The Prime minister of Russia Vladimir Putin arrived in Barnaul (Altai region) from Chemal (Altai republic) on June 22. Vladimir Putin spent last weekend in Mountain Altai as a tourist. The Prime minister was glad and mentioned that he felt very comfortable there.

The head of the ministers' cabinet also said that there are a lot of remarkable places in Russia, but Mountain Altai is the pearl of Siberia. The program included rafting on Katun river, sightseeing in several districts of the republic.

What more, the Prime minister met with the president of Altai republic Alexander Berdnikov. It was decided during the meeting that a new school will be built in Aktash village instead of the school that was destroyed by earthquake in 2003.

Before his visit to Altai Vladimir Putin advised the members of the ministers' cabinet to spend vacations in Russia in order to stimulate inner tourism development.

Tourist inflow to Altai republic has increases recently. Last year the region was visited by 1 million tourists. The authorities claim that there will be no decrease in tourist inflow to Mountain Altai.