MOSCOW, August 31 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is leaving on another lengthy tour of Russia that will take him to the Urals, the Far East and Siberia, the Kremlin press service reported.
His first stop will be in Chelyabinsk, a city in South Urals. Putin who is a great judo fan will attend the closing ceremony of the Judo World Championship 2014 on Sunday. The competitions have brought together 639 athletes from 120 countries.
On September 1, which Russia marks as Day of Knowledge, Putin will arrive in Yakutsk, the capital city of the Sakha Republic located about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. He will meet the students and professors of the North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov.
Putin will also discuss state support for priority investment projects and territories of advanced development in the Far East at a meeting with the heads of the federal ministries, regional administrations and major companies, the Kremlin press service went on to say.
The same day, on Monday, Putin will attend a ceremony of connecting the first stage of the Force of Siberia gas pipeline that will be used to supply gas both to the domestic market and China.
Chita-Khabarovsk road
After Yakutsk, Putin will move to Russia’s Amur region to inspect the Chita-Khabarovsk road (Amur) which has been under construction since 1978. The first 20 years of construction from 1978 to 1998 were not inefficient (only 25% of planned works were finished) but the process perked up significantly in 2002. The Chita-Khabarovsk highway was finished in 2010.
Vladimir Putin who was then the Russian prime minister took a historic ride on it in a yellow Lada-Kalina car. He covered 2,165 kilometers in four days. After the car run, Putin said that about a quarter of the road had to be renovated. One of the road’s worst sections was located exactly in the Amur region near the city of Blagoveshchensk.
Vostochny space launch facility
Putin will visit another vital construction site in the Amur region - the Vostochny space launch facility located near the town of Uglegorsk. The first launches are to start in 2015.
The construction of launching facilities for the Angara rocket will get under way in 2016. Manned spaceships will be able to lift off from Vostochny as of 2018. The construction is expected to be finished by 2020.
Putin will finish his trip in Gorno-Altaisk, the Siberian Autonomous District, where he will discuss the liquidation of flood consequences in Russian regions at a meeting with regional officials.