OREANDA-NEWS. March 01, 2012. Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues. You know about the tragedy in Astrakhan. Mr Zubkov (Viktor Zubkov) and I went there and set up a government commission. On February 27, there was an explosion in a block of flats: there are dead and injured. We must do everything in our power to help the people. We saw a house, a block of flats, where the building’s residents could be relocated. It is in a new residential development and it is nearly completed. Today we will take a decision on allocating 350 million roubles for relocating these people. Further 36 million roubles will be allocated as financial aid to the injured and the families of the dead. I will remind you these figures: the families of the dead will get 1 million roubles for each person who has been killed; every person with serious injuries will receive 400,000 roubles; every person with light injuries will get 200,000 roubles; the property which has been destroyed completely will be compensated with 100,000 roubles, and the property which has been partially lost will be compensated with 50,000 roubles per person. And in addition, each person will receive a lump sum of up to 10,000 roubles, but no more than 50,000 roubles per family. I ask you to work on this quickly and tackle all these problems jointly with the leadership of the Astrakhan Region. There are families with many children, so I ask you to pay special attention to them. We discussed these issues with the governor, he knows this, but I ask you, Mr Zubkov, to keep this under your personal control.

Please say a few words on what is happening there.

Viktor Zubkov: Mr Putin, colleagues, the government commission created following per your directive is actively working on these issues. You have already said that the decision to be taken today on Astrakhan will take into account all instructions that you made during the teleconference on Monday and on February 28 in Astrakhan. It will make it possible to provide new flats in the new residential blocks to the residents of 124 flats. To date, the relocation certificates have been issued to 121 families, and 34 families have already moved into their new homes.