Officially

President

Met in the Kremlin with UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura. At the meeting, Vladimir Putin emphasized that “Russia is one of the main intellectual and financial sponsors of UNESCO and one of the consumers of the product that UNESCO provides as a result of its activities.” For his part, Koichiro Matsuura expressed the opinion that the Russian leadership and UNESCO managed to do a lot to restore the education system in Chechnya. He also expressed his readiness to develop cooperation in other areas.

Prime Minister

Speaking at the first meeting of the State Border Commission, he said that the government intends to develop a federal target program for the development of the state border. According to him, this program will last four to five years and will create a new look for our borders. Mikhail Kasyanov also noted that “a systematic approach to resolving border issues is important.”

Held a meeting with deputy prime ministers and heads of key ministries, during which the government’s position on all bills scheduled for adoption by the State Duma before the end of the current session was finally formulated. Mikhail Kasyanov instructed the Ministry of Economic Development, together with interested federal executive authorities, to submit finalized draft plans of action and legislative activities of the government for 2004 to the Cabinet of Ministers on November 26.

Government

We intend to develop and submit for consideration at the spring session of the State Duma a package of bills to increase fines for gross violations of traffic rules. This was announced yesterday at the end of a meeting of the government commission on road safety by Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Yakovlev. He noted that, first of all, measures to increase fines will be applied for driving into the oncoming lane, speeding, entering an intersection at a red light, driving while intoxicated and improper parking. Vladimir Yakovlev said that the amount of fines “will increase several times.”

Will allocate 114 billion 510.7 million rubles. to provide housing for 125 thousand Russian families in 2004-2010. as part of the implementation of the “State Housing Certificates” subprogram , which is part of the federal target program “Housing,” the Department of Government Information reported. According to the text of the relevant document, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance are instructed to annually, when forming the draft federal budget, provide for the allocation of funds for the implementation of the subprogram, based on the capabilities of the federal budget.

Departments

Starting from 2005, the Ministry of Finance plans to provide paid budget loans to the regions from the federal budget instead of the current interest-free budget loans, the debt on which currently reaches over 20 billion rubles. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, who oversees interbudgetary relations at the ministry. According to him, the transition to issuing budget credits instead of budget loans is provided for by amendments to the Budget Code regarding interbudgetary relations, which are currently being considered by the Duma.

Central Election Commission

Chairman of the Central Election Commission Alexander Veshnyakov intends to send a letter to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov in connection with the situation that has arisen during the preparation for the presidential elections in Bashkiria scheduled for December 7. Alexander Veshnyakov draws attention to the interference of a representative of the judicial power of Ufa in the competence of election commissions, including the Central Election Commission of Russia, as well as the actions of the Central Election Commission of Bashkiria, which impede the exercise of the passive right of the candidate for the post of President of Bashkiria, Sergei Veremeenko, who has not yet been issued a registration certificate. The head of the Central Election Commission asks the Prosecutor General's Office to check the circumstances described and, if there are grounds, to take the necessary prosecutorial response measures.

Regions

The Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory did not remove the powers of a deputy from the mayor of Norilsk Valery Melnikov. Thus, he continues to maintain two elected statuses: deputy of the Legislative Assembly and mayor of the EMO Norilsk. As stated by Deputy Chairman of the Legislative Assembly Anatoly Romashov, this issue will be considered again at the next meeting of the session of the regional legislative assembly. Valery Melnikov won the mayoral elections of Norilsk on October 26, gaining 51.88% of the votes. After summing up the election results, the Norilsk election commission submitted documents to the court about Melnikov’s financial violations during the campaign. If on this basis the court cancels the registration of Valery Melnikov, elections will be held again. A hearing in court is scheduled for December 17.

Based on materials from news agencies and our own information