This year, as part of its election campaign, the United Russia party and the People’s Front decided to hold preliminary intra-party votes to choose candidates for election to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. I think this is an important initiative that will help the party and the People’s Front (Narodny Front) to evaluate the strengths of their candidates as the elections approach, while giving a broader circle of people the opportunity to take part in the State Duma elections and making the procedure of choosing candidates for the party election lists clear and transparent.
Given that I would like to continue working in the State Duma, there was no question as to whether I should take part in the primaries, because the primaries are now mandatory for anyone who wants to be elected to the 6th Duma for the United Russia party. And since I want to be elected from the Republic of Tatarstan, I decided to take part in the primaries in that republic – I spoke in the Nurlat, Almetyevsk, Bugulmin, Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny districts.
The primaries are an unusual format, because you have 3 minutes to convince 300 electors (who cast votes for one of the candidates) to support you. I had lots to say, of course, but the problem was how to squeeze it all into 3 minutes. So much has been achieved during my years in the Duma and I wanted to tell people about everything: about the day-to-day work with people’s pleas for help, about getting various facilities in Tatarstan and a number of other regions included under federal programmes, and my other initiatives. In virtually every district where I spoke I tried to visit the local sports amenities, to meet the local residents and take a look at the town and how the people there live. So for me, the primaries were also an opportunity to learn more about the Republic of Tatarstan, its towns and villages. And I was really pleased too see that it’s not only the capital city that’s well provided for, but also many other towns and districts across the Republic. It’s obvious that each district is being run by someone who loves and cares for his region – everything is clean and tidy and well organized. Besides Nurlat, I also spoke in other places, but the most enjoyable and exciting place for me, of course, was my very own Nizhnekamsk, which I’ve been representing now for almost 4 years, and I hope the voters there will let me continuing doing so. I’ve already managed to do a lot for that town, but there’s much still to be achieved. In particular, I really want to get a quick solution to the issue of resettling residents of the villages of Alan and Martysh – an environmental black spot that suffers from emissions from industrial plants located right next door.
So taking part in the primaries was valuable to me in every respect. On the one hand, it gave me an opportunity to report back to the voters on my work and to share my plans for the future if I’m re-elected to the Duma. On the other, I was able to travel all over the Republic and speak to people, visit various social and sports facilities and find out more about the successes and problems of the towns of Tatarstan. I love Tatarstan and very much want to continue being of assistance to the Republic and its people.
As I write this post I already know that I came 4th out of 117 candidates in the primaries. I’m really pleased and want to thank everyone for their support!
Here’s a very recent case of a prompt decision being required. My charity foundation received a letter from a young woman from Nizhnekamsk - Ms.L - who suffers from a heart condition, complicated by severe lung disease. She wrote that she’s taking an expensive medicine that’s running out, and the Ministry of Heath of the Republic of Tatarstan is not supplying her with any more. If she were to suddenly stop taking the medication she could suffer severe repercussions.
Although the letter was received by the charity foundation, I started by finding out what the law has to say about these situations and how I could help as a people’s deputy. Once we starting looking into things, we discovered that the Tatarstan Health Ministry was actually aware of the situation and had tried to help. The problem was that the medication needed by Ms.L. is not included in any of the lists approved by the Russian Health Ministry. In these sorts of cases the region has to take case-by-case decisions based on the patient’s medical indications, examinations and recommendations. In March 2010, the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers decided to cover the cost of Ms.L’s medication; the funds were provided, but the medicine failed to produce the anticipated benefits. So I put together an official request to the Minister of Health of Tatarstan, asking him to review the situation and help L.
The Ministry reacted very promptly: L was transferred to the diagnostics centre in Kazan and is now in the queue for an operation. She is currently undergoing treatment at home and the Tatarstan Healthy Ministry has purchased a 6-month supply of the medication she needs – enough time to prepare her for the operation.
During the Duma’s spring session I held several voters’ surgeries in my constituency. The unusual thing about those meetings was the number of people who came in with issues that can only be solved by changing the law. Here’s a typical example: Citizen C pointed out that the Russian Pensions Law, under which social pensions are paid to people born with disabilities, says nothing about providing supplements to those pensions if the disabled person has family dependents who are unfit for work, though it does grant such supplements to ordinary citizens (see Law on Work Pensions in the RF). This is a perfectly legitimate question, in my view. Citizen C’s appeal was passed on to the relevant State Duma committee – the Committee for Labour and Social Policy – and we got a very quick reply. The head of the committee informed me and Citizen C that there are currently several draft laws going through the State Duma designed to address this issue. This particular case was so urgent, however, that the committee even decided to refer Citizen C’s appeal to the Ministry of Health and Social Development with a request to comment on the situation.
Of course, not every proposal to amend the law can be adopted. For example, one of my voters came to me with a request to change the regulations on maternity payments. In her view, the law should allow the payments to be used to buy multi-seater cars. And in fact, literally a week or two before my trip to Nizhnekamsk, that very issue had been debated in the State Duma. Most deputies had voted against allowing the use of maternity payments to buy cars, however, and their arguments were quite convincing.
Another important subject that came up an awful lot in meetings with the voters in February and March concerned access for various social groups (veterans, the disabled, the poor) to information on what they are entitled to - their rights and duties, their benefits, what action they need to take etc. I should stress that this is a very important issue that seriously undermines the relationship between citizens and the various government authorities. It’s a shame when the government brings in additional benefits for veterans or pensioners and they don’t even know about them, or when disabled and poor people don’t get the benefits they’re entitled to because they simply don’t know they exist. And sometimes the opposite happens: benefits can be abolished, and the people who receive them aren’t aware of this and think they’re being cheated.
In the surgery once I had a woman from Nizhnekamsk with a large family, who didn’t know how to use the maternity payments. She knew she was entitled to the payments, but not what she could do with them…? When I contacted the local authorities, they assured me that they inform all young mothers of their rights and duties in terms of receiving and using maternity payments.
So what can be done in this situation? Perhaps it’s worth producing and handing out special information sheets and getting people to sign for them. These could list all the changes to the law, all the benefits that people are entitled or that have been abolished, and so on. Perhaps we could also think about a system of notification – through social services or pension department staff, veterans’ councils, rural councils or via the internet. Then there would be no more arguments about who said what to whom. In any case, verbal explanations can be forgotten, distorted or confused, whereas printed information is more reliable. To sum up, this is a problem, and we have to fix it.
I received a letter from Citizen D, the widow of the rector of one of the biggest universities in Russia, who asked me to help her get compensation for her husband’s unused vacation leave. He had worked in the university for 48 years, and for 14 of them had successfully headed it as rector. After he died, the widow was told by the university’s HR Department that he had 322 days of unused leave, for which she was entitled to receive compensation. However, she was only paid for 36 days of leave on the grounds that the current rector had forbidden paying any more. Every time the widow complained, the rector suggested she take the issue to court. But going to court was unacceptable for Citizen D on ethical grounds: the former rector was quite a well known personality and was respected throughout the city. She thought (and I completely agree with her) that the rector’s reputation is a matter of social importance and that the proper public attitude should be maintained. So then she asked me for help and sent me all the relevant documentation.
Having studied the circumstances and heard the arguments being put forward by the current rector, who was refusing to pay the outstanding amount, I decided to consult a lawyer. The lawyer said that the RF Labour Code basically contains nothing about liability for nonpayment of leave allowances, and that court cases on such issues are generally won by the plaintiffs. So the question is why the current rector was insisting on a court case if the widow was most likely to win. I decided to send a request to the regional governor, as the top government official in the region, asking him to help resolve the issue without it going to court. The governor’s reply was ambiguous and beside the point. When I asked his assistants, they explained that the governor had not approved any action on my request, so then I sent a second request and made sure that it reached the governor directly. This time, he was properly briefed on the issue, but not being able to resolve it at his level he asked for help from the Russian Ministry of Education. I also sent a deputy’s request to the Minister of Education. Two months later, I got a positive reply and the widow has since been fully compensated for her late husband’s vacation leave.
This story took place in the town of Mineralnye Vody. On a plot of land belonging to the Russian defence and sports-technical organization ROSTO of the Army, Air Force and Navy Volunteer Reserves (DOSAAF) there ‘s a monument to the Afghan War veterans and a DOSAAF building that houses a children’s sports school (No.2), a military patriotic club called Young Rescuer and a dance and sports club called Prestige. In 2009, the plot was divided up, the trees were chopped down and they began building shops. The buildings were put up with no design or costing documentation and without approval from the Architecture and Urban Development Department. In violation of the building norms and standards, the foundations of the commercial centre were built at a distance of less than 1 metre from the DOSAAF building, though the regulations stipulate a distance of at least 6 metres.
View from the hall of the sports school with children practicing (during construction work)
Together with the building standards, they also broke the lighting and fire safety regulations and standards, and there was a danger of the building subsiding. You have to bear in mind that Mineralnye Vody is in the
Caucasus, in a seismically active zone, which made it even more risky to build right beside the DOSAAF building. After the construction work started, a crack appeared in the basement of the building in which the children practice, posing a serious danger to their health. Concerned parents and local residents repeatedly complained to the local and regional government and law-enforcement offices, yet the work on the shops continued at breakneck speed.
Finally, the parents wrote to me, and I sent a request to the prosecutor of Stavropol Region. The prosecutor’s office acknowledged that “the administration of Mineralnye Vody had failed to take action to rectify the reported violations”, that the unauthorized building project had been referred to court and that the work had stopped. Despite that positive reply, the parents were still worried that the work had only been suspended and could be restarted. However, their fears were unfounded, and the next day the wall of the commercial centre next to the DOSAAF building was pulled down.
This was a case from Moscow Region. By fiddling documents, some people had managed to take over a plot of land that legally belonged to their neighbour, Citizen B. Despite the obvious nature of the crime was obvious (B had inherited the plot and this had been confirmed in court), the documentary evidence and repeated appeals to the local authorities and law-enforcement agencies, no action was taken initially. Citizen B did not give up, however, and decided to continue fighting for her rights for as long as it took. To do this, of course, you need strength, time and great perseverance, but on the other hand, this is definitely the most reliable way of resolving complex issues. My personal experience as a people’s deputy shows that it’s always more effective to help people who are fighting for their own rights, rather than simply making a one-off intervention.
So after receiving yet another refusal from the local internal affairs department to launch a criminal investigation into suspected fraud, citizen B wrote to me for help. I received her letter in late 2008, and over the next two years I sent three requests to the prosecutor’s office of Moscow Region asking them to look into the crimes committed against Citizen B and to inform me of the findings of their investigations.
In the end, justice prevailed and those responsible for the bureaucratic delays were called to account. In place of the plot of land she had lost, Citizen B was given a different plot of the same size and quality by the local administration, and in January 2011 she registered her ownership rights to that new plot.
When I was still in professional sport and had become quite famous, lots of people came to me asking for help. And if I was able, to, I always tried to help out, though naturally I couldn’t really do much. But once my sporting career was over, when the United Russia party (of which I’m a member) suggested I run on the party ticket for the State Duma and I decided to take part in the elections, I found myself thinking that if I become a people’s deputy I’d do everything I could to protect the rights and interests of the people who elected me.
If you look at my website you’ll probably see that the scale of the problems people have varies enormously and that quite of people do come to ask for help. It’s not that easy dealing with people, of course, and sometimes a deputy’s surgery can last for 5 or 6 hours. They come in different moods and emotions, and the meetings can be quite difficult, because usually everyone is there with a problem. But if ever I can manage to help someone it gives me great satisfaction! Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to help, and often for good reasons. For example, a voter might complain about some organization that’s been closed down, or wants to some benefit that he’s not entitled to by law, or else disagrees with a court ruling that’s been confirmed by all the appeal courts etc. There’s no legal violation in these situations, so all I can do is to ask the local authorities to explain people’s rights to them. But in cases where somebody’s legitimate rights have been infringed, I and my assistants always try to get things sorted out fairly - restoration of rights. I’ve already written about some of these cases on my website, and I wanted to mention a few more recent experiences here.
It’s a while now since 2010 came to an end, and I wanted to summarize what happened in the State Duma that year and why I personally find it interesting working there as a people’s deputy.
In terms of new laws, I can tell you it was a busy year: 452 federal laws were passed during the spring and autumn sessions.
There was a heavy focus on social issues, especially health insurance and regulation of medicines. In late November a federal law entitled “On Obligatory Medical Insurance in the RF” was passed, aimed at providing stronger guarantees of free medical treatment for people with insurance. The law stipulates that anyone with insurance has the right to chose and change their insurance company, treatment centre or doctor, to have a standard-format insurance policy, to receive medical assistance in line with federal standards, to protection of personal data etc. In addition, back in the spring of 2010 a new federal law was passed on regulating the circulation of medicines, updating the powers of federal and regional governments in that area. The new law also defines the procedure and timeframe for state registration of new types of medication.
There was a lively discussion of the problems of bringing up children, protecting them against negative information and helping families with children. This was also the focus of the President’s annual address. In June, the law ”On Protection of Children against Information Causing Harm to their Health and Development” was adopted. This made it an offence to disseminate amongst children information products containing obscene language, encouraging children to use drugs, denying family values and so on. People who have committed offences are now banned from working with children and restrictions have been introduced on the range of people entitled to adopt or become guardians or trustees of minors. We also passed another new law amending Article 7 of the federal law “On Additional State Support for Families with Children”, concerning use of the “maternity capital” benefit to pay interest on loans for buying or building housing.
And more work was done on legislation designed to improve living conditions for our WW2 veterans. For example, a new amendment to Article 14 of the federal law “On Veterans” states that social support for war invalids in the form of payment of 50% of their utility bills will also apply to members of their families living with them.
A lot of attention was devoted to innovation. Work continued throughout 2010 on an important federal law entitled “On the Skolkovo Innovation Centre”, which was finally passed by the State Duma in the autumn. The Centre is a specially designated zone with special conditions to stimulate research and development in a whole range of fields, including energy efficiency and energy saving, nuclear technologies, space technologies, medical and strategic computer technologies and others.
There was a particularly lively debate on the subject of security: there was a review of a whole range of basic laws in that area - in particular, the federal law “On Security”, which superseded the 1992 law of the same name. Almost 20 years have passed since that first law was adopted and so much has changed in the way our society and state function; new challenges and threats have appeared and new problems have arisen. So the new law tried to take all these nuances into account.
In addition to all this, the State Duma passed a package of laws on the creation of an integrated RF Investigation Committee, which - amongst other things – sets out the aims, underlying principles and organizational aspects of the new Committee. This is an important step in improving the quality of crime prevention work. Other things were also done to make our lives safer, including harsher punishments not only for terrorists, but also for people who aid and abet them. And I really hope that all these actions will create new opportunities for preventing terrorist attacks in the future.
But the Duma’s concern over security issues wasn’t just about combating criminals and terrorists – the agenda also included the important issue of fire safety, following all the problems and grief caused by fires in the summer of 2010. Amendments to the RF Forestry Code and other Russian laws were adopted in late December.
Development of the nonprofit sector was another area that the people’s deputies worked on. In late March, the Duma passed a package of amendments to existing laws in support of nonprofit organizations with a social focus. The new amendments grant this status to nonprofits that work on addressing social issues and developing civil society in Russia; they also define the types of activities social nonprofits can pursue and what powers the authorities have to support them. In addition, they make it obligatory for federal and local governments to give priority to supporting nonprofit organizations with a social focus.
So I’d say those were the main laws passed or finalized by the State Duma in 2010.
One of the things people’s deputies do is to conduct or take part in round tables, or parliamentary hearings. In 2010 I initiated a parliamentary hearing on the vital topic of “Youth in the Modern Media Scene. Regulatory Aspects”, which took place on 16th December 2010. The hearing was held with the support of the Duma’s Youth Affairs Committee. For me it was really important, because these days we all face the very serious issue of how to make our young people better and cleverer, how to give them opportunities to develop and set positive, healthy examples based on values they can be guided by and that can help with their moral upbringing. Unfortunately, this is practically impossible in the media environment that surrounds us today, with its predominance of sensationalism, violence, glamour and superficial entertainment. So we all got together for the hearing to try and discuss ways of tackling this. I invited lots of respected figures from the media community and civil society to speak, including Yasen Zasursky, President of the Journalism Faculty at Moscow State University, the media sociologist Daniil Dondurey, Mikhail Fedotov, adviser to the Russian President and author of the current media law, Alexey Venediktov, editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, TV presenter Marianna Maximovskaya, Maria Slobodskaya, President of the Young Leaders national youth support foundation, and lots of others. I think we had a really interesting and productive debate that resulted in various recommendations for the Government, the State Duma’s Youth Affairs and Education Committees, and the media. These included developing a special programme called Digital Library of Russia to help young people get access to electronic teaching literature and create educational resources in the internet with free access, as well as amending federal laws on obligatory copying of documents, on the mass media, and on advertising (a new ban on adverts that give a positive portrayal of people who behave immorally or unethically).
In September 2010, there was an important event for our Committee - a visit to Cuba as part of Russia’s inter-parliamentary links with other countries. This gave us an opportunity to meet our counterparts - young Cuban parliamentary deputies - and to discuss shared problems and exchange experiences. Incidentally, I invited the young Cuban deputies to pay a visit to Moscow and our Duma, so we’re now making preparations for that visit.
And at the very end of the year our Committee was invited to meet Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, with whom we had a very interesting and valuable conversation about Russian youth today and in the future.
I always say the most important thing for me as a people’s deputy is helping my voters and protecting their rights. So I not only hold regular voters’ surgeries in my constituency of Nizhnekamsk (I report on my visits to Nizhnekamsk on the website), but also work on a number of other economic, social and cultural issues of concern to the region. By the way, I’ve decided to hold the selection round for this year’s “Alina” children’s rhythmic gymnastics festival in Nizhnekamsk at the end of March.
The number of voters from all over Russia asking me for help on various issues is constantly growing - 104 in 2010 alone! I managed to solve 29 of those cases, while a number of others were not serious enough to submit a formal deputy’s request. The problems people bring to me are all very different – to do with their living standards, housing problems, the work of the law enforcement agencies and the migration service, violations of employment rights and advice on various legal issues etc. And I’m really pleased that we managed to help some of these people solve their problems. I’ll definitely write about them on the website a bit later - once I have a little more free time.
From the time I became a people’s deputy to the end of 2010 I’ve received a total of 401 appeals for help.
During the autumn session of the State Duma I held two voters’ surgeries in Nizhnekamsk. More and more people are coming to see me. But I’m glad they’re preparing properly before they come, with documents and so on. Many of them have written out formal appeals in advance, though that can also be done after the meeting. My assistants are always willing to help put together an appeal in the proper format. The thing is that the problems voters come to see me about usually have a lot of history behind them, often involving the courts, with all sorts of rulings, annulments, reviews, complaints etc. To set out the entire history of an issue or conflict in an appeal is virtually impossible, and actually it’s not necessary. You just need to pick out the points at which the law was broken and focus on them in the appeal. But you absolutely must provide documents to confirm any violations of the law.
You need to pay close attention, because the documents that people bring in as proof (or evidence) of a violation may not actually provide any proof at all. For example, a Mr.N came to see me on behalf of the residents of a village that has been included in the health protection zone around the Nizhnekamsk industrial hub. According to Mr.N, the villagers are angry because the authorities are taking so long to resettle them somewhere with a cleaner environment. Their resettlement date of 10 October had been postponed to the second half of this month. However, even back in Moscow when I started looking through the documents attached to this appeal it became clear that the 10 October date was never an official resettlement date and that actually the Tatar authorities had not yet decided on a precise date. The assumptions about the resettlement date had come from the press.
Of course, inaccurate information about a problem doesn’t mean that the problem itself doesn’t exist: there is indeed a problem here, but it’s a different one. It’s not about failing to meet deadlines for resettling villagers out of an environmental danger zone, but a more general problem of needing to address this issue promptly.
Sometimes there are details that seem insignificant at first sight, but that can become a serious hindrance to preparing a deputy’s request. Let me give you another example. A resident of Nizhnekamsk asked me for help with the legal procedures for transferring a plot of land into private ownership. The land had belonged to her late father-in-law who had not had time to prepare all the documents needed to privatize it. And without those, she and her husband were unable to build a house on the plot. It all seemed fairly straightforward, but when my assistants and I began to look into it we noticed that the lady who had come to see me and her husband had different surnames. It turned out that their marriage had not been officially registered, which means the lady who wrote to me had no formal rights to the land at all. Any appeal for help would have to come from the husband, because he alone is the rightful heir in this situation. And then it turned out that there was actually nothing to stop them registering the land as their private property - the family had simply not gone through all the formalities. Unfortunately, many of these procedures are long and complicated and they can’t be made any faster by getting a people’s deputy involved. So eventually it became clear that there were no grounds for drawing up a deputy’s request in this case.
Difficult situations in people’s lives are not always caused by the authorities denying them their legitimate rights. Sometimes people go to the wrong government department, or sometimes officials don’t explain clearly what they need to do. And sometimes people even try to get their problems solved in a way or to an extent not provided for by law.
Each appeal is different: people are able to confirm some of the facts with documents, while others have to be taken on trust. But I always say to those who come to my surgery that the effectiveness of any deputy’s request depends on how well argued it is. If the law doesn’t treat some problems exactly the way we would like, that’s something you just have to accept.
At last, even though we’re now a long way into 2010 , I’ve found the time to sit down, systematize and write in detail about what the State Duma and I personally in my role as people’s deputy did during 2009.
But before talking about my work in the State Duma, a few words about what was achieved by the Duma as a whole – by me and my colleagues together.
In 2009, the State Duma passed 394 federal laws, including 9 federal constitutional laws and 54 laws ratifying international treaties. The main thrust of the Duma’s legislative work, in line with the targets set out at a meeting of the State Council in February 2008, is the “Strategy 2020” and the issues raised in the RF President’s addresses to the Russian Federal Assembly.
A number of vital laws were passed in 2009. These included 13 federal laws aimed at improving electoral procedures. In particular, the election deposit for nomination of party lists was abolished (thereby creating equal opportunities for all political parties to take part in the elections); and a new provision was introduced allowing the political party that gets the most votes in elections to the regional legislative (representative) body to propose candidates for the top government position in the region to the Russian President. In addition, a standard minimum age (18) was established across the Russian Federation at which Russian citizens not only receive the right to vote, but can also be elected as a deputy of the representative bodies at the municipal level.
In 2009, 20 laws were adopted as part of package of anti-crisis measures designed to support the financial sector and the most vulnerable branches of the economy. In particular, unlawful use of insider (official) information, creation of barriers to competition and violations of antimonopoly law was made punishable in the form of disqualification of civil servant at the federal, regional and municipal levels, as well as officials in the law-enforcement agencies.
To stimulate small and medium-sized businesses during the crisis, amendments were made to the federal law “On Alienation of Real Estate Owned by Regions of the Russian Federation or in Municipal Ownership Leased to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses” (the amendments remove the barriers to mass buy-out of rented premises by small and medium-sized businesses).
One important aspect of the State Duma’s work in 2009 was drafting laws to implement the national anti-corruption plan approved by the President in 2008. This included amendments to the federal law “On the Prosecution Service of the Russian Federation” aimed at making the service more efficient and introducing anti-corruption reviews of legal regulations.
Last year, amendments were made to the federal law “On Additional Guarantees of Social Support for Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care” to give the children further guarantees of their education rights (free preparatory courses, second elementary vocational education, full state support while in education etc.). Amendments to the federal law “On Veterans” increase their minimum housing allowance from 22 to 36 m2. In addition, a provision restricting war veterans’ rights to housing to the date of registration (before 1 March 2005) was abolished and a new provision was added granting WWII veterans the right to housing support once.
A number of new laws were passed in 2009, including:
- The federal law “On the Fundamentals of State Regulation of Trading Activities in the RF” governing relationships between the state authorities, local government and businesses engaged in trading. In particular, the law prohibits local authorities from establishing trading rules on the local market at variance with federal rules; it prohibits food retailers with a 25% share in the regional market from opening new stores within the region; and it empowers the government to set maximum retail prices for certain socially important food essentials and contains a number of other important provisions.
- The federal law “On Hunting and Preservation of Hunting Resources and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” establishes standard rules of behaviour on hunting and protection of wildlife.
- The federal law “On Energy Saving and Enhancement of Energy Efficiency” introduces the concepts of energy saving, energy-saving technologies and enhancement of energy efficiency. It contains provisions aimed at protecting the rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens by creating conditions for the preservation of non-renewable resources and protection of the environment in the Russian Federation.
On my initiative, which was supported by a number of State Duma deputies, the Russian President declared 2009 “Youth Year in Russia”. Despite the financial crisis, there were no cuts in the youth policy budget. Some regions of Russia (Kamchatka, Primorye, Voronezh, Ulyanovsk, Jewish Autonomous Region, Moscow city and others) passed their own laws on youth policy in the region. On instructions from the President, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism is using the results of Youth Year to draft a special federal programme entitled “Youth of Russia 2011-15”.
Now, about what I myself did in the State Duma:
In 2009, I received 101 appeals from Russian citizens, companies and organizations. On the basis of these appeals 66 deputy’s requests were drawn up and sent to the relevant organizations. Some of the appeals were not taken any further, as there were no grounds for drawing up a request. These were mainly requests for financial assistance (help in getting or repaying loans, help in obtaining housing etc.).
During the spring session of the Duma (June-July 2009) I submitted a proposal to amend the federal law “On Non-Governmental Organizations” designed to simplify the registration and reporting requirements for NGOs. This was covered in more detail in my blog of 12 September 2009 - “Discussion of NGO Law” (http://www.kabaeva-alina.ru/work/notabene/)
On 10 June 2009, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the United Russia political party decided to appoint me to the Council on Education Quality in the Russian Federation. I took part in the work of that Council, in particular by helping to prepare and run its December meeting on developing the system for seeking out and supporting talented children.
As the deputy chairman of the State Duma’s Youth Affairs Committee I played an active part in committee meetings, and also in parliamentary hearings and round tables organized by the Committee. These included hearings on adopting regulations in support of state youth policy in the RF, on the legal aspects of providing young workers for construction sites and promoting the work of student construction brigades, and others.
I was approached by residents of several apartment blocks on Metallurgov Street in Moscow for help in saving their neighborhood sports ground. In their letter they said that the local authorities were planning to build a health and fitness centre on the site.
The existing sports ground is quite well equipped, however, and has a history that goes all the way back to 1967. It contains a standard ice hockey pitch with proper edges, a high protection net, a water supply and flood system to create an ice rink, and floodlights. The site is used by the Perovo adolescent football and ice hockey teams for training and competitions, by the local neighborhood children’s ice hockey and football teams, and for special events for children from nearby schools. Young kids also learn how to skate there.
The residents’ action group emphasized in their letter that they are not against the construction of the health and fitness centre in their district, but simply think it would be wrong to replace a sports ground that’s so popular with the locals.
After studying the situation, I sent a deputy’s request to the Mayor of Moscow, Yu.M.Luzhkov, asking him to take the appropriate measures to save the local sports ground. I soon received a reply from the Moscow Government from N.N.Yeftikheev, Prefect of the Eastern Administrative District. The Prefect wrote that the neighborhood sports ground that the residents are so concerned about will be not demolished during construction of new health centre.
During a voters’ surgery on 27 May 2010 I was approached by a Mrs.N, who was having problems with her monthly supply of expensive medication. She had been prescribed two boxes of the medication, but her local pharmacy was only issuing her with one per month.
After meeting Mrs.N, I sent a deputy’s request to the manager of the pharmacy asking him to solve the problem. In addition, my assistants contacted the manager by phone and were assured that the next tine Mrs.N called in at the shop she would be given all the medication she has been prescribed. A phone call was made to Mrs.N to confirm that she received all her medication last month. Mrs. N also asked for some help with repairs to her apartment (replacement of a sewage pipe) and this problem has also been resolved.
I recently got a letter saying that a long drawn-out case had finally ended in success.
The background is as follows. Mr.N was wrongfully convicted and spent three years in prison. The Presidium of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan then annulled the court ruling and Mr.N was freed.
After his release, Mr.N decided to sue the Russian Ministry of Finance for material and moral damages of 5 million roubles. In June 2008, the court ruled partly in his favour and ordered the Ministry of Finance to pay 1.4 million roubles. But there were delays with the payment. First, the Ministry sent the enforcement order back to Mr.N to correct some formalities they had identified. Then, after the document had been corrected and returned to the Ministry, there was another hitch. Tired of battling against these obstacles, Mr.N wrote to me and asked for help.
In early April 2010, I sent a deputy’s request to A.L.Kudrin, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government and Finance Minister, asking him to look into the case. On 20 April, I got a letter from the Ministry’s secretary of state, S.D.Shatalov, stating that the money had been paid into the claimant’s account.
Residents of five villages (around 100 signatures) in Guryevskiy District of Kemerov Region asked me to help reinstate a public transport link between the town of Guryevsk and the villages of Novopesterevo and Mostovaya. The 111 bus route from Guryevsk to Mostovaya had been cancelled in June 2009 due to the cuts in government subsidies in order to cover local public transport company losses.
Instead of the 111 bus service the villagers were given the alternative and apparently more economical 104 bus service. Admittedly, the new bus only ran in the morning and evening, with no service in the middle of the day as before. As a result if the villagers went to Guryevsk in the morning they had to spend a lot of time at the station waiting for the evening bus, and return home after dark.
Obviously this bus service into the town was very inconvenient for the villagers, especially for the elderly. However, numerous appeals from the residents to the local authorities (including the Kemerovo Region Department of Transport and Communications) had achieved nothing.
After I received the letter and documents from the people of Mostovaya and Novopesterevo in early October, an official deputy’s request was drawn up and sent to the Head of Guryevskiy District of Kemerovo Region, Anatoliy Mironov, asking him to solve the problem. In early November I got an interim reply from the acting head of Guryevskiy District, S.A.Krivonosov, stating that a request had been submitted to the Department of Transport and Communications of Kemerovo Region to consider providing a temporary (10 days) service during the daytime on the Guryevsk – Novopesterevo – Mostovaya route to assess the demand and the need for such a service.
On January 23, 2010 a letter arrived from the head of Guryevskiy District, Anatoliy Mironov, reporting that “in December 2009, taking into account the needs and wishes of the population, one of the morning buses on route 104 had been moved to 14:00 o’clock. This meant that people leaving the villages to go to Guryevsk in the morning could return from town in the middle of the day. The demand study showed that such change to the bus service 104 timetable was in line with public wishes. One cannot but celebrate the fact that despite their funding difficulties the authorities have found a way to meet villagers’ wishes.
My meeting with the voters was very intense, as always. People came in with their problems - some big, some small, but all of them at “boiling point” – things that they simply haven’t been able to resolve in the usual way.
They were mainly pensioners, disabled people and staff from general-education and sports schools. They were asking for help with equipment for schools, buying sports gear, building a swimming pool, hospital repairs, housing renovation and getting hold of medication.
I was really pleased to see people taking a broad view when they try to tackle their own problems. They suggest making changes to the law and amendments that will affect everyone facing the same problem. For example, I was visited by two women who had spent 25 year working as PT instructors in a kindergarten. These women had lost their early retirement rights simply because their work record books contained the words”physical training instructor” rather than “physical education leader”. They proposed changing the law to expand the list of job titles equivalent to “physical education leader”.
So by solving problems for individual voters you can help hundreds of others with the same problems. I think that’s terrific.
There were also some everyday issues. For example, one of my voters complained that civil servants didn’t take State Standards seriously and suggested introducing a Unified State Examination for civil servants.
But the surgery wasn’t all about discussing problems and difficulties. The director of the oldest school in Nizhnekamsk thanked me on behalf of her pupils for some equipment for their physics classroom. And a woman I had been able to help who had lost her job one year before getting her pension also came in to say thanks. In contrast to our previous meeting, she looked great - she was in high spirits and I was sincerely happy for her.
And there was one very moving moment. There was a little girl who I’d helped to get a very important operation in good time (there are some operations to do with the hearing and speech organs that need to be performed before a certain age or else the child will have serious
problems with speaking). This little girl came to see me with a big bouquet of flowers and said (!!!): “Many thanks, Alina!”. For me this was a victory and a great joy.
In fact, it’s a great joy to realize that you’ve helped to change the life of a small human being for the better.
“There’s an awful lot of talk about supporting youth and young families, but nothing has changed in our building…” This was a letter I received from a Mrs.N from Kazan. She asked for help in fixing some construction defects in a new apartment block where her family, together with other young families, pensioners and families of war invalids had bought apartments with mortgage support from the government. The block was built by the Kazan Apartment Management Section of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
The letter said that the building had been handed over with a large number of defects, which spoiled things for the new flat-owners. All the walls were cracked, the ceilings let through water right from the start due to poor-quality roofing, the storm-water drainage system had not been properly buried, they’d forgotten to provide rubbish bins for the building and there were lots of other “trifles”. In addition to all this, they hadn’t received legal permission to connect the building to the city utilities and it hadn’t been entered in the register of construction facilities.
Numerous attempts to get the builders to rectify these defects produced no result, and so Mrs.N decided to write to me. On the basis of the facts set out in her appeal I sent a deputy’s request to the Minister of Defence, Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov, and got quite a quick response from the Ministry.
The Ministry of Defence’s Public Liaison Office, Major-General I.Mashin, wrote to me to say that a Commission headed by the deputy commander of the Volga-Urals Military District responsible for accommodation and amenities had reviewed the issues referred to in Mrs.N’s appeal (they’d even visited the site) and had decided to rectify all the defects.
The reply also stated that project documentation for the apartment block had been duly corrected and approved, and that the problems around connection to the power, gas, heat and water utilities had been fixed. Many other issues had also been resolved and the amenities around the building had been put in order.
This is an absolutely unusual or, let's say, extraordinary case: I've been contacted by a WW2 veteran called Felix Sergeevich Makhov (a former orphanage director), who needed help in raising funds to record a song dedicated to the memory of the Unknown Soldier. The background to this is as follows: In 1942, as a 14 year-old boy, Felix ran off to the front from Bashkiria in order to defend his country alongside his father, who was already there. And now, 60 years later, Felix Sergeevich and his friend - amateur composer Leonid Yevsikov - have decided to write a song and call it "Eternal Flame - Unknown Soldier". Because actually there is still no song dedicated to the feats of the Unknown Soldier: there's a monument and the eternal flame, but no song. And he wanted not only to write this song, but to record it and enter it for the national Andrey Petrov Competition. So Felix Sergeevich asked me as a Duma deputy for help and I sent a formal deputy's request to the Russian Minister of Culture Alexandr Avdeev.
I got a quick reply from the Ministry of Culture. They were very positive on the text of the song and also agreed to provide funds to record it in a studio in St.Petersburg (which is where the authors now live). The song is to be performed by the choir of the Children's Musical Theatre under Marina Landa, with rehearsals due to begin soon.
In the autumn of 2009 the song "Eternal Flame - Unknown Soldier" will be entered in the Andrey Petrov Competition.
Here's the first verse of the song:
Eternal Flame - Unknown Soldier
You were purer, bolder and better than the others.
You were ahead in the attacks and dashing battles.
I think this case is a good example of how much you can achieve if you have persistence and faith. Late last year I was approached by residents of the village of Zverosovkhoz in Pushkinsky district of Moscow region for help in closing down a private helicopter pad that had been illegally built within the village. The residents complained about the insufferable noise and constant pollution - dust, fumes, smoke during helicopter startups, manoeuvres, takeoffs and landings. The residents were also worried that all the helicopter activity in the air above them was creating a risk of emergencies and possible accidents.
According to the petition, the pad had been built in the very centre of the village, just a few yards away from a kindergarten, school, children’s ski school and a mass of residential blocks, right in a children’s football pitch where the owner of the land had managed to squeeze in a runway, an aerodrome and even 15 parking places and some other facilities that are no doubt essential for helicopter bases. This site, which is totally unacceptable for a residential village, was known as Pushkino helicopter port, and operated for a number of years with no permits whatever. The residents said that all their attempts to seek protection from the authorities had failed. And although, in 2005, the local prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case in connection with the illegal construction of the helicopter port, this was not seen through to a conclusion. In February 2006, the case was taken over by the Moscow Region prosecutor’s office and then closed one month later (in March), and it has still not been handed back to the district prosecutor.
It was at that point that the residents decided to ask for my help. After studying the dossier I decided to send two formal deputy’s requests: one to the Moscow Region prosecutor S.V.Zamuruev, and one to the head of the Federal Aeronavigation Service A.V.Neradko, asking them to review the villagers’ petition and take the appropriate action.
Very quickly, in just a few days, I got a reply form Rosaviatsiya (the Federal Air Transport Agency) saying that they had reviewed the case and confirmed the facts stated in the villagers’ petition, and that operations at the Pushkino helicopter port had been suspended. No flights were being carried out. The Moscow inter-regional transport prosecutor’s office was meanwhile checking the legality of the port’s operations. The reply from Rosaviatsiya further stated that a decision had been taken to draw up a procedure to be followed by local government and law-enforcement agencies to prevent unlawful use of Russian airspace.
So far there has been no response from the Moscow Region prosecutor’s office, but I will continue to keep an eye on the situation.
On behalf of the residents of a block of flats at 100/1 Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow I was contacted by a lady with a fairly unusual request – to help get some “sleeping policemen” installed in a road. The reason was that opposite their house on the main thoroughfare there is a bus stop. And to get from the house to the stop you have to cross a narrow road which runs right past the entrance to the building. But the people who live there risk being run over every time they cross the road. According to the lady who wrote to me, there have been several cases of pedestrians being knocked down in this section of the road.
The local authorities (Prospekt Vernadskogo local administration and Western Administrative District prefecture) are aware of this problem. Following numerous complaints from the residents the prefect finally came to look into it and agreed that there was a need for speed bumps on the road. That was 18 months ago, and still nothing has been done, so the residents decided to seek help elsewhere…
I sent in a formal request to the Prefect of the Western Administrative District, Yu.M.Alpatov, asking for his help in getting “sleeping policemen” installed on the road next to the building so that pedestrians can cross the street in safety. The residents’ petition was reviewed by the Prefecture together with the Prospect Vernadsky district authorities and was referred to the appropriate office – the Road Safety Inspectorate for the Western District – for a decision on whether the speed bumps were necessary. According to the Inspectorate, the decision was positive and the Prospekt Vernadsky location will be included in the speed bump programme for 2009.
I’m becoming more and more convinced how important it is to meet the voters in person. In fact, I think that this is one of the basic duties of a Duma deputy. The more trips you make to the regions, the better, and the better you will understand what’s going on there. It’s one thing reading paperwork and trying to understand an issue through documents, but quite another to have a personal meeting with somebody who needs your help. Somebody who, let me add, has every right to count on my help because he voted for me.
Duma deputies often have a very full diary, but the State Duma timetable sets aside time specifically for visits to the region (known as “regional week”). So no matter how busy I might be, I never cancel meetings with voters. I have local assistants, of course, and they help me to keep in contact with the voters and solve some problems themselves, but their work is no a substitute for mine.
Let me also say that it’s important not only to collect petitions from voters, but to follow them up and get results. To provide specific assistance to specific people, rather than indulging in psychotherapy.
Like many other State Duma deputies, I am often asked to provide financial assistance. I must point out that there is no special sponsorship fund in the State Duma, and that deputies cannot directly provide any financial assistance beyond what is legally due. (They could do so privately, of courser, but that would have nothing to do with their status as Duma deputies).
From my observations, however, many of these requests can be resolved perfectly well at the local level. Especially if they concern organizations like schools, kindergartens, summer camps etc, or else specific sectors of the population (veterans, invalids, benefit claimants). For this you have to apply to the municipal authorities and fill in the appropriate forms. And MOST IMPORTANTLY – don’t listen to people who tell you that nothing can be done about it and all your efforts are a waste of time. Don’t listen to them and don’t wait for help to arrive by itself without making an effort. Go to your local authorities and find out how your problems can be solved and get them solved. Have no doubt: if your cause is a good one, you’ll win. And if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll help.
Like when the head of a kindergarten in Kemerovo Region asked me for help in raising funds to buy teaching, games and medical equipment. To speed things up I sent an official deputy’s request directly to the Governor of Kemerovo Region, Aman Tuleev.
The Governor’s assistants were on the ball, and I got an answer quite quickly – the necessary funds were allocated from the municipal budget to the kindergarten. Admittedly, the amount was less than what the head had asked for, but quite sufficient to buy sports and gymnastics equipment, games furniture, medical equipment and even a computer.
The kids in the older group now have their “Malysh” sports centre, a dry basin, jumping frames, tracks for curing flatfootedness, lego sets, sets of sports equipment and much more besides. Every group in the kindergarten now has sports modules, mats and a wide variety of toys.
This case struck me by the way that someone had got completely entangled in a situation which was basically very simple. And all because the people who should have explained him what he needed to do, where to apply, how to fill out the forms etc., didn’t give him the proper attention. Despite the fact that he had obviously had a tragic experience and was in need of help.
In late May, in my capacity as State Duma deputy, I held one of my regular surgeries for voters in the town of Nizhnekamsk (Tatarstan). I was visited by a young man who had been wrongly convicted and had ended up in prison. He had suffered moral and financial loss, and now that he was out of prison had applied to the Nizhnekamsk city court for compensation (Article 111 Part 4 of the Russian Criminal Code). The court had refused to accept his claim on the grounds that he hadn't produced documentary evidence of the damages caused by his wrongful conviction (lawyer’s fees, food, money paid into his prison account by parents and relatives so that he could buy food etc.).
All these documents were with the lawyer who had handled the man’s original trial. By law, the lawyer should have kept the papers for 3 years, but he didn’t have them (?!). With great difficulty, the man managed to recover some of the documents and went back to the court. But the court refused him once more, this time on the grounds that the case was not within the jurisdiction of Nizhnekamsk city court. The young man was at a loss, and didn’t know what to do. And the lawyer was no help either.
He should, of course, have gone to the judge who had refused the case and asked him for an explanation - the judge is obliged to explain his decisions to anybody involved in a trial who doesn’t understand. So anyway, having lost all hope of getting any answers himself, the man made an appointment with the State Duma deputy for Nizhnekamsk – yours truly.
In response to my request the Chairman of the Nizhnekamsk city court explained to the young man that the defendant in his case was the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tatarstan and that the action needed to be lodged in the district where the Ministry is based.
On 30 July the Supreme Court of Tatarstan vindicated the young man and ordered the Ministry of Finance to pay him 1.4 million roubles in material and moral damages. The decision was not accepted by the other party, however, and it went to appeal. In late September, there was another hearing, at which the Supreme Court upheld its earlier decision.
I got a letter from two servicemen in the Moscow region who had been transferred to the reserve on grounds of age, asking for my help in fixing a problem with the status of their housing. They needed to get the flats occupied by their families removed from the army’s list of service flats. What happened was that when they were retired off there was some misunderstanding and the two servicemen were allocated army flats rather than normal ones.
They’ve tried to solve the problem many times through the appropriate government departments, but failed. So then they decided to turn for help to the State Duma deputies, including me. The idea of applying to the Federal Assembly had been suggested to them by a fellow serviceman, who had managed to resolve a similar problem after writing to the Federation Council.
In early September I sent off a deputy’s request to the Russian Minister of Defence, Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov, and got a very quick reply. Two weeks later there was a call from the Main Housing Administration Division: It turned out that they were already aware of the servicemen’s problems and were working on a solution.
The case has now been finally resolved in favour of the servicemen. According to the head of the Division’s Housing Team social rent agreements have been signed with the men and the flats have been removed from the list of army service flats.
I was approached by a family, including a Category II invalid, for help in getting social benefits to which they were entitled due to their dire financial situation. I put together an official deputy’s request and sent it the head of the district in which the family lives.
I got a reply saying that the family was already getting a 50% rebate on their housing and utility charges and that the invalid had been given a free stay in a sanatorium in 2001; in addition, each year from 2000 to 2007 the family had received financial assistance from the Pension Fund, the Social Security Agency, the Regional Administration and the local budget; and the paperwork was now going through to provide the family with funds to help renovate their flat. So the family had not been forgotten, and is actually receiving all the help they are entitled to. Unfortunately, the law makes no provision for any additional benefits.
Let me just add on a personal level that Duma deputies are unable to provide financial assistance over and above what is granted by law. Unfortunately, there is no special fund for this.
In the State Duma I represent the interests of Nizhnekamsk in the Republic of Tatarstan. This is a small town with a population of around 235,000, of which roughly 40,000 work in the chemicals industry. Given this specialization, I immediately took an interest in how well Nizhnekamsk’s schools are provided with physics and chemistry equipment. Alas, even the town’s oldest school (No.1, named after N.M.Maximov) was a disappointment. The classroom equipment was obsolete, there were problems with the lighting and heating, and in the floors in the assembly and sports halls were rotten. And in fact, the inventory in the sports hall was also old and decrepit…
The headmaster wrote to me asking for help raising funds for the school under the national Education Project. We (my assistants and I) studied this closely and immediately submitted two deputy’s requests. Less than a month later we got reply from two ministries – the Russian and Tatarstan Ministries of Education and Science. Unfortunately, they declined to provide funding for renovation of the school building, as this is not their responsibility and is not a focus area for the Education Project. I was advised to raise the issue with the local municipal and district governments.
On the other hand, I did manage to get some funding to equip the school’s physics classroom, as the Education Project does specifically cover teaching equipment. As a result, 450,000 roubles have been allocated for modernization of the physics classroom in Nizhnekamsk School No.1, and the tender to select an equipment supplier should be completed by the end of August. I really hope all the organizational issues can be sorted out by the start of the new academic year, so that on 1 September 2008 the kids will have a new modern physics classroom to learn in!
I got a letter from a Category 1 invalid asking for financial support. I sent a deputy’s request to the mayor of the town in which he lives. My thanks to the people from the Ministry and the Social Protection Division who dealt so promptly and attentively with this issue. It turned out that the disability pension that the man was getting was more than the subsistence level set for pensions in that region for the 2nd quarter of 2008. So by law he has no right to welfare assistance from the government. However, the people in the local social services departed looked into the man’s circumstances and decided that he needed a wheelchair and computer.
In June of this year the local welfare department supplied the man with a computer. To get a wheelchair there needs to be a medical and social review of his case. This is a kind of medical assessment to establish the causes and category of a disability, the extent to which working ability has been lost, and what kind of rehabilitation measures are required. It also provides recommendations on employment, after which an individual rehabilitation programme is drawn up.
The man will then have to submit an application for a wheelchair, presenting his passport and rehabilitation programme.
I was approached by a resident of Moscow and asked to explain her family’s position in terms of local authority housing. The family has been in the queue since 1988. I can report that according to Moscow City Government Resolution No.468-PP of 19 Jun 2007 On Implementation of City Housing Programmes in 2006 and on City Housing Programmes for 2007-8, local authority housing is to be provided in 2008 to residents who applied for an upgrade in the usual way prior to 1 Jan 1989.
As the lady and her family joined the queue in 1998 they have every chance of getting a new flat this year, 2008.
In April of this year a voter wrote to me asking for help getting a place in a sanatorium for her granddaughter, born in 2003, who had been diagnosed with a kidney disease. I sent an official request to the head of the town in which the lady lived. The reply stated that the little girl had been treated in a health resort in November 2007 free of charge, together with her mother. The Ministry of Health and Social Development Order No.256 of 22 November 2004 on the Procedure for Medical Selection and Referral of Patients for Health Resort Treatment recommends that health resort treatment be taken once per year. On behalf of the head of the town the lady had been informed that the girl would have to undergo a health centre examination before being issued with a certificate for resort treatment in 2008 (on condition that such treatment was not inadvisable on medical grounds). The examination showed that there the treatment was not inadvisable, and I’m pleased to report that mother and child have been given a voucher for a sanatorium in Krasnodar Region.
Lots of letters from every corner of our country arrive in the State Duma addressed to me. I try as far as possible to help everyone who writes to me, and especially, of course, the voters in my constituency in the city of Nizhnekamsk (I have personal obligations towards them), and also people who have got into difficulties.
I can’t promise to solve all the problems that people write to me about, but I try to suggest solutions or point people towards the proper authorities with the power to help. Sometimes I forward the letters to fellow deputies if, say, they concern issues covered by other specialized committees whose members know all the ins and outs and where the problems can be solved faster.
At any rate, none of the letters I’ve received have been ignored. If you’re interested in finding out what people write to me about, what I’m working on, and what I’ve managed to achieve so far, I’ll report the results here.
On 29 May I held a surgery with the voters in Nizhnekamsk, and just before leaving I decided to visit the gymnastics school. I got a great kick out of meeting the young gymnasts. As soon as entered the gym they surrounded me, all trying to ask questions. Some of the little girls showed me what they could do on the stage, and one of them said “Alina, I just can’t get this pirouette right. Show me how you do it!” I explained what she had to concentrate on and suggested some exercises that might help her get a result. And then she repeated the movement almost without a mistake. You can’t imagine how happy it made me! Thanks to that meeting, I realized again how much I miss it. I really hope I manage to open my own sports school.
To help me deal with your questions, suggestions or complaints promptly you need to send an appeal addressed to me at the Russian State Duma.
Text of Appeal
An example of how to write an appeal is given in the attachment to this message. Pay special attention to the following:
• The appeal must be signed by the applicant, together with the date and the postal address to which a reply may be sent (the postal address must include the post code and your full name);
• If the appeal is from an organization rather than an individual, you must state the organization’s full name (as used in official documents);
• Supporting material and documents or copies of them should be attached to the appeal.
Word of Advice To get a prompt reply to your appeal, try to explain things clearly, using as many facts and as little emotion as possible. At the end of the appeal state your request clearly: what do you think that I, as a People’s Deputy, can do to help?
How to send it The appeal must be sent to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in a standard postal envelope addressed as follows:
103265, Moscow, ul.Okhotnyy ryad, d.1
A.M.Kabaeva, Deputy of the State Duma of the RF Federal Assembly, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Youth Committee
Word of Advice Don’t forget you can write to your Deputy’s regional/local office, because requests are usually processed much more quickly there and you will get a more prompt reply than from Moscow.
For the Voters of Nizhnekamsk! A.M.Kabaeva’s liaison office in Nizhnekamsk is at:
Public Liaison Office of Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, Deputy of RF State Duma, Nizhnekamsk, Republic of Tatarstan:
Address: 423570, Nizhnekamsk, ul.Mendeleeva, d.32, kv. 361.
Tel: 8 (8555) 47-60-49, 8 (555) 37-72-58.
Secretary: Aliya Abuzarovna Gizatullina
E-mail:GizatullinaAA@nknh.ru
I’m pretty pleased with the trip, though my impressions from the meetings with voters are not happy ones. People don’t just come in to talk about their lives – they come in with serious problems and I’d like to give some real help to all of them. I spent one day – 29 May – in Nizhnekamsk, and my surgery lasted for almost five hours. I got a bit tired, of course, but people came to see me with such high hopes that there could be no question of feeling tired during the surgery.
The voters had all sorts of questions, but most of them were about problems with welfare payments and benefits. But there were other problems too. For example, there was a resident of Nizhnekamsk who had been wrongfully sentenced to four years in prison and was suing for moral and material damages. His claim is being handled by a court in Kazan, but it’s very difficult to take part in a court hearing when you live in another city – it costs a lot of money for someone who has already suffered injustice.
And then there was a mother whose child needs an operation. There’s an enormous queue for the operation, so there’s a risk that the most suitable time will be missed (the child needs to have the operation before the age of three), and if it’s done when the child is older it might not be effective. My assistants are now gathering pulling together the paperwork on this, because it’s an urgent case needs to be handled as fast as possible.
There was also a woman whose son was killed and who can’t accept that only one of the murderers has been convicted while the others got off scot-free. The case is now closed, but I’m writing a deputy’s request to the Justice Minister asking for a review of how thorough the investigation was.
The question of including the Nizhnekamsk culture centre in the federal special-purpose programme is under review, and I really hope the decision will go in our favour. The school refurbishment issue is also being resolved.
Another thing I’m working on in Nizhnekamsk is getting a proper refurbishment done at Secondary School No.1 - one of the oldest schools in the city. In the first place, something needs to be done about the lighting, the assembly hall needs to be sorted out (it’s got a bad floor, the chairs are very old and unusable, and the heating doesn’t work properly), the canteen needs redecorating, and the kitchen needs some decent equipment.
By the way, it would be a good idea to re-build the school’s greenhouse to provide fresh vegetables and greens for the kids. The experts estimate this will cost no more than 2 million roubles.
In addition, the classrooms need to be put in order and equipped with modern furniture and interactive screens, and the obsolete equipment in the chemistry and physics classrooms and the workshops needs to be replaced. It ought to be not only bright and warm for the kids, but also interesting for them to learn.
And then, of course, I couldn’t ignore the problems of the sports hall. They are pretty obvious: the basketball boards are old and too high up, there are no wall ladders, and there’s very little sports equipment – balls, rackets and skis. Kids in the junior classes have to bring their own skis to class and this, of course, makes things more difficult for the littlie ones. The gymnasium floor isn’t up to modern standards either (it should have a self-leveling surface), and the wooden ladder by the entrance is too steep - the kids might fall off it.
I’ve probably not listed all the problems, but one thing is clear: the school needs some new up-to-date equipment and serious renovation, both inside and out. Because in a beautiful modern school any child would want to learn.
One of the problems I’d like to solve while I’m a deputy is to help finish the Cultural Central in Nizhnekamsk. The history of this building, which was started back in 1986, is quite complicated (as is often the case with these unfinished projects). The basic problem is a shortage of funds, though both the local administration and the federal authorities have tried to help with this important facility for the city.
At present, the Cultural Centre houses a functioning local history museum and a library with 5,300 members, 70% of whom are students and pensioners. The library is in need of computer equipment (there’s not quite enough at the moment) and specialized literature (technical, economic, chemical). Three halls still need to be finished: the concert hall (600 seats), the exhibition room and the disco hall. Let me say that the local children are particularly looking forward to the new cultural centre. During my last visit to Nizhnekamsk I saw classes being held in the rooms that have been finished. The kids obviously love it there: they’re so happy dancing, singing and preparing for their performances that they simply don’t notice the lack of space and the building’s poor state of decoration.
According to the forecasts for 2009, at least 270 million roubles will be needed to complete the Cultural Centre. There’s an amusement park beside the new centre. The park is 30 years old and its equipment needs to be replaced. This will cost at least 10 million roubles.
In my view, one of the most effective ways of solving this problem with the Cultural Centre could be to include it under the federal purpose-oriented programme Culture of Russia for 2009. It’s a complicated procedure and there are lots of things that need to be approved by a large number of government departments. All the paperwork needed to get the Cultural Centre funded by the Programme has now been sent to the regional ministries. From there, they will be forwarded to the appropriate federal ministries. As the people’s deputy representing the interests of Nizhnekamsk, I will make every effort to get the application approved and supported.
, I’ve found the time to sit down, systematize and write in detail about what the State Duma and I personally in my role as people’s deputy did during 2009.
