VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Yesterday, the State Duma passed the first reading of President Dmitry Medvedev's amendments to the Constitution, which extend the presidential term to six years and the term of the State Duma, lower parliament chamber, to five years. Only the Russian Communist Party (KPRF) voted categorically against the amendments, declaring that the strengthening of the presidency without the counterbalancing strengthening of the legislature would increase "authoritarian rule" in the country.
Yesterday, Moldova hosted a session of the Council of CIS Prime Ministers. Its participants adopted the Commonwealth's economic development strategy through 2020 and discussed the world economic crisis. Watching the CIS Prime Ministers at work, Kommersant special correspondent Vladimir Solovyov concluded that if they continue addressing economic problems as slowly as they did in Chisinau, they may fail to fulfill the strategy's objectives in time.
At yesterday's meeting, the government discussed railway reform, regional development issues, and some international cooperation issues.
At the most recent Government meeting, the ministers addressed the effectiveness of regional governments. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin indicated that last year, about 440 billion roubles of regional budgetary resources were spent ineffectively, which accounts for almost 10% of the regions' total expenditures. The cabinet will evaluate the state of affairs in the regions based on such criteria as population income growth, the state of the education and healthcare systems, and the housing and utilities sector. The better performing regions will be rewarded and the poor performers will be censured.
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin did not refute the rumours of possible pre-term presidential elections. Answering direct questions from journalists, they have only raised new ones.
Yesterday, the Government approved a draft law on increasing pensions and other social benefits in 2009.
The CIS Heads of Government Council is meeting in Chisinau today. The event may become a turning point in the history of the Commonwealth. It is expected to adopt a long-term economic development strategy to strengthen the deteriorating alliance of the post-Soviet states. The meeting is also important because Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is visiting Moldova for the first time since Chisinau refused to accept the Transdnester peace settlement sponsored by Mr Putin. Kommersant reporter Vladimir Solovyov tried to find out whether Mr Putin has "forgiven" Mr Voronin.
The planned increase of export duties on Russian round timber has been suspended at least until the autumn of 2009, Prime Minister Putin said following his meeting with Finland's prime minister. The Russian timber industry supported the decision to postpone the duty increase. The latter was intended to attract investment in the industry, however the majority of investment projects would have required credit. The suspension of the duty increase to €50 per cubic meter will mostly hurt large timber producers - prohibitively high duties helped them drive smaller competitors out of business.
The Presidium of the Peoples Democratic Union (NDS) adopted a statement yesterday declaring that during President Dmitry Medvedev's 6-month rule, "there has been no evidence of revision of the faulty political course of the previous years". Furthermore, in his address to the Federal Assembly, the President introduced measures aimed at regime strengthening and de-facto restoration of the Soviet-style single-party system, as well as initiated constitutional changes to extend presidential and Duma terms.
Experts from Russian Railways (RZD) are predicting that freight turnover in 2009 may decrease by 6%. This prognosis differs from the 3.5% GDP growth predicted by World Bank experts. The latter view is also shared by the Russian Finance Ministry.
