Valery Shantsev opens ice fishing festival

On February 26, Valery Shantsev, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, took part in the opening of the all-Russian ice fishing festival. The festival is called "Chkalovskaya Fishing 2012."

The event was held in the water area of the Sanakhty River and Gorkovsky water reservoir. The festival was traditionally organized by the Ministry for the Support and Development of Small Business, Consumer Market and Services of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The administration of the Chkalovsky district, the regional community of hunters and fishermen and the Federation of fishing sports of the Nizhny Novgorod region also took part in the organization of the event.

According to the Arguments and Facts newspaper, the list of participants of the event will include spokespeople for Moscow and the Moscow region, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Chuvashia, Mary El, Mordovia and other regions. More than 1,000 people are to become participants of the fishing tournament. The event is expected to welcome nearly 4,000 visitors.

In the nearest future, Valery Shantsev will receive the certificate of trust of the journalistic community. According to Irina Panchenko, an official spokeswoman for the Nizhny Novgorod department of the Union of Journalists of Russia, said that it was a very prestigious award. The first state official to have received this award was Yevgeny Primakov. The certificate is awarded to statesmen who receive the absolute trust from Russia's journalistic community, Vremya H reports.

"Valery Shantsev will receive this award in his hands, as soon as the opportunity comes up. I think that it will happen during another large journalistic event, which will gather not less than 150 journalists from many regions of the country in May-June 2012," Panchenko said.