How to fire people: Putin becomes magazine pundit

by Anna Smolchenko Anna Smolchenko –

MOSCOW (AFP) – It looks like a standard weekly magazine column, written in down-to-earth language, dispensing folksy advice and with the intriguing title "Why is it hard to fire a person?"
But there is something different about the new star columnist for the Russian magazine Russky Pioner (Russian Pioneer) -- it's none other than strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
After showing off his skills as a fighter pilot, half-naked fly fisherman, painter and even singer, Putin can now add magazine pundit to a growing and surprisingly diverse CV.
The piece for the trendy magazine, his first ever column for a Russian media outlet, will be published Friday. It is not clear whether it will be part of a regular series.
Choosing a hot topic as Russia enters its first recession in a decade and nearly eight million people in the country are without jobs, Putin cautioned management across the country against ill-considered decisions to fire people.
Managers of all levels, he added, should never avoid responsibility.
"One can never run away from the solution of a problem, bask in ignorance and think that God has fallen asleep on you," he wrote.
The column -- an advance copy of which was released to AFP -- also provided clues as to Putin's often controversial decisions to keep notorious officials in their jobs despite public discontent.
"I am deeply convinced that constant shuffles will not improve things," he said. "I distinctly understand that others who come in place of those fired will be like their predecessors.
"I can honestly say, for example, that had I not interfered in certain situations when I worked as president there would not have been a government in Russia a long time ago," Putin wrote.
Resorting to his trademark earthy style, Putin said he was prepared to forgive officials for mistakes, even if they "snivelled" or "burst in tears."
The only thing he was not ready to take was 'no' for an answer, he said. "There should be no 'impossible'. If 'impossible' than goodbye for sure," he said.
He also gave a slightly chilling account of what to do if the worst comes to the worst and a manager is forced to lay-off staff.
"You need to do this, above all, correctly. As for myself, in contrast to the former, Soviet leaders, I always do this personally.
"Before, people would find out they had problems from the television. I usually call the person into the office and look him right in the eye."
Putin said he then confronts the unfortunate official with the complaint about their work and tells them "that if it does not correspond to reality you can dispute it."
Despite his tough-guy image, Putin said he always took time to return people's calls and remembered to congratulate people on their birthdays.
"That's just my style of work with people," he said. "I know that calling on a birthday when a person is within his family circle and congratulating him means leaving a trace on his soul."
He said that people had expressed surprise that he could remember that a certain regional governor was celebrating a birthday on a given day.
"But I can't not know about it. This information has been sitting on my table since the morning," Putin said.
Andrei Kolesnikov, editor of Russky Pioner and one of Russia's most prominent journalists, said he wasn't sure himself how he tempted Putin to pen the column.
"I myself don't know how I pulled this off, it was my idea as the editor-in-chief of this magazine, I believe that any editor-in-chief dreams of publishing such a columnist on his pages at least once in a lifetime," Kolesnikov said.
Speaking on Ekho of Moscow radio this week, Kolesnikov added that he "of course" didn't edit the column and Putin would be paid for it in accordance with law.