President Vladimir Putin made a remark to the governor of the Kaliningrad region Anton Alikhanov, who tried to explain the decline in the construction sector with the beginning of a special operation in Ukraine. The head of state, in a video conference mode, held a working meeting with the governor, according to the Kremlin website.
“In your construction sector, a fairly noticeable reduction in general,” Putin drew attention and asked to explain what this is connected with.
Alikhanov explained that after the start of the military operation “logistics ties were temporarily violated.” “We still purchased a lot abroad and were oriented towards transit through the territory of neighboring states. We needed time to adapt deliveries to new realities. It has now been done,” he said.
The president in response asked: “We do not need to refer to this special military operation in this case.” The decline in construction was observed back in 2020-2021, “and noticeable”, and the Russian operation “has nothing to do with it,” he said to the head of the region.
Putin agreed that “additional difficulties arise”, but noted that “this link was, frankly, not very appropriate.” “But I already said: 48.9 percent decline was in a construction site in 2020-2021,” he added.