The Russian Prime Minister chaired a meeting in Tomsk on the situation in Russian regions affected by a heat wave in 2012 on August 6, 2012.
At the meeting, reports were presented by executives and senior officials of the Russian regions on the wildfire situation and the measures being taken to bring it under control.
Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, jointly with the federal executive bodies concerned, and with the participation of the executive bodies of the Russian regions, to prepare and submit to the Russian government before October 1, 2012 proposals on improving the plans for putting out forest fires and on making those who use forests more responsible for fire safety of the forests and for violating fire safety regulations. The Federal Agency for Forestry has been instructed to intensify supervision of the implementation of powers by the regional executive bodies (delegated to them from the federal level) to observe fire safety measures and put out forest fires, to exercise fire monitoring of forests and to punish the persons guilty of causing forest fires.
The heads of the top executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation shall take under personal review the fulfillment of the instructions of the Russian government (No. DM-P9-4524) following the conference call "On the Situation in the Regions of the Russian Federation Exposed to Anomalously High Temperatures in 2012" held on July 27, 2012, with particular attention to stepping up preventative work with the population to encourage people to comply with fire safety rules and with the special anti-fire regime and the emergency situation regime in the forests. The results are to be reported by November 5, 2012 to the Ministry of Natural Resources. The heads of the regions of the Russian Federation shall also prepare and submit to the government of the Russian Federation properly validated proposals on making available additional manpower and equipment to prevent and put out forest fires.
The Prime Minister has instructed the Emergencies Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Finance Ministry, jointly with executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation, to continue the work to provide the communities bordering on tracts of forest with water tank vehicles, which should be taken out of long-term storage at the Defence Ministry and re-equipped for fire extinguishing purposes.
The Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Transport Ministry, in collaboration with the Federal Agency for Forestry and the oil processing companies, are to study the issue of organising the production of fuel for AN-2 planes that are actively used to put out fires, and to report the results to the government of the Russian Federation before October 15, 2012.
As part of his working trip to the Siberian Federal District on August 7, 2012 in the city of Novosibirsk, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting "On the Development of Regional Air Passenger Carriage."
The background to this issue was provided in the report by Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. Based on the results of the discussion, Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Transport Ministry to develop and submit for approval to the Government Commission for Transport and Communications, before September 5, 2012, a roadmap for the development of regional air carriage, and by November 7, 2012, to organise research of the market of regional air carriage and submit to the government a nationwide model of the routes of regional air carriage as well as a forecast of the need for aircraft for regional air carriage.
Based on the results of the meeting in Novosibirsk, Dmitry Medvedev also issued certain instructions concerning pressing problems of the aviation industry. Specifically, the Transport Ministry, jointly with the federal executive bodies concerned and the executive bodies of the regions of the Russian Federation, are to continue work to create federal government enterprises on the basis of the airports located in the regions of the Far North and areas equated to them, and submit to the government of the Russian Federation, before October 5, 2012, proposals on the integration of the newly-created federal government enterprises within federal districts.
The Transport Ministry has been given until November 25, 2012 to simplify the procedure of certification of regional airports with a low intensity of flights and to enable the airports to meet certification requirements in collaboration with the relevant services under the jurisdiction of the regions of the Russian Federation and municipal entities.
The Transport Ministry will prepare and submit to the government of the Russian Federation, by October 20, 2012, proposals on improving the mechanism of subsidising regional air carriage, lifting restrictions based on the age of passengers, the season and the procedure of forming the list of subsidised routes, taking into account the proposals of the regions of the Russian Federation.
The Finance Ministry, the Transport Ministry, and the Ministry of Economic Development have been given two weeks to analyse and submit the agreed upon proposals on establishing a zero VAT rate in domestic air carriage.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Transport Ministry shall prepare, jointly with the air companies, by October 1, 2012, proposals on preferred projects of building aircraft for regional and local air carriage of passengers and on measures of state support of such projects.