Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in event celebrating 30th anniversary of Gazprom

Shorthand record

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, esteemed colleagues!

Alexey Miller: Good afternoon, Mr. President!

Vladimir Putin: Hello! Are you cold, Mr. Miller?

Alexey Miller: Actually, no.

Vladimir Putin: Is it chilly there? What is the air temperature now?

Alexey Miller: The air temperature is about minus 5 degrees Celsius. There is wind blowing from the gulf.

Vladimir Putin: I see.

Today, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of our world-famous company, Gazprom. It is one of Russia's largest and major companies and a global leader in terms of natural gas reserves, production and supplies.

I am pleased to congratulate all of you, all employees of Gazprom on this remarkable date, extending my congratulations to the Company's entire staff, which is nearly half a million (over 490,000) people: workers, engineers, geologists, drillers, builders, and representatives of dozens of other professions, who are truly top specialists and the pride of the whole country.

And, of course, our warmest words and kindest wishes on this date are for the veterans of the domestic gas industry. It was they who founded the industry's traditions, started the development of the richest and unique fields, built entire new cities and towns, and laid energy routes of global significance.

Gazprom as an independent company was created during a difficult period of Russia's history – in the early 1990s – and the decision to preserve the Company's unified undivided complex proved to be strategically correct. As Gazprom was developing, it caused the development of and provided support to many other industries, entire regions and their social sectors, and thus became one of the driving forces for economic recovery and growth.

Today, Gazprom performs its work with a high degree of responsibility, efficiency and sustainability. Despite – let us put it straight – unfair competition, direct attempts to externally interfere with the development of Gazprom and undermine it, the Company is moving forward and launches new projects. And they include geological exploration, production, advanced processing of feedstock, and the participation in the construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway and other transport infrastructure.

I would also like to highlight that the Company employs the services of the domestic high-tech businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises and young research teams.

And, of course, according to its established long-standing tradition, Gazprom pays special attention to the implementation of much-needed social and humanitarian projects: it supports culture, education, important environmental programs; builds residential houses and schools; helps equip hospitals and deliver urban improvements to streets, embankments and parks.

For instance, under the Gazprom for Children project alone, more than 2,000 sports complexes, sports grounds and school stadiums have already been built across the country. And, as far as I remember, Gazprom has been running this program roughly since 2007; Mr. Miller will correct me if I am wrong.

Gazprom makes considerable investments into the comprehensive development of the cities, rural areas and regions of Russia; of course, this is the right thing to do. I would like to thank the management, the shareholders and all employees of the Company for these efforts.

I would also like to note that the promising plans of Gazprom are always forward-looking and designed to account for years and even decades to come – it is clear that the implementation cycle of your projects is quite long – and this fully meets the national interests, goals and priorities of Russia as a big power and a sovereign center in a multipolar world.

The specific tasks and the new projects of Gazprom are elaborated on the basis of a detailed expert analysis and forecast of changes and trends that are being observed in global markets. And they indicate that gas has been and will for a very long time remain an invaluable resource and a real asset the demand for which will only continue to grow.

For instance, global gas consumption almost doubled in the previous 30 years, and, according to experts, will increase by at least 20 per cent or even more in the next 20 years. The demand during the so-called transition period will be tremendous. It has to be noted that over a half of such increase in demand will be generated by the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and first of all, of course, by the People's Republic of China, considering the growth rates of its economy.

In this connection, it is further development of the huge gas industry complex already created in the east of our country that gains true strategic importance for Russia. The complex includes the Yakutia and Irkutsk gas production centers, the Amur Gas Processing Plant which is under construction, and the Power of Siberia gas trunkline which received new capacities with the launch of the Kovyktinskoye gas and condensate field in December last year.

In general, Gazprom is currently facing large-scale complicated tasks in the sphere of international cooperation and export contracts. These tasks are connected with the rearrangement of transportation routes and the securing of the Company's position in new markets. As recently as yesterday, Mr. Miller and I discussed all these plans with our potential partners, and I think the discussion took as long as about two hours.

But I would like to stress that, while we recognize the importance of international trade, the main thing for us is to pursue our own development, ensure strong sustained economic growth and economic security of our country and provide uninterrupted supplies to our enterprises and regions. And, of course, to improve the living standards of people across Russia.

I consider the broadened program of social gas infrastructure expansion to be one of the most significant and important projects of Gazprom; under this program, gas pipelines are laid up to the boundaries of citizens' land plots at no cost to the population. This year, the program became open-ended. Moreover, it now covers not only residential houses, but also socially significant facilities, as well as educational institutions and healthcare facilities.

It is to be reminded that additional support is provided in this regard to certain categories of individuals, including large families and war veterans. I am referring to the subsidies people can receive to have the required works performed and purchase gas equipment for their houses. Funds from the Federal Budget have been allocated for these purposes, and I ask you to constantly monitor the progress of this work.

During this event today, we are going to have a number of live links with Gazprom's facilities located in different regions of Russia, from the Baltic Sea to the Far East.

But first of all, I would like once again to congratulate Gazprom's employees on the anniversary of the Company, as well as to thank you for the excellent work you perform for the benefit of our citizens and our entire huge country and wish you new achievements!

I now pass the floor to Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

The floor is yours, Mr. Miller.

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, we are in the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg.

The Lakhta Center houses the headquarters of Gazprom. From this place, we perform process management over the entire national Unified Gas Supply System, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Kaliningrad. We work in all time zones. And in the autumn/winter period, when it can be very cold and severe frosts hit, Gazprom reliably and steadily provides uninterrupted gas supplies to its consumers, i.e. to power generation enterprises, industrial facilities and, of course, the population.

Gazprom implements unique projects. These unique projects shape Russia's gas industry of the 21st century. Today, Gazprom is a leader in the global energy market and Russia's largest company, which completely covers the energy supply needs of the central regions of the country and provides our consumers not only with gas, but also with electricity and heat.

We have gained a unique experience of work in the Arctic. We have accumulated our own competencies, practices and knowledge. And Gazprom has created a new Yamal gas production center. The pre-development of new large fields intended for producing hydrocarbons is currently underway. And we can say with all responsibility that Russia is far ahead of the rest of the world as regards the work done in the Arctic. Russia holds the leadership in the Arctic!

We are successfully working in eastern Russia. Mr. President, just recently, you gave the command to launch the Kovyktinskoye field and the second phase of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. The entire length of Power of Siberia – more than 3,000 kilometers – is in operation now.

Eastern Siberia's largest fields – Kovyktinskoye and Chayandinskoye – have the reserves of multi-component gas. This means that we are now building the Amur Gas Processing Plant to supply products to the gas chemical industry.

Gazprom is developing trunkline transmission of gas across all regions of Russia. We are currently preparing for the commencement of such projects as Power of Siberia 2, the construction of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline to run across Mongolia, the Far Eastern gas pipeline, and, of course, the link to connect the gas transmission system that exists in the European part of the country with the gas transmission capacities created under the Eastern Gas Program.

Trunkline transmission of gas is, of course, the basis for the growth in gas supplies and gas infrastructure expansion.

For rural areas, gas infrastructure expansion obviously means, first of all, a higher quality of life. As for the growth in gas supplies and gas infrastructure expansion in the regions, without any doubt, it brings new possibilities for agriculture and various industries.

We can assure our consumers that Russia will have plenty of gas for many decades to come. This is guaranteed by our vast resource base, which is the largest one in the world. The production leader is the Yamal gas production center and its heart, the Bovanenkovskoye field.

And we now give the floor to Bovanenkovskoye.

Dmitry Shchyogolev: Dear Mr. President, dear Mr. Miller! Dmitry Shchyogolev, Director General of Gazprom Dobycha Nadym, speaking.

I am at the Bovanenkovskoye oil, gas and condensate field in the Yamal Peninsula. Bovanenkovskoye was put in operation in 2012. Since that time, we have launched three gas production sites, reached the design capacities and are now able to produce over 100 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The number of producing gas wells increases every year. Out of 770 wells provided for by the design, as many as 595 wells are in operation today.

While continuing the pre-development of the Bovanenkovskoye field, we are simultaneously preparing for the launch of the Kharasaveyskoye field, which is located a little over 100 kilometers to the north-west of here. As many as 100 gas wells out of 167 wells provided for by the design are already drilled at Kharasaveyskoye, and works are underway to build a comprehensive gas treatment unit, a booster compressor station, and a connecting gas pipeline to stretch from Kharasaveyskoye to Bovanenkovskoye. We plan to commence commercial gas production at the Kharasaveyskoye field in 2024. Kharasaveyskoye will add 32 billion cubic meters of gas on the balance sheet of Gazprom.

About 3,000 of our employees are working at the Bovanenkovskoye field as of the date, and 1,000 employees will perform shift work at the Kharasaveyskoye field. We compensate our employees for the harsh local climate by providing them with comfortable living conditions and amenities, which include modern camps for shift workers, gyms, canteens, a swimming pool, and a concert hall.

The 30th anniversary of Gazprom is a major event for our team. It is an honorable and responsible mission to work at Gazprom. We are confident that the Company has a bright and great future!

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, gas from the Bovanenkovskoye field is supplied to the area near Vyborg, where the gas liquefaction plant built by Gazprom is located. As regards gas liquefaction, we are accumulating our own competencies in liquefaction technologies and gaining our own experience. Let me now pass the floor to the team of Gazprom LNG Portovaya.

Anton Stukov: Anton Stukov, Director General of Gazprom LNG Portovaya, speaking.

We are at the Complex for LNG production, storage and shipment, which is located on the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland. Our plant can produce 1.5 million tons of LNG per year.

The Complex was launched in September last year and has already produced over 500,000 tons of LNG by now.

The facility is connected to Russia's Unified Gas Supply System. Gas receives the required treatment in the plant's units and is then sent directly for liquefaction. The cooling agent is compressed in two workshops equipped with the Ladoga gas turbines.

The temperature of liquefied natural gas is about minus 160 degrees Celsius. It is supplied to St. Petersburg to be used in the city's public transport. And we use a floating storage unit, which is our tank vessel called Portovy, to deliver offshore shipments of LNG to gas carriers.

Our main task is to ensure independent autonomous supplies of natural gas to the Kaliningrad Region. Mr. President, this task was set by you and we have successfully performed it.

Esteemed colleagues, each of us strives to perform our work with exceptional dedication and maximum responsibility. Together with the entire team of Gazprom which includes many thousands of people, we make every effort to ensure the energy security of our country!

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, a unique gas complex comprising production, transmission and processing facilities has been created in Eastern Siberia. These facilities are united by the unique and world's most advanced Power of Siberia gas trunkline. I give the floor to Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk.

Vladislav Borodin: Vladislav Borodin, Director General of Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk, speaking.

We are at the Atamanskaya compressor station of the Power of Siberia gas trunkline. Behind me you can see some of the workers, engineers and managers who ensure the reliable operation of the gas pipeline.

The construction of Power of Siberia has been in progress since 2014 in extreme natural and climatic conditions. The pipes were laid through mountainous and seismically active areas, permafrost and rocky soils.

Today, Power of Siberia offers new possibilities for expanding gas infrastructure in eastern Russia for decades to come. Natural gas is already flowing to boiler houses and enterprises, including the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

It is planned to build up the export capacity of the gas pipeline as well. To that end, second workshops are to be put into operation at seven compressor stations named after the 17th-century pioneers of Siberia.

The capacity of the eighth station, the Atamanskaya compressor station, where we are now, will almost double by the end of 2023, increasing from 128 to 224 MW.

Our company is working for the benefit of the country. And every success achieved by us belongs to each and every citizen of Russia. Together, we are the power. Power of Siberia, the power of Gazprom, the power of Russia.

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, natural gas from Eastern Siberia is a multi-component gas. Therefore, Gazprom is creating gas processing capacities in this region so that derived products could be supplied to other high-tech industries. I now give the floor to the Amur Gas Processing Plant.

Yury Lebedev: Yury Lebedev, Director General of Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk, speaking.

As soon as the Amur GPP reaches its full capacity, it will process 42 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Our plant has already become a basis for building a large-scale gas chemical cluster in the Amur Region.

The products of the Amur GPP, namely ethane, propane, butane, and pentane-hexane fraction, will be used for producing polyethylene, polypropylene, various plastics, construction materials, motor fuels, and other products, which are sought after in the economy of our country and abroad. Rare helium gas, which our plant will produce in large quantities, is necessary for the development of high-tech industries, such as instrumentation engineering, space technologies, electronics, and the medical industry. The gas chemical complex which is currently under construction near the plant is connected with our enterprise from the technological and infrastructural points of view.

Today, the best specialists from all over the country are moving to the town of Svobodny to perform the construction and operation of the Amur GPP. Here is where a team with unique skills and competences is formed. Our plant is also a modern automated enterprise. At the moment, our company employs 2,500 specialists for the operation of the GPP, and this number is going to increase to 3,200 after the plant reaches its full capacity. With the experience and knowledge gained here by workers and engineers, it will be possible to develop the processing industry and adopt the most advanced technologies, which will ensure reliable supplies of gas and its derived products throughout Russia in the 21st century.

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, there is no doubt that the program for gas infrastructure expansion and additional gas grid expansion is Gazprom's main program in the social sphere. Gas infrastructure expansion in rural areas means, without a doubt, a new quality of life. The growth in gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion opens up new possibilities for agricultural and industrial development in those regions. I cede the floor to the Tula Region.

Sergey Gustov: Good afternoon, dear Mr. President, dear Mr. Miller, esteemed colleagues! Sergey Gustov, Director General of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, speaking.

Gazprom is currently implementing the Programs for gas supply and gas infrastructure expansion in 72 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Natural gas will reach 4,500 cities, villages and rural settlements in our country by the end of 2025. The Programs are being implemented to the full extent.

In late 2021, work began on additional gas grid expansion across the country pursuant to your instruction, Mr. President. It implies that gas pipelines are to be laid to the boundaries of applicants' land plots through the funding from Gazprom. Solely in 2022, we brought pipeline gas to 504,000 houses.

This is the program that has sufficient material, technical and financial resources. Everything necessary for gas infrastructure expansion and additional gas grid expansion is produced in our country, in sufficient quantity and with an excellent quality.

Thank you, Mr. President, for your attention to and support for this exceptionally large-scale program being implemented by Gazprom. Gazprom, the United Russia party, the Government of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council, the State Duma – all of us together are working to fulfill the set task.

More and more houses are getting connected to gas. And so are industrial sites, agricultural enterprises and social facilities.

Today, Alexey Dyumin, Governor of the Tula Region, and I will inaugurate a new gas pipeline that will bring gas to 300 houses, thus ensuring that they will stay comfortable, cozy and warm. This will also result in lower heating costs.

Our priority is to fulfill the task set by you, Mr. President: to achieve 100% of technically possible gas grid coverage in Russia.

Congratulations to you, dear colleagues, on the 30th anniversary of our Company. I now give the floor to Alexey Dyumin, Governor of the Tula Region.

Alexey Dyumin: Good afternoon, dear Mr. President, dear Mr. Miller! Let me join the congratulations. I would like to congratulate the management and the entire team of the trade on the anniversary of your Company. I would like to thank you for your active participation in providing gas supplies to our region.

This gives completely new possibilities for solving our tasks and developing the region in various spheres. But the most important and key thing that stands at the forefront is the comfort of our residents. In August 2020, during the meeting in the Hero City of Tula, Mr. Miller and I signed the program for gas infrastructure expansion to be implemented in the region until the end of 2025; under the program, pipeline gas is to be brought to 363 localities of our region.

In pursuance of your instruction on additional social gas grid expansion, the efforts thereon are in full swing in the region. This program is in demand and is appreciated by the residents. As many as 7,000 contracts have been signed. Gas pipelines have been laid to the boundaries of 3,500 households, and there are 17,000 more households covered by the program.

Dear Mr. President, in line with your instruction, a regional measure of support for the population has already been developed and is being implemented; the support is a subsidy of RUB 120,000 which can be received by 13 categories of citizens.

Now, I would like to once again express my gratitude personally to Mr. Miller and to the management of the Company for their active participation in the social life of our region, for the efforts you have already mentioned, Mr. President. In the last seven years, Gazprom built in the Tula Region two sports-and-health centers and 67 multi-purpose sports grounds where residents enjoy spending time, both in summer and in winter. A big Ice Palace was put into operation, giving a boost to the development of ice hockey in our region. We already have two youth hockey teams and a VHL (Supreme Hockey League) team which shows good results.

Besides, a multi-purpose track-and-field arena is currently under construction; once launched, the facility will serve as a venue for highest-level competitions, both national and international.

Dear Mr. President, everything that has already been implemented and our tasks and challenges that are yet to be addressed would not be possible without your personal commitment and the instructions you have already given. Thank you so much for the attention you pay to this sphere, Mr. President! Thank you for your active participation in the development of our region, Mr. Miller!

Dear Mr. Miller, let me take this opportunity of informing you that I signed today a letter to you with an additional request to build multi-purpose sports grounds, which are much-awaited in our remote localities and municipalities. I am sure that on this festive day – Gazprom: Dreams Come True! – the decision will be positive, and we will see the results in the nearest future. Once again, I congratulate you, your team and Gazprom's management on the anniversary. Thank you, Mr. President. I have finished my report.

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, as per our tradition, when natural gas reaches a new locality, we celebrate this occasion with the ceremonial lighting of the pilot flame. Please give your permission to light the pilot flame.

Vladimir Putin: Sure, permission granted.

Alexey Miller: Dear Mr. President, Gazprom is a socially responsible company and we, as you have pointed out, have been implementing the Gazprom for Children program since 2007. More than 2,000 sports facilities, including 202 sports-and-health centers, have been built in 74 regions of the Russian Federation. A month ago, we opened the Martial Arts Academy in Sochi. I now give the floor to Sirius.

Elena Mikhailova: Elena Mikhailova, Member of the Gazprom Management Committee, speaking.

Last year, 70 various facilities were brought into operation under the Gazprom for Children project, of which 19 sports-and-health centers and 46 outdoor facilities were newly built and five facilities were renovated. An astonishing progress was achieved in the Far Eastern Federal District: seven sports-and-health centers were built and one – renovated.

Today, we are standing inside the new Martial Arts Academy. The Academy will become a second home for judo and sambo athletes, from beginners to members of Russian national teams and our famous Olympians. This large-scale modern world-class sports complex with a total area of ​63,500 square meters was built to the highest standards in a record time of two and a half years.

Our unique complex has two training halls, a hotel for athletes, a hydrothermal center with a swimming pool, and a medical rest center. In the Olympic Park, we have renovated the Ice Cube Curling Center and built a Competition Center, which has a unique hall with bleachers, rooms for athletes and refereeing crews, and a media center.

We wish our wrestlers success and new great victories! Together, we are building a healthy future for the nation! Hooray!

I now give the floor to Sergey Soloveichik, President of the Russian Judo Federation.

Sergey Soloveichik: Thank you, Ms. Mikhailova. On behalf of the Russian judo family, I thank you, Mr. President, the Government of the Russian Federation, Gazprom, and the authorities of the Sirius federal territory for this much-needed gift.

We have long dreamed of our own home, and thanks to your support, today marks the first training session on the tatami mats of the Martial Arts Academy. Russia's best judo practitioners will enhance their skills at the Martial Arts Academy to demonstrate excellent performance in the largest world competitions. Along with the training of national teams at the new Academy, we will perfect our priority programs, namely preschool judo, school judo and family judo, which we have developed together with the Ministry of Education and the Sirius federal territory.

Hundreds of thousands of children in our country will receive physical, spiritual and, most importantly, patriotic education through training sessions on tatami mats under these programs. They will become good citizens of Russia. Thank you!

Alexey Miller: Thank you.

Dear Mr. President, there is much space in the Lakhta Center for the facilities under the Gazprom for Children program. These are facilities for creative, sports and intellectual activities. The Lakhta Center will have a most advanced planetarium and a big education and leisure center for children and youth where they will be able to gain new skills and knowledge. Without any doubt, the Gazprom for Children program is a major contribution to Russia's future.

Dear colleagues, I congratulate you on the 30th anniversary of Gazprom! And, as we say at Gazprom, let us go on with our work.

Vladimir Putin: Dear Mr. Miller, esteemed colleagues, dear friends,

Just recently we have mentioned some of the facilities that are being created or have been already put in operation by Gazprom and the facilities that are being partially implemented and generally planned to be developed in the future by the Company. But, of course, Gazprom has a lot more and does much more; we have reviewed just a small segment of its activities.

If we look at the Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields my colleagues have just been talking about, we will see that the first field has 4.9 trillion, i.e. nearly 5 trillion, cubic meters of proven reserves and the second field's reserves are about 2 trillion cubic meters. For any country, these amounts of reserves are astronomical. I am not even mentioning other capacities of Gazprom, which are simply incomparable with those of any other gas producing country in the world. These are vast reserves.

Look at the LNG plant that has a design capacity of 1.5 million tons of LNG per year. But what was the thing that caught my attention during the report about this facility? The Ladoga compressor station of Russian make is in operation at the plant. We know that the dependence on foreign manufacturers in this aspect of the Company's activities existed in the past and it is still observed today, to some extent.

Gazprom is a customer for our power machinery industry, for the power equipment manufacturers. Orders are placed; and, taking into account our competencies and the expertise of our engineering and R&D personnel, the presence of orders – in this case the orders are placed by Gazprom which is the anchor customer, and other customers will join it later – will foster the development of the Russian power machinery industry. And it is also a meaningful, significant role of Gazprom. This is only one of the business areas where we observe an operational synergy between Gazprom and the enterprises engaged in its related industries.

Speaking about the related enterprises, there is a synergy observed in other industry sectors as well. For instance, my colleague has reported about the Atamanskaya compressor station in the Amur Region and briefly mentioned the gas supplies to the Vostochny Cosmodrome. But listen, from one point of view, it is a huge project of utmost importance for the country, and from another point of view, it is the development of the space industry. And it would seem that it is all just about gas supplies... However, it drastically changes the opportunities of the Vostochny Cosmodrome if we are speaking about its civilian aspect. The economy of the whole enterprise – the cosmodrome – utterly changes, and it means that Russia gets additional opportunities for the development of the space industry as well. And in this case it, quite apparently, happens with support from Gazprom.

We can also take the Amur Gas Processing Plant as an example. Of course, Gazprom as the world's largest gas producer must – and does – gradually and increasingly develop the activities related to gas processing; in this case, to gas chemistry. Clearly, this is the future, just like in the situation with the processing of other energy commodities, including oil and coal. And this is also a very important and serious growth area for Gazprom.

We have just mentioned and took as an example the extensive, large-scale and nationwide work on gas infrastructure expansion which is being carried out by Gazprom. We know that some specialists and economists consider this work to be of low margin, of little financial profit to Gazprom. But I think that Gazprom is absolutely right in developing these programs, because it creates a market for the future this way. There is no doubt that growth of well-being (and provision of gas supplies to households is definitely a welfare-enhancing factor for Russian families) creates future consumers in a very large number of aspects.

In this connection, I would like to mention a very important area of supplying gas as a vehicle fuel to the entire Russian economy and all Russian motor vehicles, including both the vehicles of various companies and services and passenger cars. This area of work is very important, and I ask you to pay due attention to it; I am sure that the heads of regional administrations will hear us.

Speaking about social programs such as the Gazprom for Children program – and I would like to note that Gazprom runs a considerable number of them across Russia – they mean the same thing as gas supplies mentioned by me before: in essence, they mean the strengthening of the future market. The enhancement of the medical, health improvement and sports spheres is for the benefit of our population, our people, and your current and future consumers. It is absolutely clear that this work is not just about social policy and internal policy, but also has an economic dimension to it.

I would also like to thank you for the latest facility built under the Gazprom for Children program: the judo and sambo wrestling ground. I am sure it was built to the highest standards.

(To Mr. Miller) Mr. Miller, we have already agreed to visit the facility and see it in person. As I can see, you wear your hat like a Nightingale the Robber, which once again confirms that you possess certain character traits. As we have agreed, let us step on the tatami mats in that wonderful facility together with the children who are currently practicing there and see how it all works, even though you have never practiced this kind of sports.

As for the Lakhta Center which was built at your initiative, I believe it will benefit both Gazprom and all people living near the facility, considering the possibilities the Lakhta Center has and can offer to its potential users. At 462 meters, the building is immense, the tallest one in Europe. I am confident that Gazprom will also stay at a record-high level.

I wish you success and congratulate you on the anniversary!

Best wishes to you!