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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good evening,

Mr Kuvshinnikov, first of all, I would like to thank you for what you did for the Vologda Region. How long was it?

Oleg Kuvshinnikov: Twelve years.

Vladimir Putin: Twelve years!

A great deal of work has been done, the city has changed as well as the entire region. I hope you yourself are satisfied with the work you have done. We have major enterprises there, and it is in general an industrially developed region.

I know that you are willing to stay in the sphere of interests of the Vologda Region and to work for the region’s wellbeing in the future. We are going to try and do that; at any rate, I do not see any problems here and no reasons not to address this issue as you laid out.

I would like to wish all the best to Mr Filimonov. You are no stranger to this. I hope that everything that has been achieved will be maintained and the improvement in people’s lives will continue at a steady pace. I also very much hope that you will continue working together.

Georgy Filimonov: Thank you.

Oleg Kuvshinnikov: Mr President, thank you for your appreciation of our efforts. I am ready to continue to work in the interests of our country and people in the Vologda Region in any position our state and you personally consider necessary. Thank you for your support.

Georgy Filimonov: Mr President, thank you very much for your trust. It is a great honour to me and a huge responsibility. I am sure that there is hard work ahead in creating new growth points in the regional economy jointly with Mr Kuvshinnikov. The thing is that the Vologda Region is my home area. My wife and I grew up there, and my parents live there. It is my native land, which is being powered by the strength of the Russian North and our people.

Of course, I would like to ask Mr Kuvshinnikov, who has done a great deal to develop the region’s economy, to keep up the pace of our team’s work, considering the comfortable conditions we have inherited and the high base effect, because it is always difficult to show good results when the previous achievements were outstanding.

Nevertheless, we have prepared a programme jointly with Mr Kuvshinnikov, a new programme for the region’s socioeconomic development. We are working jointly to finalise it so that we can address the challenges facing the region at the new historical stage for the benefit of our people and in the service of Russia and our President.

If I may, I would like to say a few words about our reference points. They include the development of a large-scale investment project in Russky Sever (Russian North) National Park, a specially protected area in the Kirillov District of the Vologda Region. That area, which includes the village where I grew up, is infinitely dear to me. I see that Mr Kuvshinnikov supports this approach. He understands that the park has huge untapped potential and is a real gem of the Russian North.

I have been working in the Moscow Region Government and would like to introduce the best practices, which I learned in the Moscow Region, in my native region. I am referring to the Forest Parks programme and the system of eco trails and eco routes in Russian North National Park, where the gems of the cultural and historical heritage of Russia and the global civilisation are located, such as the Ferapontov Monastery with the 15th century frescoes by the great medieval painter Dionisius, the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, the Goritsky Monastery, the Tsipina Gora area, the Maura Gora hills, and many other landmarks.

This also includes the construction of new sport facilities. There is a particularly ambitious programme aimed at building sport facilities in rural territories. I oversee the development of the Moscow Region’s agro-industrial sector, and I therefore prioritise the issue of merging and integrating territories through the development of rural sport, by promoting a healthy lifestyle and cultivating this lifestyle and by building new sport facilities and physical fitness centres in rural territories.

There are also hotel facilities. Unfortunately, rural territories still do not have enough hotels for holding major national and international events and for accommodating people. This includes hotels, glamping hubs and modern hotel facilities.

We asked the Russian Ministry of Culture to support one of our new projects, specifically, construction of a new building that would house a theatre for children and young people in the city of Cherepovets in the Vologda Region. This is one of our new landmark projects. On the whole, we prioritise the creation of a chain of new institutions and a new comfortable and youth-friendly cultural environment.

I believe that, apart from building major industrial enterprises, flagships of the regional iron and steel and chemical industries, we need to invest in the agro-industrial sector and in the development of new projects in this sector. This includes the creation of new food production facilities, as well as those legendary national and world-famous Vologda Region brands. Vologda butter, the current regional project, is just a drop in the ocean, compared to what we can do.

We have systematised multiple ideas, and we are now including them in our project and a new programme for the region’s socio-economic development. I am asking you to support the programme, working together with the previous team, and to support the pace, set by the new team and to jointly implement them in a synchronised team spirit for the benefit of our residents.

Vladimir Putin: It is necessary to take part in all governmental programmes to achieve national development goals, so that the Vologda Region will be involved in an overwhelming majority of these programmes. Then, it will be easier to obtain resources for achieving the goals that you have just mentioned.

Georgy Filimonov: Of course.

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