Simulated Parliament

Correspondent: It all started violently and ended just as violently. The question of budget amendments to pay off the external debt initially angered the Duma and almost caused a quarrel between the deputies and the government. And the end result was quite expected. The Duma essentially approved the government proposals. The scandal that broke out at the meeting, oddly enough, did not prevent the deputies from even meeting the allotted time. The Duma completed its work before 6 pm, voting quickly, having previously refused to hold debates. The technology has been proven: the government proposes, the Duma votes. Parliament operates in any weather. Disputes and scandals do not change the essence of current Russian parliamentarism. The scandal that occurred at the last Duma meeting arose not around the concept, but around one of the clauses of the law on debts. Article 100 of the budget, prohibiting the privatization of large state-owned enterprises, was canceled in the new draft.

The government expected to receive an additional 15 billion rubles into the budget to compensate for the costs of repaying external debts. At the last moment, deputies received lists of privatized enterprises and became concerned.

Gennady Kulik, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Budget and Taxes of the State Duma of the Russian Federation: Remember how we used to sell beer. There is a bottle of beer in the carriage, and with it an old bag of gingerbread. The same is true here. To a necessary, sensible idea that worries society, they also attached the right to shamelessly engage in privatization.

Evgeny Primakov, head of the OVR faction: One of these objects is already Chelyabinsk┘ Chelyabenergoset JSC. This means, in other words, that the abolition of Article 100, dragged here, flattened, if you like, meant the desire of some to begin the privatization of RAO UES.

Correspondent: The Communists immediately sensed the precariousness of the situation. They tried to attack the law in general. But, realizing the pointlessness of resistance, they decided to win at least the 100th article and left noisily. With a slight touch of cynicism characteristic of the LDPR faction, Deputy Mitrofanov explained to the communists leaving into the distance that a protest against a particular thing does not affect the overall result.

Alexey Mitrofanov, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the LDPR faction: If you have a position, let's consistently take away property. Let's. We are for this. Let's make suggestions. Vasily Ivanovich, write the law. And let's get specific. What about Article 100? Article 100 is an agreement with the Duma. This means that all you are fighting for is to be informed that they will sell, and, perhaps, to pay a little for it. That's it.

Correspondent: The struggle of ideas in the current Duma is a struggle of images. A year ago there were already noisy departures. Having gathered for the first meeting, the Duma realized that it was already in a different era. The first quarrel and the first departure of three factions at once also did not change anything then. Yabloko, SPS and OVR boycotted the first meeting of the chamber, protesting against the distribution of posts in committees. Meanwhile, the Duma, with the hall a third empty, worked quite successfully. And the division of committees took its course. This car never slips. What happened at the last meeting is the exception that confirms the rule. The heated dispute over the notorious Article 100 is a positional battle in a small area, although the government showed slight confusion at the last moment.

Alexey Kudrin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation: After consulting with the leaders of the factions, agree on the removal of Article 100 in order to reach an agreement in this room and resolve the issue today on this bill.

Correspondent: The government's tactical defeat and its strategic victory. Money has been allocated to pay off debts. There will be no default. After the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister is already calm.

Alexey Kudrin: We had to make a decision in general today, even if we conceded on this article, and, of course, the government will introduce an additional bill that will specifically concern changes to Article 100.

Correspondent: The calmness of the government and the Kremlin is a sign of confidence. In fact, only 16 votes were missing to approve the government's version. It was evening, the deputies were tired and confused. True, the communists claim that this is their victory.

Valentin Kuptsov, deputy chairman of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation: Yesterday the faction behaved courageously and very professionally throughout the day. And in fact, due to her deep knowledge of the procedure for implementing laws, she tactically outplayed her opponents.

Sergei Reshulsky, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation faction: When they tell us here that your attack or your demarche did not affect anything, it is simply a desire to play along with those singers in the government who yesterday tried, behind this smokescreen of internal and external debt, to pursue the most important issue for themselves - to remove all restrictions on the privatization of strategically important objects.

Correspondent: The argument is quite dubious, considering that the OVR faction did not vote for the government option for a completely different reason. OVR is also in favor of privatization. But first we need to discuss the program and consult about the list of enterprises.

Evgeny Primakov: We are not against privatization. Not in any way. We believe that privatization must be implemented and must continue. But we are for privatization to serve, firstly, to increase the efficiency of production, so that privatization is not directed against the interests of the people, against the interests of society, and that privatization is carried out absolutely transparently, so that everyone is aware of the ongoing activities, and not some kind of behind-the-scenes game that allows us to devalue the property transferred into private hands or, in any case, to create the most favorable conditions for a tender for one or another group.

Correspondent: The conflict that has occurred is not ideological, but technological. If the Duma works like a machine, something can always break down in it. But breakdowns are easily repairable and do not affect driving performance. The Kremlin and the White House know this. The same communists, for example, are assigned the role of great opposition. There are many of them, they fight for the idea, and they are already fully integrated into the government. At the last noisy meeting, by the way, neither Seleznev nor Zyuganov were in the hall. The single struggle of communists for a vote of no confidence in the government is already a struggle for image. Without a struggle with the government, albeit obviously unsuccessful, the official opposition is no longer an opposition. You have to win your place in the sun.

The writer Kartasar has such a novel. It's called "62 ≈ model for assembly." The chapters can be rearranged in any order and you will still get a story. Over the past year, the Duma deck was also laid out in a variety of ways, but the story turned out to be the same. A year after a successfully simulated election, politics becomes technology. Parliament as a model for assembly under simulated conditions. Perhaps, to some extent, this is a sign of political stability in Russian.

Vladimir Chernyshev, NTV television company.