Gustov Vadim Anatolyevich was born on December 26, 1948 in a peasant family in the Vladimir region. Graduated from the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Moscow Geological Exploration Institute. In 1990, he graduated from the Kashnin Leningrad Polytechnic Institute with a degree in State Construction.

For seven years, he worked as a foreman, shift supervisor, and head of a large site at the Uchkuduk uranium mines in Uzbekistan Since 1977-mining foreman, head of the site at the mine of the Phosphorite production association (Kingesepp). And' 19 "' 8-1991-at the party-Soviet work in Kingesepp. 1991-1993-Chairman of the Leningrad Regional Council of People's Deputies. 1994-1996-Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs of the Federation Council of Russia. 1996 - General Director of the Development Assistance Humanitarian Foundation) CIS and President of the Union "North-Western Consent". Since October 3, 1996-Governor-Chairman of the Government of the Leningrad Region, member of the Federation Council of Russia.

On September 18, 1998, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.

Married. Has two sons.

Vadim Anatolyevich Gustoe agreed to become First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation at a very difficult time - in the midst of the August-September crisis, when the newly formed Cabinet of Ministers did not yet have a program to get the country out of it. It was a time when the brightest minds of the domestic economy and finance refrained from making forecasts, and the swirl of prices and the dollar exchange rate, the panic at the counters, seemed to confirm the darkest predictions of the press. But Gustoe still agreed, despite the fact that the prospects in the governor's field of activity were incomparably more favorable than at the federal helm. Moreover, the policy of the regional leader has already begun to bring visible results. During the governorship of Gustov, the decline in production in the Leningrad region was stopped, and in a number of industries - electric power, chemical, petrochemical, food, fuel - growth began. In agriculture of the region, the volume of gross output increased by 15 percent. The governor's idea of building new Russian ports on the Baltic Sea began to take on blood and flesh. The economic recovery led to a decrease in unemployment, an increase in household incomes, and stabilization of the labor market. Investments went to the region. Such world-famous companies as Caterpillar and Philip Morris have started creating their own production facilities. And there are new contracts ahead. Schools and medical institutions are being built. 300 thousand square meters of housing were built. Public utilities are being developed and modernized. In short, in the north - west of our country, the processes that Russians could only dream of in many other regions have come true.

The presidential decree appointing Gustov was signed at a time when the strategic directions of the federal government's anti-crisis program were made public. This includes the development of the Russian economy through the growth of domestic industry, the turn of reforms towards social transformations, which should contribute to the growth of the population's well-being. In other words, the country has begun to turn back to the path that Governor Gustoe stubbornly led the Leningrad Region for about two years.

About Vadim Anatolyevich, his administrative and economic experience and style of work, the real results of almost two years of activity, we knew not only from the words of third-party specialists. In the recent past, Reserve Colonel Arkady Bely, a post-correspondent of Orientir for the Leningrad Region, worked on this topic on behalf of the editorial board. His interview with the regional leader was ready for publication by the time the Decree appointing Gustov first Deputy Prime Minister was published. In our opinion, the relevance of the material has not only not decreased, but also increased, since the problems raised go far beyond the regional framework. And I want to believe that the processes that are gaining momentum in the north-west of the country, like the sun in a drop of water, will reflect our all-Russian tomorrow.

A month and a half after receiving the gubernatorial certificate, Vadim Gustoe at a meeting with the then Chairman of the Government of the country Viktor Chernomyrdin said:: "The revival of Russia will begin with the Leningrad region ." And convincingly, relying on the logic of economic expediency, he proved to the interested prime Minister that the geopolitical risks of the Russian Federation are not the same.

The country's interests are located here, in the north-west, where the general education and professional level of the population in recent decades has been higher than in other regions of the Soviet Union, and relations with the market economy of the West were established much earlier. And the key task at the same time - since the memorable times of Peter the Great - is ports. The two sea and river ports currently operating in the region with a total cargo turnover of seven and a half million tons per year do not meet the sharply increased needs of counter - West - CIS - Russia cargo traffic. It is urgent, Gustoe argued, to include in the federal program financing for the construction of three new ports in the Baltic Sea - oil, coal and general cargo processing.

Construction of the first port in Battery Bay began three months after the meeting with the Prime Minister.

- Vadim Anatolyevich, at your meeting with Viktor Chernomyrdin, you said that the construction of new ports will allow to replenish the budgets of all levels by $ 150 million annually. Is it real?

"Quite. For example, such a powerful local structure as Kirishinefteorgsintez delivered ten million tons of oil products abroad through the ports of the Baltic States last year. Without its own ports and infrastructure, Russia pays $ 13-15 per ton for transshipment. But if you sell 15 million tons through your own terminals, the profit from each ton will be ten dollars. That's where the 150 million dollars come in. In addition, today Russian exporters ship 25 million tons of coal abroad and pay $ 24 million annually for shipment to the same Baltic countries. With the berths of only one new port - Ust-Luga-you can really save millions of dollars on the distillation of this amount of coal.

- Tell me, please, and the port in Battery Bay? Funding is tight there...

- It can be built without Western creditors. We already have an agreement with the federal government. Funds received from Surgut oil sold abroad will be used for the construction of the port. Do you think it is unprofitable to trade raw materials? In principle, yes. But in this case, it is profitable, since the payback period of the port will be only two years.

One hundred and forty-five years ago ,the "General Instruction to Governors-General" was approved in the highest possible way, paragraph 17 of which read:: "In agriculture, following the fundamental conviction that agriculture is the most important and most solid foundation of the people's wealth, the Governor-General takes every opportunity to indicate true and direct ways to develop and improve agriculture in all its various and diverse branches, patronizing, encouraging and approving all enterprises that are useful in this respect." This document is also interesting because it was born in the so-called backward era of the reign of Nicholas I, who, in the words of the historian Klyuchevsky, "set himself the task of not changing anything." Unlike the conservative emperor, Gustoe, on the contrary, set out to change everything in his own way, or rather, to bring it to common sense.

- Vadim Anatolyevich, a year before your election as governor, the share of farms in the total volume of agricultural enterprises in the region last year was slightly more than one percent for milk, more than two percent for meat, and a little more than three percent for potatoes. What does a farmer need today to make his contribution more significant?

- Farmers should be supported and taught how to manage the land. Help create recycling facilities. This is the main thing. But here's the deal: six and a half thousand farms in the Leningrad region have land documents. And three hundred of them actually work.

"And who's to blame for that?"

- Those who once again deceived people. The state promised to give preferential loans to farmers, lifting loans for each family member, and create infrastructure. Thousands of people rushed to get the land, especially the townspeople, who had neither the means, nor the knowledge, nor the skills. Needless to say, the starting conditions for farmers were difficult. I remember that only two farms out of every hundred had their own homes, and twenty percent of the farm space was empty and uninhabited. Now target programs have been created in several versions, and the amount of support from the state and local budgets has been determined. Systems of cooperation between farmers, agricultural services, processing and marketing of products are being developed. The peculiarities of each district and its specifics are taken into account...

- Problems not only with farmers?

- It is necessary to revive the entire agriculture of the region. And not tomorrow, but the laying of a new port in Battery Bay today. We take from our land a tenth of what our neighbors-Scandinavian farmers-get.

Three days of cabinet life is torture for the governor. In the last year alone, he has toured the region countless times. I went to thoroughly understand the economy of districts and individual cities, where there are only one or two factories or combines that determine the entire "weather": the local budget, employment, and the social sphere. Having found out, he plans, together with the municipal authorities and the management of enterprises, ways out of the crisis within the framework of regional programs, including the program "Development of Small Towns". These trips, new meetings and impressions not only feed him with ideas, ideas, and energy, but also help him check out programs that are already working and monitor the progress of their implementation.

- Vadim Anatolyevich, you have visited Volkhov. They say the mayor of this city is the real boss...

"Not the master, but the mistress. Nonna Mikhailovna Volchkova. The only female mayor in the region who became one for the second time. She won the last election for four men. Volkhov has a well-organized system of local self-government. During the first term of Volchkova's leadership, a fourth of two thousand communal apartments remained in the city, and now every third family has a separate apartment. There are 19.3 meters for each Volkhov resident, while in Russia it is planned to reach 18 meters per person only by 2000. Finally, in Volkhov, unlike, say, St. Petersburg, from the first day of entry into force, the Law "On Veterans"is in force. At the expense of the city budget.

- Are there any unresolved problems in Volkhov?

"Unfortunately, yes. That's why I went there. I was concerned, for example, about the aluminum plant, the first-born of the domestic aluminum industry, which was not spared by all-Russian troubles: a decline in production, environmental pollution, and a delay in tax payments to the treasury. This has affected the city, salaries, pensions, and child benefits. We worked with the General Director and the mayor on everything from the reconstruction of outdated production facilities to contracts with foreign firms.

- Not everything is fine in Sosnovy Bor, especially at the Leningrad NPP...

- Out of 432 nuclear power plants in the world, LNPP is, according to foreign experts, one of the best and most modern-it has accumulated many technical ideas and has unique equipment. LNPP became the first-born of a new generation of nuclear fuel plants with a high-power reactor - 400 times more than the capacity of the first Soviet nuclear power plant in Obninsk. While preparing the economic block of my pre-election program, I analyzed in detail the state of the region's energy sector. The fact is that the north-west is an energy - surplus region, and in the Leningrad power system itself, electricity production exceeds its consumption. While adjacent power systems-Karelian, Novgorod and Pskov-receive electricity from their own sources for less than 50 percent (and in Russia as a whole, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people suffer from a lack of light and heat). In addition, the proximity of European countries allows the Leningrad power System to count on participation in major international projects - the Baltic Ring and the East-West Energy Bridge. The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was given the highest priority in all this. But the program is one thing, and life is somewhat different. Economic troubles were already knocking on the doors of LNPP. Deadlines for work on two of the four blocks that were put up for reconstruction were disrupted. Several times the nuclear power plant was on the verge of shutting down due to lack of fuel. There is only one reason - LNPP went on a starvation ration, owed suppliers and the treasury a huge amount, as it was not paid for the generated electricity by the Moscow monopoly RAO UES of Russia. But even against this background, it looked wild and completely unacceptable that for the same reason - a chronic delay in wages - employees of the nuclear power plant's shift staff went on a warning strike and hunger strike. Did the lessons of Chernobyl teach Russia nothing? And then we decided to hold a joint meeting of the governments of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region directly in Sosnovy Bor.

- The press called it "a turning point for the entire economy of the region."..

- This meeting was not easy, stormy, but extremely important for the life of two subjects of the Federation - a city of five million people and a densely populated region. As a result, we made an unexpected decision: to create a single regional wholesale energy market - a North-Western energy company that can get rid of the dictates of the monopolist. In addition, Sosnovy Bor is home to the A. P. Alexandrov Research Institute, which is creating the first and so far only power unit in the world with a new generation case-type reactor-VVER-640. Behind this seemingly unremarkable abbreviation is a technological novelty of modern reactor construction. Its multiple internal and external protection can be safely called a super standard of international security requirements. Yes, the new power unit is not cheap, and the budgets of the city and region alone will not be able to pull it. Therefore, in addition to the support of the federal government, the main source of funding should be sought in extra-budgetary investments. It is already clear that VVER - 640 will be installed not only here, but also at the Kola and Khabarovsk NPPs. China and other countries became interested in it. This means selling high technologies that generate big revenues not only in the North-West, but also in Russia as a whole.

- Vadim Anatolyevich, a wonderful Siberian writer Valentin Rasputin once told during a meeting that prisoners, after reading his story about the village "The Last Term" in the colony, were disappointed with it, as they reported to the author in a letter. It turns out that they thought that this book, judging by the title, was written about them. When I listen on television to some economists who claim that reforms are not only progressing, but are already making progress, I can't help but think of this incident. The country is reeling from a ferocious crisis, from widespread non-payments, and indefatigable reformers see in everything that happens only what they want to see. Isn't your groundbreaking program facing the same sad fate?

- Have you probably heard the wish: "I wish you to live in the period of perestroika!"? Of course, in a year or two, the situation in the economy of a single region will not radically change. But our program is balanced, it is thought out literally to each key object in each district. All its main directions are scientifically verified. The immediate task, as I have repeatedly said, is to launch five or six major enterprises so that they can pay taxes, stop the decline in production and achieve 2-3 percent of its growth. And, of course, get the right amount of investment.

Of the foreign investments planned by the previous administration, ten times less was actually received. The situation needed to be reversed, and we did it.

- Wasn't this also the subject of your trip to the United States as part of the Gore - Chernomyrdin Commission, of which you are a member, and then to Sweden during Boris Yeltsin's visit there?

"And these meetings, too. An international investment symposium was held in Boston, where I spoke. But this is just a touch in the investment policy of the region. The priority of our foreign economic relations is traditional, first of all, in cooperation with Scandinavia. And after that-Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and other European countries. As a rule, we deal not with medium-sized or small firms and enterprises, but with the largest corporations with world-famous names. At the same time, the regional government acts as a guarantor of reliability when signing contracts.

- And cooperation with the CIS republics?

- Agreements have been signed with Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Belarus. In addition, we have economic agreements with a large part of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which, as they say, are tied to the Leningrad Region. We are trying to balance these relations: in the past years, the region imported more than it sold.

- Vadim Anatolyevich, in the near future, as part of the military reform in the north-west of Russia, a large reduction in the number of military personnel of the army and navy will take place. There are many military camps in the region, and about three and a half thousand families of reserve officers do not have apartments.

- This task is extremely important. And it has always been difficult for Russia. Since the time of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich, who sent retired archers and service people to feed in monasteries. Even Nicholas I, helpless because of the stagnation of his own bureaucracy, after the Crimean War, which was most difficult for Russia, tirelessly demanded that the governors-general protect the retired military officials who lived in their regions. And God himself told us to help them. How? The most realistic thing today is to develop complex development areas for former military personnel, where they can be provided with housing and jobs. In addition, military towns that are being vacated due to the reduction of the army will be taken on the balance of the region. It is necessary to avoid extinct zones, unnecessary houses, abandoned to the fate of people. Otherwise, a social explosion is inevitable. This year we intend to build eighty houses with 600-700 apartments for reserve officers. Yes, there is no money yet. But we are looking for them, trying to earn money. And we will definitely start construction. So that people believe in the power they have chosen.

...The government should be inconspicuous, unobtrusive, its main meaning is to do everything so that a person can live his life, his world, and his family without danger, without need, and without everyday hassle. Today, implementing the credit of trust of voters, we need to work. Thoughtfully, creatively, and without sparing any effort...

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