Penza, 24 June 2016. PenzaNews. The Penza region governor Ivan Belozertsev addressed a speech at the visitation ceremony for the ex-governor Vasily Bochkarev to relatives and friends of the deceased, as well as those who came to pay final respects to the former head of the region.

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“Dear Mikhail [Babich], dear Valentina [Bochkareva], dear colleagues governors, chairmen of Russian regional Legislative Assemblies, colleagues from Moscow and other Russian regions, dear compatriots! Today, we give our final respects to our dear Vasily Bochkarev, who had been heading the Penza region for 17 years. Vasily Bochkarev was born on the Penza land, in a village of the Nizhny Lomov area. His boy years came pass during the tough and harsh years after the war. He lived in a peasant family, he knew what it is to be poor he was helping his family just like any village boy. He worked, he strived to get education, he strived to live. […] During the tough years for Russia and the Penza region, he was elected the Penza region governor by the will of the people. Those were the hardest, the harshest years. The years during the crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. […] They needed to recover the industry, industrial enterprises, restore the agriculture. It was very difficult. People were sitting without their salaries for as long as four months in a row. That was the time when Vasily Bochkarev’s talents of a manager showed themselves: his persistence, his stubborn determination, his abilities to get on good relations with the federal center. He was successful and active in his work,” Ivan Belozertsev said.

Vasily Bochkarev managed to do a lot for the Penza region over his years as a governor, he added.

“He was a very remarkable man who was fully immersed in what he was doing. He could call me at midnight, at 1 am, if he saw a problem on the streets while going back home from a business trip. He was making sure to do it this way and not leave anything for tomorrow. He strived to make our region the best,” Ivan Belozertsev stressed.

Moreover, Vasily Bochkarev did a lot to help develop the regional education and health care system, and inolved his compatriots in the process, the head of the region recalled.

“He was able to bring together our compatriots who advanced to work in Moscow and other places to make them aid our region. He was quite envious of the successes of neighboring regions, but in a good way. He did everything for us to be the best. He was able to see people through. He was very harsh, but not unable to forgive,” the governor added.

He also expressed his gratitude to other governors, friends and colleagues, who came to Penza to gave final respects to the former head of the Penza region and their big friend.

“I would like to express my condolences to you, Valentina, to you, Natalya, Nikolai, to his relatives, to all people in the Penza region. […] His life ended so soon. We must keep working, striving to his example, developing the Penza region, doing everything to help our people live a good life. That was his idea, his dream. I know, and I believe, that the legacy of Vasily Bochkarev, the memory of his acts for our people will be forever remembered. Please excuse us, Vasily. May God bring you onto Heaven, and may you rest in peace,” Ivan Belozertsev concluded his speech.