MOSCOW, December 20 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Vladimir Putin is satisfied with the work of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his government.
“In general, I am satisfied with the work of the prime minister and his government, but I would like to note that the current prime minister, head of government was Russia’s head of state for four years,” Putin said on Thursday at his big news conference. “You know, it is an enormous responsibility, a colossal experience, and I am sure Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev] will use it at his new post. I know it only too well how difficult this job is. It implies direct responsibility for decision-making.”
“And this responsibility is quite tangible: you take a decision, sign it and it is immediately followed by consequences, either positive or negative. In any way, they are felt immediately,” he said.
“As concerns recent resignations, there have been not that many of them,” the president noted. “Well, I gave admonition to three ministers. Why I have done it only now? You know, first, the situation in the country has changed. And now we have to solve chronic but very important problems, first of all, in the social sphere. We are speaking about raising wages, and so on.”
“People in the government are very experienced, many of them have been working at ministries for years, although not at top positions. Some might thinks they know everything inside out, but we must bring home to people that we are colleague who have been working hand in hand for years, that there should be no gap between what was set forth as top-priority and medium-term economic and social tasks during the presidential election campaign and what the government is doing now,” Putin stressed. “They must work to accomplish these tasks. The country is waiting for actual results.”
Speaking about the work of the president and the government, Putin said, “We must work as a single efficient team, otherwise there will be no result. It people should realize it.”