(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted an eight-year-old girl at the Kremlin on Tuesday and asked her to join him in calling the finance minister to demand a budget allocation for her home state .
The Kremlin released video of Putin welcoming girl Raisat Akipova, the latest in a string of appearances since a brief armed mutiny last month, The videos seem designed to show his care, concern and concern.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was at first confused by the call and did not respond to the girl’s greeting, but quickly agreed to provide additional funding for her home region in southern Russia. funds.
“Excellent!” Putin responded, before telling the girl: “We have prepared 5 billion rubles for Dagestan” – the equivalent of $600,000.
Putin laughed that he was very funny during the conversation, and together with Lysat he made a similar call to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Prompted by the president, the girl thanked Siluanov with a bouquet of flowers.
This visit is a continuation of Putin’s visit to Dagestan last week, when he was unusually mixed with a large group
The Kremlin cited this as evidence of the president’s “shocking” support in Russian society, days after a brief defection by Wagner’s mercenary group led him to warn of the risk of civil war in Russia.
Putin told Lessat that he invited her to Moscow with her parents because he was “distraught” after seeing pictures of her in tears. Failed to meet him during his trip to Dagestan.
