Moskovsky Komsomolets: "Mournful start of the Duma session"
Marina Ozerova
The Duma reconvenes on the day presidential envoy is buried
The State Duma opened its spring session yesterday on a somber note. Not only was the crisis weighing heavily on deputies' minds, but they also came to the session after attending the funeral of presidential envoy Alexander Kosopkin, who died in an air crash.
Opening the session, Speaker Boris Gryzlov made no bones about the fact that law-making in the coming month would focus on combating the crisis. Somewhat rashly, he promised to "minimise damage" to citizens in these difficult times. The Duma yesterday voted to hold a special Government Hour on January 30 to discuss the Cabinet's actions "to improve the situation in the financial sector and some other sectors of the economy".
Although it was decided on New Year's Eve that Government Hours henceforth would take no more than an hour and a half (instead of two and a half hours) an exception was made for this important occasion: the ministers (Shuvalov, Kudrin, Khristenko, and Nabiullina) will be answering questions until midday, and even longer if necessary. The Communists suggested that Prime Minster Vladimir Putin also be invited, but the proposal was rejected because the majority of deputies feel it would be enough if Putin made annual reports to Parliament.
In any case, Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova is to report to the deputies in February on the fight against unemployment. It promises to be a heated discussion: the deputies who returned from their constituencies yesterday bemoaned the closure or stoppage of various enterprises.
As for the agenda of the spring session, it includes 587 draft laws, 49 of which have been put on the fast track as "priority" legislation. Among the laws that may be put on the fast track are the Law On Changing the Procedure of Forming the Federation Council and the Procedure of Appointing Governors (these presidential initiatives passed the first reading late last year). Another Kremlin brainchild, the law that would allow the regions to introduce a curfew for children and teenagers, is due for its first reading in January.
By the way, the bill introducing an infinitely broad definition of "state treason" in the Criminal Code that has caused a groundswell of opposition is to be debated in February. The Duma majority will face a dilemma: it is impossible to pass the law as formulated by the FSB, but it has to be passed because the rider to the law was signed by the leader of the United Russia Party, Vladimir Putin.
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In the morning the deputies observed a full minute of silence to commemorate Alexander Kosopkin. "We are all looking at the seat where Alexander Kosopkin used to sit," the Speaker said mournfully and added: "We will all miss him".
The deputies had a chance to pay their last respects to the man who died in a plane crash: starting at 8 a.m., deputies and staff were bused from the house on Olof Palme Street and the State Duma to the funeral parlor of the Central Clinical Hospital, where the civil wake was held.
The entire leadership of the President's Executive Office turned up at the Central Clinical Hospital to pay last respect to Kosopkin. Dmitry Medvedev himself came at about 11 a.m. with a bundle of red roses.
... Alexander Kosopkin was buried in the village of Komlevo, Ruza District, Moscow Region. A funeral service was held at the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of the Cross, which owes its restoration to the deceased official. It is said in the Duma that Alexander Kosopkin "wanted to be buried there".
