In the fourth quarter of this year, 500,000 rubles (about $17,000) will be allocated to the Ministry of Culture for the Novgorod State United Museum Reserve for structures to protect archeological excavations in Veliky Novgorod from the rain and snow.
The same amount will be allotted to the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of the History of Material Culture to finance work in Staraya Ladoga (purchase equipment and materials, publish scientific studies and restore archeological finds).
The ministry and the Russian Academy of Sciences have been charged with controlling the spending of the allocated money and presenting appropriate reports to the presidential administration.
The president's plenipotentiary in the Northwest Federal District has been instructed to supervise the carrying out of the presidential decree.
Mr. Putin visited the archeological excavations in these ancient Russian towns twice: the Troitsk excavations in Veliky Novgorod in July 2004, and Staraya Ladoga, a year earlier.
