The President arrived at the venue near the bridge over the Volga, at kilometer 155 of the M-11 highway, in a domestic Lada Aura car.
Photo: kremlin.ru.
On Tuesday, July 16, at the opening ceremony of the Tver Northern Bypass, the last section of the M-11 Neva Highway, Vladimir Putin arrived, as they say, “alone.”
The President sat (by the way, with his seat belt on) in the driver’s seat and, intently watching the road, personally drove a black Lada Aura.
At the same time, he was having a quiet conversation with his interlocutor, who was sitting in the passenger seat. (Apparently, this is one of the road builders; we have not yet been able to find out his name or position.)
These unique images were published by the Kremlin Telegram channel. News. And Komsomolskaya Pravda stenographer Natalya Pavlova managed to decipher what the president was talking about with his traveling companion, although the audibility was not very good…
Putin:
– Tell me how are you…
Buddy:
– Things are going very well. It was difficult to build, but (the plans) were carried out…
Putin:
– Why is it difficult?
Buddy:
– It’s difficult, in terms of the fact that the deadlines have changed, let’s say, taking into account the new… deadlines, the project had to be completed exactly one year earlier. Which, in principle, we achieved.
Putin:
– Yeah, a year earlier, that’s great.
Buddy:
– Yes, the contract stipulated July 2025, and today is July 2024…
Putin:
– And because?
Buddy:
– On behalf of the organization. The professionalism of our management team, of the workers themselves – road builders…
And – considering what they were building – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, continuously, despite bad weather and climate conditions…
Putin:
– How many people were employed?
Buddy:
– In total, about two thousand people worked. These were direct-contracting organizations, and there were also about 60 subcontracting organizations…
… This is already in the third stage of the M-11, which was divided into two launch complexes.
We are now travelling to the second launch pad, which is now fully ready for launch.
Putin:
– To what extent will traffic between St. Petersburg and Moscow be reduced?
Buddy:
– Well, (abbreviation) – about an hour. Because on the M-10 stretch there are traffic lights, cameras… – (there) all this increases the time spent on the road…
Putin:
– Everything is fine with the lighting (in the evening and at night), right?
Buddy:
– Yes, completely – exterior lighting (prepared) for the 64 kilometers. You can notice that all the wiring is hidden, i.e. there is no cable in sight….
Putin:
– All went well?
Buddy:
– We tried…
