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Vladimir Putin may visit the Nizhny Novgorod region in the near future, three Vedomosti interlocutors close to the presidential administration said. According to one of them, the opening of the fourth section of the M12 highway (Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan) in Arzamas may become the main point of the public program of the trip. This route is part of the federal project “Construction of highways of the international transport corridor Europe – Western China. The site should unload one of the most busy directions in the country – the M7 federal road and provide faster auto communication between the Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk regions, Tatarstan, Bashkiria and Chuvashia.

The route will become part of the West-East route and will contribute to the expansion of trade channels with Asian countries, the government reported on February 13, 2023. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said then that in the future the route would be extended to Yekaterinburg and Tyumen. He promised that traffic to Kazan would be opened by the end of 2023. Currently, 107 km of the route from Moscow to the Vladimir Region has been opened, and it is planned to open another 308 km. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that a section of the road to Tatarstan should be opened in December.

Now it is important to show that the state continues to implement major infrastructure projects, Konstantin Kostin, head of the Civil Society Development Fund, told Vedomosti. “The president was at the opening of such projects in Moscow, now Nizhny Novgorod,” he points out. – This is an important signal for citizens, and for economic entities, and for foreign partners. If we talk about the turn to the East, then it is obvious that a qualitatively different level of transport and logistics infrastructure is needed, which will make it possible to use the potential of the eastern markets for the Russian economy. This route, of course, is one of the projects that should solve this problem.”

According to Vedomosti sources, the head of state’s program of work in the region may not be limited to the opening of the route. In particular, two of them say that the president’s visit to the closed administrative-territorial unit (ZATO) Sarov (formerly Kremlev, Arzamas-75 and Arzamas-16) is being discussed. It is known both as the location of the Sarov Desert, which was founded in 1706, and as a place for the development of the Soviet nuclear bomb. “This is a cultural and engineering center,” one of the sources notes.

Rosatom is responsible for such ZATOs. State corporation from 2005 to 2016. headed by the current first deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko, who began his career in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The last time Putin visited the region was on August 21, 2021, before the parliamentary elections. There he took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the city, visited the reconstructed Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin. Then he also held a working meeting with Governor Gleb Nikitin.

The last time the president met with him was on May 3, 2023 in Novo-Ogaryovo, then they discussed the socio-economic development of the region. Vedomosti sources say that the meeting of high-ranking guests and governors can be called a tradition. Such a visit may mean confirmation of the governor’s position as one of the heads of the “non-capital” regions most supported by Moscow, Mikhail Vinogradov, president of the Petersburg Politics Foundation, believes.

Governor elections will be held in the Nizhny Novgorod region from 8 to 10 September. In addition to Nikitin (United Russia), who is running for re-election, Vladislav Egorov (KPRF), Vladislav Atmakhov (LDPR), Alexander Bykov (Pensioners’ Party) and Ilya Pomerantsev (Civil Force) are participating in the elections.

Vedomosti sent a request to Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.

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2023-09-06 22:36:00