MOSCOW, December 5 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed Thursday that his official residence is not immune from a problem faced by many other households across Russia: rusty tap water.
“Can you imagine: Even my tap water is sometimes rusty,” Putin confided in the audience at a conference of the pro-presidential All-Russia People's Front (ONF), commenting on the country’s notorious public utilities.
It is not uncommon in Russia for orange or brown water to gush out of the hot tap due to rusted pipes.
Putin acknowledged the impact of public utilities on people’s everyday lives, and asked the ONF to draft a bill on control of the utilities sphere.
“Give me a draft law. I promise you, we will finalize it together, together with the expert community and we’ll definitely get it through parliament,” he told the ONF, a movement headed by Putin that aims to unite civic activists loyal to the government.
A spokesman for the Federal Guard Service, which is tasked with protecting Putin and other top officials, told the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid that rusty water may flow from Putin's taps when maintenance work is being carried out, but insisted that the water still conforms to sanitary norms.
