily won them, since he has no real, powerful opponent inside Kalmykia today”.

Igor Alexandrovich, let's start with the following. According to our information, the Government of Kalmykia is going to take out two loans of 500 million rubles each at allegedly high interest rates to pay off the rates on previous loans. Don't you think this is a vicious practice that leads to a financial abyss? In the end, the payment of debt is red, and sooner or later it will have to be paid off. Please explain the situation.

- Yes, in order to ensure the stability of the budget system in the conditions of fulfilling the tasks set, it is planned to open credit lines to refinance previously received loans with higher rates from 10.9 to 14.8 percent, as well as in connection with the maturity of debt on commercial loans provided in 2015-2016.

Soon, in August-September of this year, it is planned to conduct electronic auctions to open one credit line with an issuance limit of 500 million rubles, a maximum interest rate of 9.3 percent per annum and to open one credit line with a debt limit of 500 million rubles, with a maximum interest rate of 9.5 percent per annum. Both are valid for two years.

These measures will save the budget on the costs of servicing the state debt in the amount of 18 million rubles. The opening of credit lines will in no way lead to violations of budgetary legislation in relation to the compliance of the limit values ​​of the republic's public debt with the norms and restrictions established by the Budget Code of the Russian Federation.

Here I would like to add with regards to the assessment of the execution of the republican budget at the beginning of this month. As you know, in recent years, systematic work has been carried out in the republic to identify the reserves of its own income. In recent years, a number of laws have been adopted aimed at creating favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship and stimulating the investment activity of economic entities, tax incentives established in the republic have been optimized, and a patent taxation system for entrepreneurs has been introduced.

For example, the main amount of the increase was received from income tax, the volume of receipts amounted to 655 million rubles, which is 3 times higher than last year's performance indicator. This increase was the result of efforts to attract investment, the arrival of such major taxpayer companies as Lukoil and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the republics.

The structure of expenditures of the republican budget allows us to speak about its preservation of an unconditional social orientation. More than 70 percent is allocated to finance the social and cultural sphere - education, social policy, culture, sports and health care.

According to the results of the first half of the year, the own revenues of the republican budget increased by 150%, the growth of the consolidated budget was 136%, which is 4 times higher than the national average. Let me remind you that in the country as a whole, the increase was 109%. Kalmykia was one of the three leaders in the regions that provided an increase in tax and non-tax revenues. There was no such achievement for a long time, more than 10 years. All this became possible thanks to the painstaking work carried out over the past 5-6 years.

The work of the government to mobilize its own revenues, to attract financial assistance from the federal budget made it possible to ensure the payment of wages in full to public sector employees, to conduct a timely vacation campaign for teachers, and also to channel funds for the development of the republic by ensuring co-financing of priority program activities. The main thing that we have managed to achieve is to ensure the stable fulfillment of our social obligations.

At the same time, the unconditional priority of the budgetary policy remains the implementation of the tasks set in the May decrees of the President of the country. By January 1, 2018, the salaries of teachers, nurses, cultural workers, social workers and some other categories of state employees should not be lower than the average for the region. And the incomes of doctors, researchers, as well as teachers of higher educational institutions by next year should exceed the average salary in the region at least twice.

In the current year, it is planned to gradually increase salaries and wage rates of certain categories of workers in the public sector. In general, during 2017, the salaries of the "specified" categories of workers (doctors, nurses and nurses, pedagogical workers, teachers and masters of industrial training, social workers, cultural workers) will be increased by 20 percent. In addition, it is planned to increase the remuneration of workers not covered by the May decrees by 10 percent.

More money for roads

- You recently carried out an inspection of city roads. How do you assess their condition in dynamics over the past years?

The head of the republic drew attention to the fact that this problem should be approached with great attention, with great financial costs. This work began last year, and the Federal Highway Agency responded with the same amount of funds. And this year this work has reached a new level. 22 kilometers of urban road networks, moreover, these are not narrow streets there, but central highways - part of the work is done by the city enterprise, and part - by the contractor, one of the leaders of the Southern Federal District. Therefore, there is no doubt that everything will be implemented by the end of the year, as expected.

By the way, we recently met with the leadership of Rosavtodor, which noted that our republic is successfully coping with the programs, and, accordingly, in this regard, we have more and more opportunities to receive federal funds every year.

We have an additional order from the Head of the RK so that we finally, properly, form a road fund. Until 2014, he spent on salaries, social benefits and everything else. Now such an opportunity has arisen; this year, for the first time, we have created a road fund in full. After the completion of the central highways of Elista, it will be possible to switch to the republican roads.

And the purpose of our trip to Rosavtodor was to try to involve the federation as much as possible in the republican road network. We were heard, we have positive decisions in this regard, and I think that in two or three years we will radically improve the situation on the roads. You see, progress has already been made.

You know, a new Kizlyar-Astrakhan transit highway is being built across our territory, which will take away part of the transit flows, which will lead to an improvement in the situation on our roads. The entire south-north flow goes through us. Also, at a meeting with the President of the country, Aleksey Maratovich discussed the issue of expanding the capacity of the Elista-Volgograd road, increasing its row.

Now the issue is being considered, studied. We all like the renovated road to Troitskoye. Ideally, we want everything to be the same before Volgograd. And in principle, as far as I understand, we were heard, this work, of course, will not be done in a year, but the reconstruction of this route will continue.

As for the air communication, at the present time the shares of the airport are being transferred to the republican property. This work took a lot of time, but has already reached the final stage. Our airport operates at the expense of the republican budget. Today, the Rusline company is engaged in regional air transportation, the republic also covered the costs of it. The budget burden is great, about 50 million rubles a year are spent for these purposes.

Negotiations were held with Pobeda, but there is the same scheme: a company with a 160-seat board comes in on a daily flight, flies for two weeks, if the flight is not full, accordingly, it leaves forever. Rusline is also leaving, which at this moment cannot fly. Therefore, we took a break here, now we are negotiating with another airline, one of the leaders in Russian transportation. She has 70-seat liners in operation. Now we consider how profitable it is for us. However, I will note that our expenses will increase. Therefore, we will look for a certain interaction scheme in order to get a better service for the same money. Now, look, the flight Elista-Sochi flies and flies again for the republican subsidy. An acceptable ticket price is only due to the republican support, there are no federal investments on these routes this year. The plane is full, people are happy, thank you for the fact that we were able to make their life easier.

We are in the green zone

- The resettlement of citizens from dilapidated dilapidated housing, as you know, is officially completed in September. Yet what is the perspective of this program?

- From the first house, which began to be built in 2010, there was a strict instruction from the head of the republic that the housing should be of high quality, located in a good location, with an elevator and all other amenities. In total, we spent almost a billion rubles from the budget of the city and the republic. The last building had 144 apartments. It should be noted the quality of house construction, which is improving every year. We hope that the promise of the Minister of Construction regarding financial support to those regions where they are coping with the resettlement program (and Kalmykia is included in the green zone) will be fulfilled.

Yes, we have a number of houses that need to be relocated - in Elista, Tsagan Aman, Yashalta and Yashkul. But here, look, most likely, there will be no more support of this kind, and the Russian Federation has spent 300 billion rubles on this program. We will rely only on our own funds.

People on their own initiative can recognize their houses as emergency. We do not have many such objects left - these are in the settlements of Arshan, Geologov, on Khomutnikov street 117 "a". All these addresses are under control.

Currently, it is planned to build a 77-apartment building in Elista, approximately 150 million rubles will be required, taking into account the fact that there will be no federal support. I think, according to the pessimistic scenario, the house will be completed at the end of 2019, and the optimistic scenario - closer to March next year. I have named the amount, it is large, so we will look, calculate, but by the end of 2019, I think, we will build a house in Elista by 90 percent.

- On June 9, “Steppe Vesti” published an article entitled “Children of the Underground” about the troubles of the residents of the basement of house No. 7 of the third microdistrict, who were left out of work during the resettlement of this emergency house. How is the situation developing today? Did you manage to find a compromise solution?

- There were no people left in that house, many of them were provided with living space in the city. There was a problem for two families, they asked for a dormitory, and today there is no one left in this house in the basement. Accordingly, the issue has been resolved, but again, those categories that do not fall under the resettlement, these people lived essentially by self-seizure. But if you have any questions, we are ready to meet again. However, as far as I know, this issue has been resolved.

- WITH construction of social housing, this problem is not removed from the agenda. What can the residents of Elista and regions of the republic count on in this regard?

- Last year 104 people received social housing in our country, this year - 208, that is, twice as many. These are orphans, and according to court decisions, and war veterans, and other categories of citizens. We have an uncovered category - people on the waiting list, social rent housing; the queue was formed in the early 1990s and froze. This year we will begin to move it for the first time, for this we have money in the budget. Now we are considering different options. Again, this is all at the expense of the resbudget, we will try to move this queue for the first time since 1990.

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched

- TO The commissioning of an ethnocultural gymnasium in Elista is scheduled for September 1, but the percentage of completion of the object today raises great doubts, will the builders be on time?

- Pessimism is connected, first of all, with the fact that this school was supposed to be opened in 2008, and optimism - this year will open in the fall. Today we have the following situation: this week the work on the roof of the entrance block will be completed, it will be possible to see how this school will look like. Of course, the difficulty is related to the pool, the object turned out to be difficult, the pool is large, so the delay may be related to this. Educational buildings have already been transferred to the city administration, desks have been assembled. At the end of the week, the landscaping work will be completed, along the school there will be a jogging track and football fields. Definitely: in the fall, children will go to this school.

The educational institution is legally created, the director has been appointed. The Ministry of Education and the city administration was tasked with forming a young, competent, educated team.

In general, speaking about young specialists, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have two categories - young doctors and teachers. This year, 33 young specialists were hired at all medical institutions, and we expect another 37. There is, of course, a problem: young teachers do not want to go to villages because of housing problems. At one of the meetings with the heads of the RMO, the Head of Kalmykia gave instructions to start building social housing and social housing in regional centers. There is an assignment, it must be fulfilled. We are ready to build three houses every year at the rate of 50 to 50 with the regional authorities.

According to the roadmap, salaries for both doctors and teachers are being raised. This project is long-term, and we, of course, will create a base so that the problem of providing housing for teachers in the countryside does not arise.

-How ready is the republic for the academic year?

To a greater extent, all schools are ready by September 1. As it was reported at the government meeting, everything is going according to the schedule, the educational institutions of the region have passed the acceptance for the academic year. There are no such problems that somewhere something because of something does not open.

In terms of ensuring security, organizing video surveillance and connecting automatic fire alarms in educational institutions, the heads of the RMO showed positive dynamics.

As for the textbooks, I urge parents not to buy them this year. They will do it anyway. Perhaps some part will come with a delay. You also know the history of the desks, the need for them by September 1 will be closed, and, accordingly, in the districts too. We have districts that have solved this problem on their own.

The head of the republic made a decision not at the expense of republican funds, but at the expense of our large taxpayers to resolve this issue. In fact, they took on this role, there was another opportunity to force the districts to fulfill their duties of the founder. But the decision was made, there will be desks. It is clear that we have a situation with fundraising, this problem is not only republican, my daughter studies in the capital, and I know approximately how much fundraising is in Moscow. We are now obliged to overcome this system. In addition to the desks, money was collected for repairs, so this year they will form a certain need for the districts with the support of the same taxpayers in terms of centrally allocating funds for repairs. Although the chapter has already said that we could enter the program as a pilot region contrary to Federal Law 131-FZ, changes in the law are supposed to take all schools from the municipal to the republican level. Accordingly, a decision was made - not to do this, to leave this system as it is. Note that such a proposal came from the federal Ministry of Education.

I cannot fail to note our real successes in the Unified State Exam; the teaching staff is working successfully, you can only thank him. And those instructions of the President of the country will serve as an additional incentive to bring this system to an ideal state. We will do this.

-When will the water come to the city?

I would like to expand the question here, touching on the Iki-Burul group water supply system and the water utility itself. Remember, ten years ago, water was supplied to Elista on schedule. Today this problem does not exist and will not exist.

I want to start with the Elista vodokanal, it develops independently in our country, due to objective reasons it was not included in the history of the concession, because then a multiple increase in tariffs would have been planned. All our work should now be related to the support of the Elista Vodokanal. We have a common problem with the entire utilities sector - these are debts that have accumulated since the 1990s, and which hang around everyone's neck as a kind of burden. Everyone there owes each other, and this tangle has not yet been unraveled. There are some individual positive decisions, related, for example, to energy. But there is no general solution to the problem.

We are currently considering options for unraveling the tangle of problems, and still we will try to help the water utility so that they have funds for their own investment projects to repair internal networks. I think we will start doing this work next year; our water utility will then be able to carry out some repairs itself. Energoservice realizes these moments, well, again, a tangle of netting, debts, it hangs and does not allow the implementation of any investment programs, because the numbers are extremely large. Now, if they decided on the energy sector, then other problems remained. As for Levokumka, only today we received the final batch of documents from Rosreestr, we are ready to accept the water supply system. Therefore, the water will be available soon.

Today, citizens do not feel a shortage of water, it is, but it is inferior in quality, yes. The water problem is acute in those 27 settlements along the highway. For example, the village of Priyutnoye, where the water is all imported. Unfortunately, it is extremely negative that the project on distribution networks was originally withdrawn from there, let me remind you that it was in 2008. Today, the possibilities of the federal budget are not such that they would allow us to ask for money and complete all the work. Therefore, we have an order from the head of the republic to find our own funds. We were the first to receive water from Levokumka Iki-Burul, this year we will start work on Voznesenovka, in 2018 - in six more settlements, and all this is done at our own expense. The project for the Priyutnensky district is great for us, it amounts to 400 million rubles. We are negotiating with the federal center, if it does not work out, then we will have to rely on our own forces. Nevertheless, I hope that water from Levokumka will reach each of the 27 settlements in the foreseeable future.

By the rate of growth of our own income - we will be among the leaders

We all the time return to our own funds, tax revenues. How are things going in this direction?

The commission is working, every day there is a search for those sources that are currently in the republic, and this is the legalization of employment, and registration of property, and the search for other directions. As for our main taxpayer, you know, it is the CPC-R company for the first time this year that began to pay income tax, this is, in fact, the result of the project. Therefore, as of today, our tax revenue looks optimistic. Although, of course, there is concern: the need for budgetary expenditures for today is much greater than our capabilities. But again, I want to tell you that since 2010, our own income has doubled, it turns out, in six years we have gone this way. Our neighbors Astrakhan have achieved this in ten years. We can say that apart from patching holes and completing the construction of those facilities that were supposed to be built back in 2009 under the 400th anniversary programs, South of Russia, for the first time this year, sighed and looked at what else we could do. Because long-term construction projects hung with a load; now, of the unfinished objects, the children's city polyclinic remains. Well, again, the head was approved by the president and from 2019 we will begin to finish building this facility at the expense of federal funds. To complete it, 600 million rubles are needed, we will never find such money at home. But, again, I say, this is the first year when we were able to start something and it can be clearly seen along the same roads. Kalmykia now has the opportunity to try to resolve its own issues.

After signing the agreement, the Head of Kalmykia Alexey Orlov with the head of NK "Lukoil" Vagit Alekperov cooperation is expanding, we have created conditions for them, and today the company is successfully implementing a geological exploration project in the Chernozemelsky region. This and the Barrier field, while colleagues are hiding from us, but according to operational data, everything is going well there, with research on oil and plans for its production. The district has already felt: this year, at the expense of Lukoil, they received a sports and recreation center. And, accordingly, budget revenues are increasing. After a year, we hope to see ourselves in the first places in the Russian Federation in terms of the growth rate of our own income.

What if there were social media at the time?

- The reports of the Accounts Chamber provide examples of inappropriate use of funds by institutions, departments. What is happening here, how do you react, and how is the fight against these phenomena and corruption carried out?

This is a very important issue, and the President also speaks about it, so that there is an ideology of zero tolerance for corruption. We are going along this path. It is clear that there is a federal volume of these corruption crimes, in our republic it is several times decreasing. Perhaps, this issue should be looked at more broadly.

There was a wonderful program "South of Russia" aimed at creating the investment potential of the subject. We had facilities - fish hatchery, canals and Jungarland, etc. These are the objects that were supposed to give money for the business to grow. But, unfortunately, some social facilities, including the Bolshetsaryn hospital, the Gorodovikovsky water supply system, did not make it. Therefore, there is a strict instruction from Alexei Maratovich - to bring all unfinished "anniversary" social facilities to their logical end. But those investment objects that were supposed to, in fact, create this base, remained in the form of large pits. So nothing was done. Here, probably, it was necessary to focus on the search for corruption. Today the situation is as follows: yes, there are individual cases, the courts, of course, will determine the amount of damage, the degree of guilt and punishment. But again, if you look more broadly, then our civil servant of the Kalmyk government is a person who, for a small salary, works irregular working days, including weekends. I am sure that the vast majority of my colleagues are crystal honest people. Which, moreover, are under scrutiny.

The campaign, which is being conducted on social networks, that, they say, all crooks, corrupt ones, also have, probably, some specific tasks. Perhaps, it is put by former colleagues who never managed to implement those projects. In principle, in spite of those minimal violations, the objects are being built. Or maybe there is a purpose to somehow denigrate. Here, too, you can draw a historical parallel. Several years ago, when I just started to get acquainted with the republic, I began to read books related to Kalmykia. I read the novel by Aleksey Balakayev "People's General" about Basan Badminovich Gorodovikov. There is a tragic part about the retirement of the first secretary. When three people with black souls went to Moscow, and, in fact, thanks to this trip, the republic did not receive a railway from Volgograd. To date, this project has not been implemented. When I was re-reading a book recently, I had a thought: what would happen if there were social networks at that time? Probably, the republic would not have received such a number of objects.

An analogue of the "Arab" spring?

And what is your general attitude to fake news, especially to what has been happening in social networks lately, to the negative and the fact that you have been labeled as a Varangian?

Criticism, it should always be positive, but what we encountered a few weeks ago, in my opinion, is a kind of analogue of massive stuffing, an analogue of the “Arab” spring. Maybe a destabilization scenario is being worked out. The attack was successful, in my opinion, the volume of views was a little surprising.

I say that this is, in fact, an algorithm that was implemented in countries where there are fake stuffing, links through these, you rightly said, proven technologies. That is, what is the goal of the people is also clear, it is necessary to analyze, but this is not within the powers of the government. Therefore, let it be analyzed by those to whom this status applies. And criticism is always good, it only tones up the work. Yes, to a large extent it is really true that there are no jobs here, that we cannot pay a salary of 80 thousand rubles, as a teacher in Moscow receives. The teacher receives 80 thousand rubles from her daughter, but we cannot do that. And we have repeatedly raised questions, by the way, and now the federation hears this, the decision to redistribute 1 percent of income tax, this will have a positive effect, and from 2019 this work will continue so that the regions (and all have a different base) it a little leveled ...

Well, let the Varangian - as you like. Unfortunately, my wife cannot move here, she holds a leading position, my daughter goes in for sports, so there are certain difficulties.

One-on-one with locusts, protecting the grain-growing regions of Russia

- Since we have an agrarian republic, we cannot but ask about the results of the harvest and, in general, are they ready for winter?

On August 25, in Yashalta, the results of the harvest were summed up at the collegium of the Ministry of Agriculture. We have another record. Although, you know, we have already broken the record of the Soviet period, this, one might say, is another historical record. Here the work consists of two things. Firstly, our agrarians responded to those instructions, and they themselves realized that if you do the right business in crop production, then in the end it will lead to an increase in income. On behalf of the head, both technology and chemical processing began to be actively used, which was not the case before. This year, the residents of Yashalt have broken all conceivable and inconceivable records. Iki-Burul also unexpectedly betrayed him. Despite the locusts, a comprehensive work was carried out. In fact, the invasion itself was stopped by the heroic work of our agricultural producers, regional and our small support. And it could be an order of magnitude worse. The locusts could eat everything, that is, there were so many of them: they stayed in areas untreated by careless farmers and flew to us from Dagestan. But the invasion itself was stopped, and this was assessed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. We took all the financial risks on ourselves, and now there is an order from the head to hold a large federal meeting. For our money, we cannot protect all the grain-growing regions of Russia from locusts, the same Rostov region. We want and suggest that the Federation, in addition to starting monitoring this year, will nevertheless centrally strengthen its support. We spend our money, but for example, our colleagues, neighbors from the North Caucasus save it.

As I have already said, this year the Iki-Burulites have overtaken the Gorodniks, which is to their shame. At the same time, we are working on raiding measures so that the Gorodovikovsky district will regain its positions next year.

We have last year's balance of feed, most districts report on readiness, so everything will be fine. And the estuaries have started working, the irrigated areas are increasing, that is, it is being implemented step by step.

Now, with regards to livestock breeders, last week it was decided to transfer our republic to the category of a prosperous territory. Last year was very difficult for us, all analyzes were checked three or four times, we even began to complain about the pickiness of the checks, but we were convinced that it was correct. Now, taking into account the instructions of the head, it is necessary to double the financing of the veterinary service. Veterinarians are assigned the task of the federal level - to intensively check the transit of livestock from neighboring countries. After all, our situation last year arose precisely because of transit. The republic should become a kind of island of stability in terms of animal husbandry. The livestock breeders felt more confident after we got our “status of well-being” back. The order given by the head - to build slaughterhouses, fatteners, they are also being implemented.

The "technical" cabinet turned out to be a breakthrough

When Alexey Maratovich Orlov came to power, he formed a government headed by you. He called it a "technical" cabinet of ministers, meaning, apparently, that it was temporary, created for a transitional period. However, you stayed too long, and so did most of the ministers. I wonder how you yourself, Igor Alexandrovich, assess yourself and the government you run for almost six years of work - as "technical"?

Maybe a good name for "technical". In my opinion, firstly, the head should evaluate, he also recommended me to the respected deputies for appointment. Let's look at the same, for example, the implementation of those programs, presidential decrees. We have, in fact, coped with most of them. Take, for example, emergency resettlement, a lot of our respected colleagues have failed this program, now they are getting out with some incredible difficulty. The program for kindergartens has been implemented, the queue has been canceled. And on other things, again I say, look: wages are growing, by this year we are planning a multiple increase in our own income over a five-year period. In terms of salary, of course, it is difficult for us to keep up with other regions, everyone has a different base. When the head began to work in 2010, I will remind you that the salary reached 8,650 rubles, now it is 22,000 rubles, this is also not from scratch.

Absolutely correct, we are not finalizing the creation of jobs where our citizens could work, but everything is not so simple. If before that the successful system created by Basan Badminovich had not been destroyed, then it would have functioned, as, for example, in the Belgorod region, where since 1991 everything has only been brought into the subject, and not capitalized into penthouses in the capital of the Motherland. In my opinion, we are coping with federal programs, facilities are being built, and many of them are being commissioned at our expense. Of course, I would like to turn everything on with a click, so that everything becomes good at once.

The head correctly noted that only this year we got out of the minuses that we pulled down like weights, we went to the zero level and only now can we look around.

By myself, I will say that I am a person from business, I have always wanted to work in the civil service, for me the civil service is the pinnacle of management, it is a much greater responsibility. Now both the president and the head of the region have set the absolutely correct trend, they demand from us that they see a person behind every literal appeal, every step we do. And the fact that Vladimir Vladimirovich presented Alexei Maratovich with a "green" folder and the appeals we receive, in fact, this format is also a challenge for us. It is not so easy. In fact, we will try to do what the head and the president requires, so that all issues can be removed as much as possible, based on the fact that thanks to the technical government, technical capabilities have appeared, there are some things that we could not do before.

I can reveal this, perhaps, a secret: when I went to work on the first day, the Minister of Finance came to me and showed, in fact, the financial hole where we were. In those years, we could borrow federal funds, and the extent to which the republic got into these, shocked me right off the bat. I, perhaps, not fully understanding it, immediately realized that there was a lot of work ahead and Aleksey Maratovich sees it correctly: we just got out of the place where we were before. Now, yes, we are extremely positive about the kind of criticism that is, yes, it stimulates, but at the same time, what we discussed, to turn campaignism, in my opinion, is also wrong.

The regional cabinet has been renewed and considerably younger. Who is easier for you to work with: young ministers or those who have solid management experience behind their backs?

The main thing is for the person to be in the mood for work. You know, during these five years there were ministers who did not like to actively immerse themselves in work. Again, the appointment is, first of all, the prerogative of the head of the republic. And I want to say that the government, the quality of officials, ministers are becoming more optimal every year, that is, the weak leave, the strong appear. And this team is moving, I think history will show, as I said about Basan Badminovich. In my opinion, now the government is capable of solving new challenges and, I think, historically it will be appreciated. It seems to me that over the past twenty years, this is probably the strongest government of those that have existed.

In connection with the opening of a regional center for sports training of national teams and attracting investors, is the republic's leadership planning to create professional sports teams?

We all want Uralan to play again, start playing, at least get into the second league, but its annual budget will be 50 million rubles. We can send sponsorship assistance of our taxpayers there, but it seems to me that we have so many unresolved questions that it is better to spend money, for example, on the construction of new sports grounds in Elista schools, for example, on the purchase of the same desks. I really want to, but for now, taking into account that money is spent on the social sphere, there are so many questions so far that there are no plans in 2018, we will see in 2019.

The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated a proposal to provide a subsidy from the resbudget to reimburse part of the cost of paying for electricity that is consumed for production needs by manufacturing enterprises that operate on the territory of our republic. Will this subsidy be provided?

We supported the bakers for two years, then they refused and asked for something else, but we could not help them in that matter. But we will support them in terms of electricity, now we are awaiting the arrival of the management of Rosseti. It is clear that we must reach out, explain that such a tariff is not acceptable in the region, but again this question is very difficult. Now we are preparing an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation, according to the head of state, all tariff zones should be leveled, on the basis of which the republic will receive a number of bonuses on tariffs for business. Our neighbors have the following tariff situation: the entire burden falls on the population, including the rural population, the tariff for business has somewhat "beaten". We have not outweighed the burden on the population; here it is much lower than elsewhere.

The money for the construction of the Elista reservoir has not been stolen

When, finally, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan will tell the truth about the wind power plants that are located on the territory of the Peschaniy village of the Priyutnensky district?

We have never really hidden the truth. From the first day we have tried and are trying to provide all kinds of support to these would-be investors who are implementing this project. What has not been done already, but at the moment the project is standing as it is. There is a positive moment - two months ago we were able to register all this infrastructure, which had been created, as the property of the republic - sites, roads, a bus station, power lines. Because there were certain difficulties with this investor. We now have something that other capital can go to, those that want to implement wind projects. Three companies in Russia engaged in such projects are subsidiaries of Rosatom and Rusnano and the Finnish company Fortum. Negotiations are underway with them now.

The press service of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation once reported that during the inspection of the construction of the Elista reservoir, deficiencies and violations were identified in the total amount of 447.8 million rubles (expenses with signs of misuse of funds). As of January 1, 2016, the facility was not built by the contractor (OJSC Kalmyk Road Administration) and was not put into operation. Why?

The Road Administration is at the stage of bankruptcy, it is no longer a participant in this project, that is, the contracts have ended. We very much hope that the security forces will find those responsible for this whole story. This federal project was planned in 2008-2009. Unfortunately, I don’t know for what reasons, but the water supply was planned in an open way through the canal. Even if it were done, the project was still not exploited due to large water losses. Therefore, at the beginning of last year, we turned to the Federal Agency for Water Resources to make a decision on water supply through pipelines, so the story dragged on a little. But today this topic has been completed. The project is on the State Expertise, the money for the project, and these are federal funds, are present, they have not been stolen. We are waiting for the examination, which will be completed in October. A new competition will be announced, which will again select a new contractor. At the end of August we are planning a meeting with the leadership of Rosvodresursy, the republican authorities are engaged in the relationship with the head of the state examination, and not the federal customer, this is also not a very clear story.

Igor Alexandrovich, a colleague asked me to ask this question: he was recently in our national library named after Amur-Sanana. Can you imagine what's going on there in this heat? How can such a thing be allowed in our climate: such a socially significant institution is not equipped with climate control. Plus, unique (and other) books must be stored at a certain humidity and temperature, which is not in sight here. What can the government do to remedy the situation?

We will deliver it next year. We heard the problem, we will solve it.

Thank you for the interview, Igor Alexandrovich. Taking this opportunity, I congratulate you on your birthday, further success to you, good health and all the best!