Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inspected residential housing for miners, who talked to him in Novokuznetsk, at their invitation.

Mr Putin visited a rundown apartment block that was built in the 1940s; this is where Yevgeny Denk, an assembly worker at a local mine, his wife and their son and daughter live.

Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev also visited the Denk family and told the miner that the federal budget would allocate 6 billion roubles for resettling the tenants of rundown and high-risk residential buildings under two programmes throughout 2009.

"There will be a new life and a new quality of life after the people receive housing," Mr Putin said.

After leaving the house, Mr Putin noticed a little boy waving to him from a second-storey window. Mr Putin was told that the boy, whose name was Vitaly Maslov, suffered from cerebral palsy. He then went up to the second floor and had a chat with the youngster.

Mr Putin then went to see new housing complexes being received by Novokuznetsk residents under a programme to resettle tenants of high-risk apartments.

Prime Minister Putin arrived there together with new tenants, including the family of Yevgeny Denk, moving into a three-room apartment in Novokuznetsk's new residential area with a complete set-up in social infrastructure.

Mr Putin and Mr Tuleyev presented a television set and a washing machine to the Denk family.

While inspecting the new apartment, Mr Putin ordered the relevant officials to simplify the mechanism for commissioning new apartment houses. "Please submit the relevant proposals to me," Mr Putin told Minister of Regional Development Viktor Basargin.

Mr Putin said, "many options are possible, but this obviously has to be done."