Rinat Akhmetov, Igor Krutoy, Anatoly Zabolotny at press-conference on St.Nicholas Day' 10

First of all I'd like to thank all of you for covering this topic.
It is very important...Everyone realizes that children should be raised in families
and what you do, is a great work, I do appreciate it.
Journalist: Question both to Rinat Akhmetov and Igor Krutoy. You have been
organizing this charity event for ten years now. What has changed during this time
in your soul and your life? What would you wish to the children?
I. Krutoy: Something definitely has changed it even has had its impact on the
work; I began to be increasingly interested in the children's songs genre.
As a producer, we became engaged in children’s "New wave". At Christmas, we
are staging concerts - the duos of children performing with the stars. Good,
attentive attitude to children is the prerogative of a civilized country. There
must be a desire in the heart of every adult to make a child happy. If such a
microscopic fraction of our involvement in this issue provides warmth to children it
will mean that we have not been in vain doing that for 10 years. Let God make
more kids happy. This will mean the happier nation and a civilized country.
Journalist: Does your heart ache when you see them?
I.Krutoy: There are even times when it brings tears to my eyes. For example,
today during our first visit, when a mother started weeping, as immediately all the
children began crying too. It just shows how strong their relationship is despite
the fact that they are not blood relatives! This, of course, is very touching.
R. Akhmetov: This morning there was a very sincere moment. Little children did
not shed tears because of the toys, but because of the fact that, like everyone
else, they want to have a family. It took us a lot of strength to resist and not to cry
either. With regard to feelings, ten years ago we decided to visit with Igor a
boarding school, to see how children live. Having been there we promised ourselves
that we would come back and help children. What is charity? This is the
system that fights systemic problems. Orphanage is a sorrow. Orphanage is a
systemic problem. And in order to solve this problem, we need a clear systematic
approach. We must all unite together: society, the state, patrons and journalists.
And here, again, I'd like to take this opportunity and say that I greatly
appreciate your efforts, for that you have been covering this issue for 10 years.
Only then we can achieve the main thing: that every child should be raised in a family.
organizing this event for 10 years.
Being the organizers, do you manage to follow the fates of
children whom you have helped? I. Krutoy: Unfortunately, it is difficult to
do it properly, everyone has his own business. But we are aware of those
improvements that occur, for example, the buses, computers; there is a lot of
interest among teachers and educators of these institutions. Of course, they have a
great heart and do this not only for money.
Their efforts have to be appraised properly, so that they
put their hearts into work. We visit the same schools and families
for many times and see the improvements R.Akhmetov: I think we all clearly see this.
Today everything is tracked by the Fund and the Club.
The main thing is that journalists are seeing everything
themselves it is impossible to hide anything! And most importantly, that you
help us find the right path and direction. If before we could call in a boarding school,
then another one and so on, today our goal is to make everything possible for
children to be in a family. And I think we gained some result, and we must continue
this system work. The result should be such that in ten years time, there would
be nowhere to go. Journalist: Do you think this is real?
R. Akhmetov: This is what we should be aiming at. We should join our efforts:
the society, the government, business, all patrons, journalists...
I. Krutoy: If we resolve this problem, we'll find another occasion to get together
Journalist: What should be done? You've mentioned the system approach...
R. Akhmetov:We'll, we should show what we do and how we could
improve...You can clearly see what the Foundation is doing, and I think it is the
right direction. Journalist: Do you plan to expand
these charity activities so that it would take place not only in Donetsk on
December 19, but in other cities and on other occasions?
R. Akhmetov: Well, actually this takes place not only in Donetsk. Many years
ago we were already asked this question. But the thing is that we are engaged not
only in Donetsk - here we have 158 institutions, and we've covered all of them
as for now - but in the whole of Ukraine. A. Zabolotny: I'd like to add some
words if you don't mind. The site that we launched tells about children and clips of
them featured on TV channels make up 70% guarantee that children will be taken
in the family. This is an all-Ukrainian action. There have been cases when a
child from western Ukraine has been adopted in the South. Process goes on.
On our site sirotstvy.net there is a counter that shows that at the beginning
of the week there were 802 adopted kids, to date, the figure has risen to 865! This
figure has grown, and this is a 25-30% contribution to the national adoption.
And this is what we call a result! R. Akhmetov: national adoption has
increased by 25%, and we believe that this figure contains a small part of our
involvement in this issue. Journalist: Rinat Leonidovich, in your
opinion, what is the main reason behind children ending up in orphanages?
Can we fight it? R. Akhmetov: I have already talked
about this many times. There's a number of system problems - problem parents,
alcohol abuse I would not want now to focus attention on that – it is sad. By and
large, the country needs economic growth to fight such problems so that
parents who now dare do this to their children
change their attitude. Journalist: You're the world-known
person, you travel a lot. Can you comment, at what level is our charity
involvement in comparison with the West?
R. Akhmetov: Well, comparing West and Ukraine...It will be an obvious answer;
we definitely have something to strive for. A. Zabolotny: I'm afraid this is too
humble comment. The system approach we've mentioned, social investments - in
West they are applied only by most progressive people, who address the
causes of problems. And we have such people here, we have the Foundation.
I think this is the right approach. Journalist: You must have remembered
today your own childhood. R. Akhmetov: No, I didn't think today
about my childhood. Today I was concerned about how to improve the
situation, what can we do for children. Journalist:Did all your childhood dreams
come true? R. Akhmetov:I dreamt a lot.
I dreamt of becoming a football player but I could not make it. Nevertheless I have
not moved away from football. This is the main dream. I have once said that my
mother had a big purse with few money inside. And I told my mother
to keep the purse because when I grow up I will become a footballer and I will earn
a lot of money. I did not happen to be a footballer but the other side of football
became the vital part of me. There is not that purse anymore but the dream has
come true! I. Krutoy: when a child I dreamt of
becoming a driver, my dream has come true in this sense - I drive a car
But I never dreamed of becoming a well-known person
who would attract large audience. I wanted to learn to play
the accordion – I succeeded in that. So all these dreams have come true. And what
happened then is just a coincidence, but ruled by someone who is up there.
Because all coincidences make the regularity.
Journalist: What would you like your children to be?
I. Krutoy: I just would like them to be good people. And in terms of profession...
Yes, I follow their aspirations and abilities. The youngest daughter wants
everything: to be a model, a singer, I do not know yet what she will be. The elder
wants to be a singer who grants more autographs than does actual work. A son
is engaged in business. R. Akhmetov: I want them to be decent
people. I wish that all children, not just mine, were honest and decent. So, getting
up in the morning and looking in the mirror, they would not see on their faces
stains of shame. And they would not be looking ways to remove these stains.
Journalist: Rinat Leonidovich, what is your attitude to the boarding system. It is
considered as notorious in the world. Can it be fought?
R. Akhmetov: In order to fight something, we must offer something
better. Children should grow up in families and this is the most important
goal we all should strive for. Today, to close boarding schools will mean to
abandon children. We can not do that. We have to offer a better decision instead,
not just promote one system and throw off the other one. We should do this in
parallel. Let's see: the national adoptions has increased by 25%, we have the
improved situation in the children's homes of family type. If you look at
statistics, there were about four thousand of them, today is eight thousand. This
suggests that we are following the right path. Perhaps we should speed up. That
is the direction we should follow. Not just naming something bad or good. We
cannot just refuse from boarding schools which would mean refuse from children -
we have to support them anyway.
We should use more reasonable, more human approach.