Putin & Duma Head Volodin Talk New Government Procedures and Iran

The changes to Russia’s Constitution giving the Duma more power in the selection of government ministers was exercised for the first time after the recent election and is the main subject of discussion between State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and President Putin. For those of us interested in how Russia’s developing as a democracy, the contents of this discussion is very important. At its conclusion we learn that Volodin will be the top Russian representative at the Late Iranian President Raisi’s funeral and why he was chosen for that task. The conversation took place last night:

Vladimir Putin: Vyacheslav Viktorovich, good evening!

I know that you wanted to tell us how the Government was formed. The Parliament, in accordance with the amendments to the Constitution, received additional rights to form the supreme executive body of power.

How did this work go?

Vladimir Volodin: Mr Putin, these are new powers for deputies of the State Duma. During the discussion of the Constitution, you proposed to transfer part of the President's powers to our citizens, so that they can participate in the formation of the Government through their deputies. And of course, this was a very important period for us, because it was the first time that we participated in the approval of the Government with such powers.

We tried to approach this responsibly. The whole procedure took four days: the approval of the post of Prime Minister that you have submitted, the approval of Deputy Prime Ministers and ministers. Accordingly, this procedure was discussed in the State Duma committees.

The whole day was spent on this – there were a lot of questions: in total, more than three hundred of them were raised during the discussion. If at first our colleagues from the Government, who also went through this procedure for the first time, may not have realized the depth, then later it became obvious that this is also very responsible and important for them, and they understand that they communicate with people through deputies and answer these questions not only to deputies, but to everyone who is watching this dialog. We had it all live, prepared in advance, and connected regional parliaments via video conferencing. Representatives of the business community were present in the State Duma.

The questions were very different, and the tone was benevolent. It was obvious that strong candidates were proposed, especially for the positions of Deputy Prime Ministers. They were all familiar to us. If there is movement, it is usually an assessment of the effective work of one or another minister. All of this has yielded its own result: in some cases, this is unanimous support, in others, the support was in advance, because, for example, when considering candidates for the positions of ministers, a number of candidates were proposed from the governor's corps. For their part, they showed their work. And I must say, these are the leaders of successful regions, and the attitude towards them is appropriate.

At the same time, there were also critical questions. There were also suggestions to improve the work of those candidates who worked previously as ministers, but there are problems, for example, in the field of demography, health, education, housing and communal services, in the development of physical culture and sports.

We talked to our new candidate for the post of Minister of Sports – a former colleague of ours – about the need to support mass sports, so that children can play football, volleyball, and hockey – through various opportunities: in the yard, in the section, but so that it is accessible. They asked us to focus on this, not on the clubs, not on the federations, where, in fact, the main focus is concentrated. We thought that together with the State Duma, the Minister, relying on the support of deputies, could restructure the work and do everything possible to ensure that children have access to sports facilities and, of course, that the environment itself and opportunities for a healthy lifestyle are created.

We drew the attention of the candidate for the position of Minister of Health to the fact that it is extremely important for us to resolve personnel issues in healthcare. You have given such instructions to the Federal Assembly, and we believe that it is right for us to work together with the Government on these issues, because today there are about 30,000 vacancies for doctors, and we need to look for approaches together.

In general, when we talk about this new procedure that you initiated, I would like to emphasize once again by transferring the powers of the President to the Duma – of course, in principle, it changes the attitude towards the work of the deputies, first of all, probably. Because we began to understand our responsibility for the decisions made, for the final result. If earlier, for example, there were situations: there was a problem-deputies explained it by the inefficiency of the Government. They were relieved of responsibility and said: The government is to blame.

Now that the State Duma has received such powers, this responsibility is already shared. And of course, all this should lead to a different quality of work, when you no longer have to blame the mirror: we approved, supported, and discussed issues. Then it is necessary to substitute a shoulder, helping somewhere, suggesting somewhere, but we must take joint responsibility.

Therefore, I would like to emphasize once again that this is the first time in the history of modern Russia when the State Duma makes such decisions, approving the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and ministers. In the long run, this should definitely bring positive results: this is the development of democracy, parliamentarism and, of course, democracy.

Vladimir Putin: The formation of executive bodies, primarily the Government of the Russian Federation, after the presidential election is a very important stage in the work of the State Duma, because, as I have already said, there should be no disruptions or interruptions in work. In general, it should not be in the usual mode, and in today's conditions this is all the more important.

Therefore, I would like to thank you and all the deputies for the fact that the work was carried out based on the interests of the state, and not based on any group interests. As far as I have seen, the deputies approached it from these positions. There was such a fear, I will not hide it, when we were working on amendments to the Constitution. This is natural, there is nothing special here, such are the features of parliamentarism, when there is a confirmation of the first persons in the Government in certain sectors, group interests are always present. But the deputies of the State Duma of this convocation managed to avoid these problematic issues. On the contrary, as far as I saw, they were primarily guided by national interests and tasks, and, I repeat, they supported people not for any group or even party reasons, but for personal and business qualities. It is very important. Thank you very much.

I know you're leaving for Tehran tomorrow morning.

Vladimir Volodin: On your instructions, Vladimir Vladimirovich, I will fly to Tehran early tomorrow morning to take part in a farewell ceremony for Iranian President Raisi. You authorized me to represent our country. The President of Iran, who died in a plane crash, has done a lot for the development of relations between our countries. He spoke in the State Duma; when we visited Iran, he met with deputies. So, of course, you correctly said that this is a huge loss.

Vladimir Putin: Indeed, the death of President Raisi is a great loss, first of all, for Iran and the Iranian people. Please convey my sincere condolences on this tragedy.

Indeed, he was a very reliable partner. A straightforward, self-confident person, first of all, a person who was guided by national interests. Of course, he was a man of his word, and it was a pleasure to work with him. I mean, if we agreed on something, we could always be sure that the agreements would be fulfilled.

For our part, we will do everything possible to ensure that Russian-Iranian relations continue in this way. Please convey these words to the Iranian leadership. And if our colleagues have a need, we are ready to do everything possible to provide them with expert support, expert assistance in identifying the true cause of this disaster.

Vladimir Volodin: Mr President, I will definitely do it, as you have instructed. It is clear that the situation is sad, but, as you correctly said, we need to support our country's partners.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. [My Emphasis]

So, the unknown became known about how the new transition would work. I liked Volodin’s assessment. Readers with a PolySci background will appreciate how this work was accomplished in great transparency. Of course, this is the sort of conversation that rarely gets any mention by media, but it’s nonetheless very newsworthy—it confirms the correctness of the constitutional change. The only unfortunate aspect is it only gets to be practiced once every six years, although I suppose there’s some sort of reappointment process that must happen if a person leaves his/her position. And that will be another first when it happens.

Today, Putin chairs a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, where readers will become more familiar with another Putin creation.

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