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Those attending included Presidential Aide Maxim Oreshkin, Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief Alexander Kurenkov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Irek Faizullin, Governor of the Kurgan Region Vadim Shumkov, Governor of the Orenburg Region Denis Pasler and Governor of the Tyumen Region Alexander Moor.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon.

Today we are having a videoconference with Kurgan, Orenburg and Tyumen. The subject is clear: snow-melt floods, flood relief and helping the people in this difficult situation.

We connect almost daily, but the situation is changing every hour. Accordingly, I would ask the governors to begin with giving their assessments of the situation at the moment.

(The governors of the three regions spoke about the flood situations in their regions, their steps to provide assistance to the population, and the state of the infrastructure).

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Emergencies Ministry, please, Mr Kurenkov.

Alexander Kurenkov, Minister of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief: Mr President.

In response to your instruction, the Government of the Russian Federation issued a directive setting up a government commission. The commission met in Orsk on April 9 to issue instructions to the regions of the Russian Federation to carry out additional preventive measures in preparation for the spring snow-melt flood. Additional steps were also worked out to minimise the consequences of the emergencies in the Orenburg Region and measures to provide assistance to the victims.

A system has been put in place to monitor the progress on the official instructions. Members of the Government Commission are scheduled to work in Orsk tomorrow. I am going to be there, and will verify the implementation of the decisions made, inspect the areas of rescue and recovery operations, check the provision of the basic life essentials to the flood victims, and work out additional relief measures in Orsk. I will report back to you on the results as soon as possible.

Mr President, the Emergencies Ministry of Russia has engaged a large group of forces and equipment. We are transferring both equipment and people from Orsk further towards the locality of Ilek.

As for the Orenburg Region, our colleagues have confirmed today that this group is enough. There is a certain concern about the Kurgan and Tyumen regions. I returned from the Tyumen region literally today. We inspected everything, our colleagues are working, we have reported on it – everything is plain and simple.

I would like to thank the government services portal. They are doing a great job. They are making relevant calculations and people receive money. The result is tangible.

Bottled water is distributed in Orsk at no charge. There are no problems. I will check everything on the spot tomorrow. There are no questions for the time being. As soon as the water subsides, commissions will start working. Then we will have a ground for talking.

My report is over.

Vladimir Putin: All right. Thank you.

Mr Faizullin, go ahead please.

Minister of Construction, Housing and Utilities Irek Faizullin: Mr President, colleagues,

I first went to Orsk on your instruction. We revealed and discussed all problems yesterday, and met with the population. The Governor and I co-chaired a meeting of the Emergencies Commission with all participating structures on flooded territories. There are plenty of nuances and bottlenecks but it is clear how to deal with them.

We established commissions that will promptly assess the damage done. It is necessary to inspect about 12,000 buildings very quickly. For this purpose, we will set up groups in all regions. If need be, we will add more groups from both the centre and neighbouring regions. We discussed this as well.

 I said earlier that I have personally inspected all sites in both Orsk and Orenburg. Of course, people have some questions. What compensation will they receive for drowned cars or some personal chattel. What compensation will they get for mortgage on a number of buildings? Some asked for mortgage holidays. Mr President, we will also work on this problem in cooperation with the government commission, with Mr Kurenkov.

We have a very large number of real estate properties related to gardeners’ associations and dacha cooperatives. Some of them are registered as housing, some are not. Here, too, we are working together on issues and procedures on how to deal with this at the federal level. Some details are not properly regulated but we will look into the matter.

Another point is related to operational recovery. We are forming forces and groups of contractors who are ready to start working. Some people will not want to recover their homes themselves and will ask contractors to do it. We will also calculate together with the regions how much funding is needed.

Now in Orsk we already see water receding from 588 houses, and work has already begun – door-to-door and house-to-house rounds – in order to assess the initial damage and determine the amounts that will be needed for reimbursement.

There is one more thing we need to attend to together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Antimonopoly Service – to slow down price growth, since we will need a large amount of resources to buy wallpaper, cement and so on, gas and electric meters, and much more. Their prices should not go up. So we will address this matter together with our colleagues as well.

Basically, my report is finished. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Look, in some places the water is yet to come, while in other places it has not receded yet. But today, right now, we need to think about restoring housing as a priority, and also infrastructure, of course. Therefore, please do not procrastinate and get ready for it as early as possible.

Irek Faizullin: That’s right.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Siluanov, do you have anything to add?

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov: Mr President, we are in touch with the Emergencies Ministry and the Ministry of Construction. All the calculations are being made. The money will be allocated promptly. The Reserve Fund has assets available.

Vladimir Putin: Excellent.

The Healthcare Ministry is in action, local medics and colleagues in the regions are also engaged. Everything is generally organised. I hope this well-coordinated work will continue and we will be able to minimise all risks and all the consequences.

I ask you to regularly report to me. Mr Kurenkov, please report tomorrow. I will not torment all the heads of the regions, the governors, as they are all busy working on the ground, but you should report daily.

Alexander Kurenkov: Yes, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. All the best.