OFFICIALLY

Prime Minister

Mikhail Kasyanov approved the list of enterprises that should be privatized in 2003. According to a source close to the government, the corresponding decree has been signed, but has not yet been assigned a number. The list of enterprises has hardly changed compared to the list considered by the government in February of this year. It is expected that the largest privatization projects will be the sale of 25 percent minus two shares of Svyazinvest JSC, 17.84 percent of shares of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, 26 percent minus one share of Rosgosstrakh JSC, 25.5 percent of shares of Siberia Airlines, 21.78 percent of the authorized capital of the Moscow Central Telegraph. The additional list of objects proposed for privatization in 2003, prepared by the Ministry of Property, includes stakes in 164 joint-stock companies, 47 closed joint-stock companies and 193 federal state unitary enterprises. It was also proposed to sell shares in banks transferred to the ministry by unitary enterprises, and to sell 370 state blocks of shares, not exceeding two percent of the companies’ authorized capitals.

Government

The Government of the Russian Federation can divide the regulation on holding a competition for the admission of non-state companies to manage pension savings into two documents. First, it is proposed to publish the procedure for holding the competition, and then approve the competition requirements for tender participants. This is due to the fact that decision-making on this issue is being delayed. Dividing into two documents, according to the government, will allow meeting the deadlines during which this tender must be held and not disrupting the start of the transfer of funded pension money to the non-state sector. The Law “On investing funds to finance the funded part of a pension” establishes that the selection of management companies and the determination of requirements for competition participants are carried out once a year.

Departments

The Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support approved a reduction in tariffs of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Cosmic Communications" for communication services for the distribution of radio broadcasting programs in digital format. The tariffs will come into force on May 1, 2003. In particular, the fee for using the capacity of the Express-A spacecraft will be 44 rubles 12 kopecks per hour of work for one program. This is 7.5 times lower than the tariff for the same service in analog mode. These rates will be in effect until December 31st.

Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Ulyukaev said that accounts payable under the state defense order have been almost completely repaid . In particular, the debt to all enterprises that addressed the relevant working group on this issue has been fully repaid. However, there are still 108 enterprises that did not apply to the working group. They are owed about 780 million rubles. According to the deputy minister, accounts payable on state defense orders up to 1999 inclusive amounted to 3.4 billion rubles; in 2000, a debt of 1 billion rubles accumulated. This was due to the activities of the armed forces in the North Caucasus and the completion of the Gepard submarine. The Ministry of Defense compensated for these debts through the 2002 state defense order.

State Duma

Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Property Mikhail Emelyanov said that he welcomes the statement of several large companies, including RAO UES of Russia, about the possibility of creating a joint-stock company "Russian Utility Systems". However, according to him, there is “the danger of replacing the state monopoly in the housing and communal services sector, which currently operates, with a private monopoly.” According to the deputy, housing and communal services should become a field of activity for both small and medium-sized businesses, since one of the important factors for the effective development of housing and communal services is competition.

The government submitted to the State Duma a draft law “On meetings, rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets.” The document was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and other federal departments. According to Deputy Minister of Justice Yevgeny Sidorenko, the project should fill the legal gap that has arisen due to the lack of legislative regulation of public events, and legislatively ensure the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of assembly, processions and demonstrations. In addition, the project ensures the constitutional rights of citizens, which may be violated during the implementation of this right.

The Duma Committee on Credit Institutions and Financial Markets received the conclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin on a bill amending the law “On the organization of insurance business in the Russian Federation and other legislative acts.” According to the head of the subcommittee on insurance legislation of the banking committee, Alexander Koval, the conclusion contains more than 30 comments. In particular, it states that insurance rules must comply with the provisions of the Civil Code, and notes that the division of types of insurance into personal and property is not properly justified. The presidential amendments also state that it is necessary to establish a procedure for separating property and personal insurance, including the timing of the division of insurance companies by type of activity. In general, it was noted that the bill, which is between the first and second readings, needs significant improvement.

Regions

The Supreme Court of Karachay-Cherkessia began considering the case on the legality of calling the presidential elections of the republic on June 15, 2003. This decision was made by the People's Assembly of the Republic on March 7. The court received several applications, including from the President of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic Vladimir Semenov, the prosecutor of the republic Vladimir Gannochka, the Central Election Commission of Karachay-Cherkessia and the regional branch of the Union of Right Forces. They indicate that the decision of the republican parliament reduced the constitutional terms of office of President Semenov. The previous elections were held on May 16, 1999, but the Central Election Commission of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic announced the results only on August 31, and it was from this moment, according to the plaintiffs, that the beginning of the presidential term should be calculated.

Army

The Ministry of Defense proposes to adjust the legislative framework on providing housing for military personnel. To achieve this, apparently, changes must be made to the law “On the Status of Military Personnel,” said a representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Nowadays, the practice of transferring the housing stock of law enforcement agencies into municipal ownership leads to the fact that local government bodies, acting as owners, in most cases occupy it at their own discretion. As a result, a quarter of the housing stock transferred for re-occupation by military personnel is lost. The Ministry of Defense proposes to replace the concept of “state or municipal housing stock assigned to the Ministry of Defense” with a provision on its transfer to operational management and to supplement the law with a legal norm stating that the procedure and conditions for providing housing to military personnel at the expense of the state or municipal housing stock transferred to operational management management of the “siloviki” are determined by the government of the Russian Federation. It is also proposed to specify the right of the military to re-occupy residential premises in the state or municipal fund, transferred to the specified structures for operational management, but vacated when the military personnel left. According to the ministry’s estimates, “it is possible to increase the volume of housing received to provide for military personnel by 10-15 percent.”

Based on materials from news agencies and our own information