Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: How are you doing, Mr Tsukanov? November has started, and I presume you have information, or reports on your region’s performance for the first ten months of the year?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Yes, I have the reports. Actually, I marked my first year as regional governor on September 28, which is a good pretext for summing up the first results of my work.

Vladimir Putin: And what results are these?

Nikolai Tsukanov: There are positive results. I can say that the region’s gross product increased quite a bit: we expect 7% growth this year. Our gross regional product per capita is lower than the average across Russia, but still, it has grown. Why is it lower? Because last year we worked to launch the Tets-2 thermal power plant…

Vladimir Putin: I see.

Nikolai Tsukanov: Our industrial production index has grown quite…

Vladimir Putin: What is it?

Nikolai Tsukanov: It is 125%, which is quite good, the second-best result for Russia and its northwestern regions. In principle, we can say that the Kaliningrad Region’s economy has almost overcome the crisis.

Vladimir Putin: What is the average wage in the region?

Nikolai Tsukanov: It is 18,800 roubles. Acting upon your instructions, we have raised teachers’ salaries.

Vladimir Putin: By how much?

Nikolai Tsukanov: By 25%.

Vladimir Putin: Why only 25%? You should have raised the salaries by at least 30%.

Nikolai Tsukanov: Mr Putin, we have raised the teachers’ salaries to the average level in the economy. Likewise, we have raised salaries in healthcare. Our paramedics now earn 16,000 roubles and doctors 22,000 roubles and more. These are acceptable salaries.

We have recently opened a rural health centre in one of our districts, where paramedics earn 23,000 roubles a month.

Vladimir Putin: Today we visited your perinatal centre. I’d like to ask you to help it develop a subnet to share information with other related medical institutions – you can do this within the healthcare modernisation programme. This would help to radically enhance the standards and quality of their services.

Nikolai Tsukanov: We are now building rural health centres – we should have 90 such centres by the end of 2012. Our first requirement is that they should have Internet access to communicate with district hospitals, so people can register for a visit to a specialist. Our healthcare modernisation programme stipulates connecting all medical establishments to the Internet, so that they can access telemedicine conferencing equipment and receive the necessary consultations. This is an obligatory condition.

Vladimir Putin: How much have you received for healthcare modernisation?

Nikolai Tsukanov: A total of 2.5 billion roubles.

Vladimir Putin: How many medical facilities do you have?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Overall, we are planning repairs at 42 facilities. This year we invested the bulk of our allocation in buying equipment. We tried to buy the latest equipment, because the Kaliningrad Region is an exclave and without modern equipment our people will have to go to St Petersburg or Moscow [to receive the necessary medical services]. After consulting doctors, we have decided to buy the most modern equipment, but we were concerned about the cost.

Vladimir Putin: The cheapest is not always the best.

Nikolai Tsukanov: I fully agree with you.

Vladimir Putin: But good equipment should not be overpriced but sold at fair prices.

Nikolai Tsukanov: It is important that we buy at moderate prices compared to prices across the country. In fact, they are the lowest in the country. We are closely monitoring this issue. We have a special commission comprising chief physicians who approve acquisitions, which is why we have no questions regarding cost whatsoever.

Vladimir Putin: What are the most difficult problems in the region?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Mr Putin, I’d like to show you photos of our cardiology centre. The project is proceeding. Wed will launch it on time.

Vladimir Putin: When?

Nikolai Tsukanov: It will have all the necessary specialists in March.

Vladimir Putin: Will it be opened and properly licensed at that point?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Yes, it will. We will finish construction by December, but [it will take some time to] receive the required licences and adjust the equipment.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I think this takes about two months.

Nikolai Tsukanov: So it will open in March.

Vladimir Putin: If you need any assistance, just ask.

Nikolai Tsukanov: Thank you, Mr Putin, we will. We would also like to have a cancer hospital nearby. Our second biggest concern is cancer, especially children's cancers.

Vladimir Putin: The same as across the country.

Nikolai Tsukanov: Under the federal targeted programme, a cancer hospital is to be built by 2015, but we are asking you to expedite it to 2012. We have a vacant land plot near [the cardiology centre]…

Vladimir Putin: No, we will not be able to do it in 2012, because the budget for next year has already been set. Do you have project documents for the cancer hospital?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Yes, we do.

Vladimir Putin: Where did you get them?

Nikolai Tsukanov: We are considering two options, one emulates the cancer centre in Novosibirsk and the other in Israel. An Israeli company built a cancer clinic in Ukraine, and I went to Kiev to see it.

Vladimir Putin: But you also need a design project.

Nikolai Tsukanov: Yes we need construction documents. At this point we need to make a choice between the above two designs, because they use different technologies. If we are too late for this in 2012, then maybe…

Vladimir Putin: Let’s do it this way: you will get construction documents in 2012, because it is one thing to see how the Israelis built such a centre in Israel or Ukraine, and quite another matter to build such a centre in Russia. There is a difference. Anyway, you need to prepare construction documents, which will take time and money. Let’s do this first. We will try to help you, at least at the initial stage, and then decide on our next moves and deadlines. Agreed?

Nikolai Tsukanov: Agreed.