OFFICIALLY

President

Held another meeting with a number of federal ministers on Saturday. Present were Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, head of the presidential administration Alexander Voloshin, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Ivanov and Boris Gryzlov, and FSB director Nikolai Patrushev. Issues of Russia's domestic and foreign policy were discussed.

Signed a law on the allocation of funds to eliminate the consequences of the terrorist attack at the Dubrovka Theater Center in Moscow on October 23-26. This law amends this year’s federal budget and allows the government to provide a subvention in the amount of over 13 million rubles to the producer of the musical “Nord-Ost” (joint-stock company “Link”).

Government

Mikhail Kasyanov signed an order to allocate funds for events in connection with the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Supreme Court . According to this document, in January 2003 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation will receive 4 million rubles for its anniversary. This amount will be allocated from the government's reserve fund.

Departments

The head of the Russian Ministry of Labor, Alexander Pochinok, said that in 2003 the real incomes of public sector workers will increase significantly. This will be facilitated by the transition to a new system of tariff schedules for budgetary organizations. As a result, from October 1, public sector employees' salaries will increase by an average of 33%. “So, a surgeon, a candidate of science with good experience, working in hazardous working conditions, who now receives 2,800 rubles, will receive 4,328 rubles. Of course, not very big money, but still serious growth,” noted the Minister of Labor and Social Relations. At the same time, he added that “the salary increase will be made primarily at the expense of the tariff part, that is, the person will have the opportunity to receive additional allowances, bonuses, etc.” Alexander Pochinok noted that wage growth will be higher than the inflation rate. The inflation rate for the next year in the budget calculation is assumed to be 11.8%. This year, even taking into account the maximum possible price increase in December, the inflation rate will fluctuate between 14 and 15%. “This is significantly less than the expected increase in wages,” the minister said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture of Russia Alexey Gordeev announced on Saturday in Rostov-on-Don that measures to streamline grain exports from Russia will soon be introduced . The minister did not specify the nature of these measures. In addition, he noted that in 2003 4.4 billion rubles should be allocated for leasing agricultural machinery. At the same time, about 1 billion will go into the authorized capital of Rosagroleasing, and 3.4 billion “will be transferred from this year.” The only leasing condition will be the subsequent purchase of domestically produced agricultural machinery. It is also planned to introduce a new form of lending, which the minister called “revolutionary.” These are five-year loans, “which will be subsidized by the budget - 2/3 of the interest rate.” According to Gordeev, such long-term, cheap loans are being introduced for the first time.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has agreed to the preparation of a Russian-Norwegian agreement on expanding the territory of the Pasvik State Biosphere Reserve. This agreement was reached at a meeting between the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Yuri Evdokimov, and the Minister of Natural Resources, Vitaly Artyukhov. The Pasvik State Nature Reserve was organized in 1992 on the basis of cooperation between specialists from Russia and Norway. It is located in the Murmansk region, in the border Pechenga region, on the island of Varlama, where the northernmost forests in Europe are located. More than 200 species of various birds nest here, and there are populations of brown bear, elk and fox. The Pasvik River Valley unites the borders of three states - Finland, Norway and Russia. However, most programs are carried out jointly by the Pasvik Nature Reserve and the Norwegian environmental center Svanhovd.

Regions

The Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the Southern Federal District, Viktor Kazantsev, described the situation in the district as stable . On Sunday, meeting with journalists at the headquarters of the North Caucasus Military District, he said that “everything will depend on how the terrorists show themselves.” However, he expressed confidence that they “will be destroyed in any case.” He also noted that all law enforcement agencies of the district and regional leaders will work under the general leadership of the new commander of the North Caucasus Military District, Colonel General Vladimir Boldyrev. According to Viktor Kazantsev, replacing the commander of the district troops will not affect the activities of the headquarters. Let us recall that Vladimir Boldyrev was recently appointed commander instead of General Gennady Troshev.

Personnel and structural changes have begun in the leadership of Chechnya . At a government meeting chaired by Akhmad Kadyrov on Friday, the resignations of two deputy prime ministers of the republic were announced. The curator of the agro-industrial complex Ali Alavdinov, Asrudi Magomadov, who was in charge of construction issues, and the head of the committee for viticulture and winemaking Lom-Ali Yakhyaev are leaving the government. Agriculture in Chechnya will now be headed by Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, and the construction unit will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Abu Sugaipov. The latter previously held the post of Minister of Housing and Communal Services, and now, with the rank of Deputy Prime Minister, he will head the unified Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Services of Chechnya. Ruslan Chalaev will become the new head of the committee for viticulture and winemaking. In addition, First Deputy Prime Minister Musa Doshukaev was demoted. Now he is Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Industry. The Chechen administration noted that personnel and structural changes have not yet been completed. By the end of January it is planned to make reductions in the apparatus of the administration and government of the republic.

Ruslan Tsakaev, recently appointed head of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs, presented the Order of Courage to the commander of the Chechen riot police Musa Gazi-Magomadov in Grozny on Saturday. The latter was awarded this high award for carrying out a series of special operations to neutralize terrorists and confiscate and eliminate militant weapons.

Based on materials from news agencies and our own information