Penza, 24 August 2015. PenzaNews. Vladimir Stryuchkov, acting Minister of Health of the Penza region, must think about his future work opportunities, as the regular meeting session held by the head of the region Ivan Belozertsev on Monday, August 24, has shown the official in question has difficulties in resolving the issues he faces and foresee the good and bad consequences of his decision-making, an anonymous source in the high-ranking regional authority told PenzaNews agency.

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“Basically, he [Vladimir Stryuchkov] signed under the ballot saying the money spent for the healthcare field information support program was wasted, as they need to abandon it and make a new one for 200 million rubles. This is one fifth of a billion rubles to spend in the times of crisis, and Penza is a beneficiary region. This is quite a sum that would be difficult to find this late in the year,” it said.

“It is even more disappointing to see that Vladimir Victorovich [Stryuchkov] in spite of all his struggling, admitted at the session that he did not have the full understanding of the technical side. And an ignorant man is easy to deceive. Let’s imagine this: he receives a go for this 200 million rubles, they order the software, and he does not understand something again and says a year later: I need 200 million rubles more for another system. Maybe it would be cheaper to find [and employ] a different, savvy minister right from the start? While the current one can spend the years before retirement outside a minister’s office. I do understand it would be a bad thing to lose 1.8 million rubles of annual income, though. On the other hand, those in business earn more,” the source added.

Answering the question of a PenzaNews reporter on the future actions of Vladimir Stryuchkov, the source said it would “write a notice right after the session.”

“I think it is a logical step. […] Why would he expose his patron [Ivan Belozertsev] like that in the wake of the September election? In the end, this 200 million rubles may lead to a mighty blow of criticism from the opposition. […] And if this blow comes to hit, I think it would be easier to let such an official go. Everybody is replaceable, as you know, and the appointment of a new acting governor this May had shown it quite clearly. Perhaps not everybody had taken the hint yet,” the speaker concluded.