What are you fooling around for?: Putin publicly berates senior Russian official on video call

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Known usually to be cool-tempered in public, Russian President Vladimir Putin could not hide his discontent with the country's deputy prime minister at a recent government meeting.

In a video call, Putin asked Denis Manturov on Wednesday if he received a note from his office on a state order to procure aircraft, including helicopters, to which the deputy prime minister confirmed the reception and started speaking about different aspects of the matter.

To each of the Russian president's several attempts to draw Manturov back to why there were no enterprise contracts for this year, Manturov said "everything has been fully drawn up."

Losing his patience, Putin raised his voice and scolded Manturov: "You say everything is ready to go, but there are no contracts! This is what I am telling you!"

Gathering himself again, he added in a calmer voice: "Let's discuss this after the meeting. There is no point in our splitting hairs at this point. I know no contracts have been signed with the enterprises, the directors told me so. What are you fooling around for?"

He then once again repeated the questions he wanted answers for: "When will the passports be available? When will the contracts be signed? These are the questions I need answers to."

Commenting on the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were currently no serious complaints about Manturov's work, the criticism voiced at the meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 11, was "a normal working process."

Manturov, who is also industry and trade minister, was appointed as the deputy prime minister last summer.