This is the home of women who on the day before complained to Prime Minister Putin of poor living conditions. Mr Putin promised them that Governor of the Kamchatka Territory Alexei Kuzmitsky would meet with those in need of better housing.

On the morning of August 26, Mr Kuzmitsky fulfilled the instruction and met with women living in the hostel. Nevertheless, Mr Putin decided to visit the block of flats where one of the women who petitioned him lives. While in n the flat where the 71-year-old woman resides with her grandson, after inspecting a 9-metre room, he said: "To put it mildly, this is very modest, not to say poor." Then Mr Putin called on her neighbour who told him there were four people sharing two rooms. After that Mr Putin called on Nadezhda Khramenok, who told the prime minister that apart from herself and her sister there were four children living with them, one of them a newborn. Mr Putin turned to the governor, saying: "You have all the funds. We have transferred more than 3.5 billion to your accounts. You must put together a programme for building new, modern and earthquake-proof housing as soon as possible."

As Mr Putin remarked, "there are hundreds and even thousands of hostels like this across the country." He expressed the hope that other regional heads would heed his words. "No-money pleas no longer work," he stressed, adding that "helping people out of such accommodation" is a top priority.

Addressing the Kamchatka Territory Governor, Vladimir Putin said:

"Mr Kuzmitsky, you have all the funds. We have transferred more than 3.5 billion roubles to your accounts. You must put together a programme for building new, modern, earthquake-resistant housing as soon as possible. We discussed this issue with you yesterday, and you are aware of the problems. We must put an end to this intraregional squabble. I'm referring not so much to you but to those who know what I'm talking about. We must get organised and begin using these funds.

As for hostels, I would like to say that there are hundreds and even thousands of hostels like this across the country. I hope that regional heads, like you now, and the heads of municipalities will hear what I'm saying: the no-money pleas no longer work. The country and the regions have the money. The only question is where to allocate it; what are the top priorities for this money. Spending these funds to help people get out of this kind of housing, which couldn't even be called a hostel, is a top priority for regional and municipal authorities. Money must be set aside for this issue before anything else. I really hope that Kamchatka will soon have the programme we've been discussing. These new homes must be earthquake-proof, but above all we have to provide new housing for people living in these conditions. How long do you believe it will take to at least launch this programme?

Alexei Kuzmitsky: Mr Putin, we are currently looking for contractors. Kamchatka does have a programme, it is a long-term programme until 2014, which envisages making existing houses more earthquake-proof plus new construction. We will prepare another programme, on providing new housing for people living in these hostels - and I will assign the mayor with this job. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky does have vacant flats, but the municipal authorities distribute them at their own discretion.

Vladimir Putin: Your first priority is to provide new housing for people living in slums like this.

Alexei Kuzmitsky: I will.

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After examining the living conditions in the new residential district, Mr Putin instructed the Kamchatka regional top officials to make the resettlement of people living in hostels and rundown housing their top priority. "As we discussed when visiting the hostel, we need to start helping people out of such poor accommodation," he told Kamchatka Governor Alexei Kuzmitsky. He also added that new houses must be earthquake-proof. "As for the exisitng buildings, if they are more or less earthquake-proof, we need to renovate them and resettle the people who live there," Mr Putin said. He instructed the local authorities to provide people with new accommodation and renovate old housing.

Mr Kuzmitsky told Mr Putin that 17 new residential buildings would be built at the construction site. "What will be the price per square metre?" Mr Putin asked. Mr Kuzmitsky said that according to estimates, the price per square metre would be 62,000 roubles, but he hoped to bring down the price to 57,000. The Prime Minister said that, in his opinion, the sum was too high. The regional head explained that construction materials were very expensive because they could not be produced in the region, which did not have the required modern technologies. Mr Putin suggested constructing a regional plant.

Mr Kuzmitsky showed Mr Putin pictures of buildings renovated within the seismic resistance programme. "Well, this looks good," Mr Putin said. Later, the Governor and the Prime Minister visited a flat on the 3rd
floor of a 12-storey block of flats under construction, where Mr Kuzmitsky told Mr Putin that the flats in that building were key ready. "Yes, it looks like a comfortable flat," Mr Putin said.