Medvedev Says He's `Bored to Death' by Russia's Ministers, Kommersant Says

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told ministers he was “bored to death” by reports that boast of accomplishments and avoid mentioning problems, Kommersant said.

Medvedev complained that projects listed as achievements by Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin were started even before he became president in 2008, the newspaper reported, citing a Kremlin meeting yesterday on “priority national projects.”

The president also criticized Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik for trying to start her report with positive news, according to Kommersant. He quizzed Skrynnik on the need for the Russian Agriculture Academy if it doesn’t focus on applied sciences. “What do they study?” Kommersant quoted Medvedev as saying. “Questions of life in the universe?”

Future meetings on national projects will be held in a different format, with only two or three reports being given on practical issues, Medvedev said, according to the newspaper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucian Kim in Moscow at lkim3@bloomberg.net

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