Vladimir Putin supports the candidacy of Dmitriy Medvedev

17 December 2007, Moscow, Gostiniy Dvor.

The concluding session of the VIII Congress of the Edinaya Rossiya Party has taken place, at which party members put forward the candidacy of Dmitriy Anatolevich Medvedev, the first deputy prime minister of the government of the Russian Federation, for the post of President of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin, the current president of Russia, supported the candidacy of Dmitriy Medvedev:

V. V. Putin

Honoured Friends!

On November 23 the campaign began for the elections for the President of Russia. This is not a less important stage, but perhaps, rather, an even more important one in the political life of the country. As you know, last week consultations between a number of political parties took place regarding the candidate for the elections of the future president. And the initiator of the consultations was also Edinaya Rossiya. I will note that parties of various political directions participated in this process. And it is very important that a consensus was reached on a single candidate. This candidate was Dmitriy Anatolevich Medvedev. I consider this selection to be the most optimal. I am confident that Mr. Medvedev will admirably cope with the work involved at the highest position of the state. I say this not because I have worked together with Dmitriy Anatolevich Medvedev for more than 17 years. And not because over these years we have developed a truly good working relationship and a trustworthy personal relationship. It is not only this, but the fact that Dmitriy Anatolevich Medvedev is an exceptionally honest and decent person. Over these past years, working in various, very responsible sectors, which at first glance appeared absolutely neglected and intractable (and you know that he is the one who heads and directs the work of the national priority projects and demographic programme), Mr. Medvedev has transformed himself from a good lawyer and legal expert into an excellent, determined administrator with a way of thinking geared toward public service. I take full responsibility in saying that the chief priorities in his life are the interests of the state and its citizens. There is no shame and no fear involved in transferring the primary reins for the running of the country, the fate of Russia, into the hands of a person like this.

I propose that the congress of the Edinaya Rossiya Party put forward Dmitriy Anatolevich Medvedev as a candidate for the President of the country.

For Russian readers of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" series of books, this news is especially valued and important, since on 5 March 2007, when responding to questions posed to him in the course of an online conference, Dmitriy Medvedev expressed fervent support for the idea of creating Kin's Domains in the following article:

PRIORITY NATIONAL PROJECTS

The executive council under the President of the Russian Federation on
realization of the Priority National Projects and Demographic Policy

Online conference with Dmitriy Medvedev,

First Deputy Chairman of the Government

March 5, 2007

The website www.rost.ru, newspaper Izvestiya and Internet portal Yandex have organized an online conference with the First Deputy Chairman of the Government Dmitriy Medvedev.

This online conference took place in real time. It was broadcasted by TV channel "Vesti-24".

This is an abridged version of the online conference.

HOST: And what if people would like to spend this money like this. Rather a mysterious question about kin's domains here, one of the most popular. It has been asked by about 5000 Internet users in different forms. Maybe they have some sneaky way of doing it, but anyways, lots of people voted for this question. We have chosen the question of Alexander from Rostov. The housing problem will keep on growing, as you have put it. There is an alternative though - one storied Russia and the law, allowing each family to have 1 ha for living and construction. Are you familiar with such projects and what do you think about them? I am sure you know them.

Dmitry Medvedev

D. MEDVEDEV: Of course, I know them. Moreover, if you do not take into account some elements, related to how those questions take shape and what first, second and third level of sense they have, the whole idea of kin's domains as it has been worded here is positive in general. It is related to our idea of low-rise or one-storied Russia, which we are currently actively handling within the scope of the housing project. It was in the middle of the last year that we specifically took up this issue. It is obvious that in such a huge country as ours, with such huge territories, it does not make sense to concentrate only on small plots of land, even in megacities. It's much more useful both for health and the state to disperse on the territory of our large country.

The thing is that within the scope of this program, we have already prepared a draft of a special bill with our colleagues from the State Duma. These are the changes to the Housing Code. There must be a chapter there that will stimulate building low-rise housing. This kind of housing can be build, of course, near cities or in villages. The most important thing here is to create a set of motivations so that such building projects become interesting. And the national project has such motivations. In particular, there are certain amounts of money allotted for infrastructure and communication lines to those houses. There is also a special guarantee provided for that. Besides, the amount of about 3.5 bln roubles has been allotted to create a road network to such houses in order to develop such settlements.

Thus the idea of Kin's Domains in this regard is absolutely positive and it is related to the idea of low-rise construction. By the way, those processes are going quite well in some regions. Let's take, for example, the Belgorod oblast. I happened to drop by into one of the offices with the Governor. This office is in charge of registration of paperwork for the land and I was surprised in a good way by the price for land. Not too much, not one hectar yet. However, enough for building projects. They offered about 2500 sq.m, if I'm not mistaken. And the price for this land in today's Russia sounds almost "funny" - something around 10-15 thousand roubles ($300-$400 USD). So one can get such piece of land but on certain terms and conditions: within 5 years there must be a house build there. And for three years this house can't be sold not to allow any profiteering.

I think this is a good project worth a more careful examination. All the more so, all houses build in the Belgorod oblast are low-rises. These are not some kind superb huge and awesome cottages. These are just regular good solid houses made from different materials - brick, some new materials, wood. So I think we have certain experience and we must expand it. This is good for the state. And by the way, it is more pleasant to live out in the country than in a huge city.

HOST : And psychology is changing too.

MEDVEDEV: Yes, and psychology is changing too. People feel themselves in a completely different way. The thing is that no matter how comfortable and large your apartment in the city is, there is much more space in the country than in the city. So we'll work on it.

www.rost.ru, www.yandex.ru, www.izvestia.ru

Welcome to Slavnoe Ecovillage!

The ecovillage is located in the Yasnogorsk District of Tula Oblast, on the border of Moscow Oblast. The distance to Moscow is 110 km (from the Moscow Ring Road along the Simferopol Highway), and can be reached by car in an hour and a half. Several fields with an average area of more than 500 ha are located on a hilly elevation with a slightly marked south slope. The land has not been worked for more than 10 years, and in places has been overgrown with young birches and pines. There is a variety of meadow grasses, wild strawberries, and blackberry bushes, mushroom forests are all around. There are many brooks and springs all about, along the southern border of the village flows the picturesque Vosma River. This is a very quiet place. The local inhabitants include hawks, beavers, wild boar, and elk. No signs of civilization can be seen in almost any direction up to the very horizon. Details and our impressions can be found on the page Description of the land.

The number of lots planned is enough for 150-200 families. Registration is on the basis of property in a non-commercial partnership for each participant under a Peasant Farm Holding. The financing of the construction of roads and electrical power lines (in the future) is common. Come and visit! :)

WHO WE ARE

The initiative for the creation of the village belongs to a company of friends from the city of Pushchino in Moscow Oblast, who combined their efforts to search for land for kin's settlements and the further search for like-minded persons.

Now our group already numbers more than 150 families! It is composed of enterprising, independent, and responsible people. The majority of us live and work in Moscow, there are families from St. Petersburg, Murmansk, and Ulyanovsk. Warm and trusting relations have formed in the group. We value jokes and humour, they, after all, make problems easier to solve and bring the group together quickly.

In spirit we are pragmatic romantics :), who all too well understand that any fairy tale or dream can be realized only through the concrete, well thought-out actions of real people.

Contacts and meetings take place both in our fields as well as in Moscow. Apart from getting together at working meetings, from time to time we organize joint trips/excursions and other interesting and useful events (lectures, courses, and, we hope, soon, joint holidays). In the summer in the fields we not only visit each other, but also hold joint voluntary work days when a common task must be done for the village.

For a better appreciation of our group, we invite you to visit our Photo Gallery.

See the full gallery of the ecovillage.

Download a music video "Kapel'ka" [Waterdrop] by Alena Irina filmed in Slavnoe Ecovillage
Copyright "Antey" Studio 2007

http://www.slavnoe.ru/, http://sourceoflife.ca/

Back to Pristine Origins

The old Zhiguli automobile jauntily darted along the hilly, night road, the rare oncoming cars blinded us with their high beams and immediately switched to their low. Listening to the monotone of the engine, I recalled the day's trip from snow-covered Novosibirsk, where the Siberian cold reached -20C and the snow brought the city traffic to a halt, through Moscow to sunny Krasnodar, where the autumn flowers blazed with all their glory, birds were singing, the streets were covered in greenery, and the temperature of the air reached +20C and put us in a good mood.

Then I set off for Gelendzhik by bus, and had to take a taxi to reach the hotel located in the small mountain village of Pshada. One more turn and I was standing at the gates of a small, private hotel. I was met by the genial proprietors who helped me get settled in my room.

As I unpacked my things, I mentally planned the next day, first of all to ask the proprietor about the dolmens, how to reach them, and what I needed, get all the necessary items together, and onward, to the hilly summits, to new discoveries.

In the morning, after carefully looking around, I was convinced that the advertising leaflet did not lie, the hotel was indeed located in a quiet, beautiful spot at the outskirts of the village. A mountain stream flowed ten metres from the building, the air had a mountain freshness, there were wonderfully beautiful mountainous landscapes all around, and the rising sun filled the expanse with grandeur and joyfulness, which made the birds sing even more sweetly.

The leaflet also said that dolmens were located near the hotel. I asked the female proprietor about them at our first meeting. Lydia-that was her name-took pleasure in telling me the location of the nearby dolmens, to tell the truth, they were not far away. She also told me the history of my room, and it deserves attention.

The room was small and cozy, the ceiling and walls were panelled in natural wood, it had a double bed and a home-made, unprepossessing work table that was large and very convenient.

The room was embellished by its history. Valentina Novodarskaya, the translator and publisher of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" series of books into Czech stayed here and worked on the translation of the books. Sasha Son, the translator of the "Ringing Cedars of Russia" series of books into Korean also stayed here and also worked on the translations. So, my random choice brought me several pleasant surprises.

First Meeting

After breakfast I decided to go to the nearest dolmen.

Closer Dolmen - Left Bank, River Pshada

The rural, hilly road began immediately beside the hotel and led upwards, covered in the greenery of leafy groves. To tell the truth I had prepared myself for a long journey and out of habit became immersed in thought. In literally fifty metres I involuntarily raised my head and saw the dolmen.

The dolmen stood five metres away near the road, a massive stone structure about two metres in height, approximately the same in width, and about three and a half metres in length.

The dolmen was hewn from a solid stone and covered with a stone roof weighing several tons, the entire structure made an impression with its massiveness and something else elusive. I walked around the dolmen from the side and stopped in front of its facade, typically for dolmens the round opening was made in the lower half of the dolmen. I sat down on a bench beside the dolmen and with interest began to reflect on its origins.

I recalled an article that I had read in a magazine over breakfast. A certain scientist put forward a hypothesis about the origins of dolmens. I present this article below for your attention, I think it will be interesting for those who are interested in the opinions of modern scientists.

The oldest settlements known to us in the foothills of the Caucasus near the coast of the Black Sea are approximately 6000 years old. Their inhabitants made high-quality earthenware crockery, used the bow and arrow, sailed the sea on ships, and used spoons made of bone to eat. They made tools from stone, bone, and wood. Then the people also discovered copper.

Many centuries passed. In distant Egypt in 2600 BC, the pyramid of the pharaoh Cheops was being built, the largest pyramid of Ancient Egypt. It is difficult for a modern person to imagine how ancient people without modern technology were able to erect these colossal structures from stone blocks weighing many tons. The pyramids are considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Few people know that at the same time in the Northern Caucasus, local tribes were building no less amazing structures, dolmens, from huge slabs.

Dolmens are also found in the region of Novorossiysk. Their remains are preserved in the upper reaches of the Ozereyka River. At the end of the last century, there were dolmens near the village of Gayduk. In the '50s of the last century, the dolmens on Mount Gudzeva were broken up into stone, and about ten years later, during the deep plowing of vineyards, the dolmens in the upper reaches of the Dyurso River were demolished. Many dolmens have been preserved in the area of Abinsk-Gelendzhik-Tuapse.

The basic purpose of dolmens is that they were tombs, in which burials may have taken place repeatedly. One can also hypothesize a religious purpose for the dolmens.

The classical variant of the dolmen is a "house" made of four slabs - the walls and a roof. There may be slabs for the floor, buttressing supports, various extensions. The chamber of dolmens is of a trapezoidal or rectangular shape, rarely circular. Dolmens may be assembled from separate blocks or entirely hewn from a huge stone block.

The slabs are usually dressed, and are carefully fitted to each other. There are slots in the areas where the slabs are joined. Ornamentation has been carved on several tombs, the front slabs have images in relief.

Dolmens are positioned on the summits of mountain ridges, in valleys, on spurs of land singly, in small groups of several structures, in entire cities with dozens of structures. In the upper reaches of the Ozereyka River a study has been made of a complex of three dolmens that end in a tower in the shape of a parabola and are made up of enormous stones. A burial mound is often raised above dolmens. One of the walls of dolmens usually has an opening covered by a stone stopper. Dolmens contain ceramic pottery, stone and bronze tools, weapons, and ornaments. Tombs have been used for burial by many peoples, who prior to a burial have removed the remains of their predecessors from the dolmens. For that reason it is almost impossible to find a dolmen with an undisturbed early burial. Of course not all dead were buried in dolmens. Burials from that time in earth pits or in simpler tombs are also known. More distinguished members of society were buried in dolmens, some sort of ritual was performed alongside. And where did the people of those times live? In Myskhako, a study has been made of a settlement of the period of the construction of the dolmens. The finds allow us to make a judgment about the occupations and culture of the population.

Dolmens are known in the world from Britain to India. On the whole, they are found in countries that border on the sea.

Several theories exist about the origin of dolmens. It is thought that the idea of constructing dolmens came to the Northern Caucasus from the Mediterranean area. But at the present it is impossible to say definitely that in our area dolmens were initially built by settlers from the Mediterranean. It is possible that the idea of building dolmens was absorbed by local tribes and found a fertile ground in the local environment precisely at the time when the pyramids were being built in Egypt.

Dolmens are unique monuments of world culture.

A. Dmitriev, Research Assistant in the Department of Archeology
Theory and Reality

Later, after having been in many well-known and not so well-known areas where dolmens are located, I could not imagine how these semi-barbaric tribes, without roads, transportation, or technology, moved huge stone slabs weighing up to forty tons over dozens if not hundreds of kilometres, and not just anywhere, but to the tops of hills, which even trained hikers reach with difficulty.

And all this in order to bury the latest leader of a small tribe. Comparing the dates quoted in the article with number of dolmens-there are from 6000 to 10000 of them according to various sources, each year hundreds of discovered dolmens are added to this list, plus, according to various accounts, from 60% to 80% of dolmens were destroyed-it turns out that the mountain tribes did nothing from morning to night but drag stones weighing many tons into the hills at an accelerated pace.

Even if we take the minimum number of dolmens as 6000 and compare it with the interval of time indicated by the scientists of 1000 years, then it turns out that one dolmen was erected every two months. Here are your "barbarians," ladies and gentlemen! A good example of hard work, that's all.

And the fact that dolmens are distributed around the entire world, their location has been documented in the following countries-Russia, Denmark, Spain, South Korea, Malta, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, North Korea, Dutch Highlands, Carpathians, the Moldavian Codru (forests), India, Japan, China, Tibet, Sahara, Antarctica-scientists explain somehow completely unscientifically: "It is thought that the idea of constructing dolmens came to the Northern Caucasus from the Mediterranean area."

And who brought this idea to Tibet? Settlers from the Mediterranean as well?

Right-side Dolmen - The Ensamble of Three, River Zhene

Of course, one can theoretically work out how it all happened, since human fantasy is rich. But practically a number of questions arise for which scientists have no definite answer.

Somewhat later, as luck would have it, as if to reinforce my skepticism, I came across yet another article in a different magazine that described the attempt of scientists to transport dolmens.

In Abkhazia it was decided to move one of the dolmens to the grounds of the Sukhumi local history museum. They chose to move the smallest and lightest megalith from the area of Esheri. But the powerful construction crane alone could not cope with the dismantling of the site, another had to be added. The parts of the structure were delivered to Sukhumi only after a year, yet several more months were spent on assembly. But they did not succeed in restoring the dolmen to its original appearance, the builders were not able to place the stones so that all the projections fit into the slots. The megalith to this day stands in a half-dismantled state, with yawning cracks. "In order to put this 'puzzle' back together, it was necessary to move all the stones simultaneously-the four lying at the base and the roof. But how do you do that when each of them weighs several tons?" says Irodiy Kobaliya, who participated in these events. "The upper stone was lifted by the two cranes, and workers with ropes moved them from side to side. And what do to with the sides? You couldn't budge those giants with a crowbar! The boss was running around, cursing, getting angry, saying that the ancients built this without cranes, and we can't get it together. I just think that back then they didn't erect them by hand." And he is not alone in thinking this way.

Right-side Dolmen - The Ensamble of Three, Gaps formed after the reconstruction of the Dolmen.

I heard another story from the tour guide, alongside the dolmens located on the Zhena River. But this time I was able to behold the results of the scientists' work with my own eyes. The dolmen consists of small stone blocks, it was decided to show it at an exhibition at St. Petersburg. The slabs are not massive, as with the previous dolmen, but this time as well the scientists were helpless. Again they could not fit the stones in such a way as to avoid gaps.

The fate of this dolmen is noteworthy: it was brought back and assembled on the same place from which it was taken.

I saw the empty spaces between the blocks with my own eyes, these spaces symbolically pointing out the errors in the theories of our scientific theoreticians.