Penza, 21 November 2014. PenzaNews. Anton Kupryushin, Twitter user registered as Antonkup and known for his civic activities, came to the conclusion that the official Twitter account of Vasily Bochkarev, governor of the Penza region, is not managed by the head of the region himself but a different person after a lengthy discussion on import substitution.

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The discussion began last Thursday, November 20, after Vasily Bochkarev’s message on laying off two vice-chairmen in the Penza region government.

After discussing who is to lose their jobs, the Penza resident asked whether the government has an import substitution plan and where can it be found.

In response to this, Penza governor twitted that the “step-by-step import substitution plan is in progress, and then will be agreed with businesses and published for overview.”

Afterwards, the discussion took a turn to review the necessity of this plan.

“Import deps can’t be resolved at once —program formed together with industry & science. We organize seminars and round tables with businesses, consultations and meetings... Yesterday M. Kosoy [chairman of the Penza region government] was in Kuznetsk — we are trying to cover as many areas as possible,” Vasily Bochkarev twitted on Friday, November 21.

After Anton Kupryushin asked for clarification on whether it was a plan or actual work in import substitution area, the head of the region explained that “business needs targets & incentives — we have stepped away from planned economy long time ago,” with which Penza resident disagreed.

“When it comes to food safety, we (the people of Russia) need plans, stop placing responsibility on businesses,” he said.

“Words, words. Any suggestions?! Plan’s underway, but does not solve the problem — we do planning. But more will be discussed during bloggers meeting,” the governor argued.

This governor’s twit immediately caused an emotional response.

“You are supposed to generate suggestions, not us! President obliged you to work on issues in the region. Do have a proposal though,” Anton Kupryushin said.

Summing up the two-day discussion on Twitter, the Penza resident expressed his disappointment.

“Brothers, I certainly understand that it’s not VK [Vasily Kuzmich Bochkarev] himself on Twitter, but really it seems there’s no understanding in government,” he concluded.