Deputies took a walk with the president
President Vladimir Putin held a meeting yesterday with leaders of Duma factions and deputy groups. It was assumed that judicial reform would be discussed. But the agenda did not stop there: Macedonia, Chechnya, and the United States were discussed, and in the end they drank and ate to the health of the president.

As one of the meeting participants told Kommersant, the report of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak on the directions of judicial reform did not arouse much interest among the guests. The faction leaders already knew that if the president wanted to, he would still pass the bills he needed through the Duma, and they did not make any special preparations for discussing the prospects for reform.
The meeting participants discussed the situation in Macedonia with much greater interest. The president told deputies that NATO did not expect a large-scale invasion of militants, and the result was “Chechnya in the center of Europe.” The visitors reacted violently to the word “Chechnya” and began to tell the head of state about the difficult situation in the republic. However, they failed to convince Putin: he declared that the war was over, the troops were being withdrawn and soon the situation would finally return to normal. The president also takes a calm approach to the crisis in Russian-American relations. In his opinion, nothing terrible is happening and everything will calm down in the near future.
The meeting ended on a solemn note. The faction leaders congratulated Vladimir Putin on the anniversary of his election. True, the head of state was not given any gift. But the president showed himself to be a hospitable host and arranged a small buffet. The informal communication, apparently, turned out to be warm. Coming from the president to reporters, the deputies were somewhat confused in their testimony. For example, the leader of the OVR faction, Yevgeny Primakov, said that not everyone liked Kozak’s report and it is necessary to hold another meeting with the president. The leader of the Unity faction, Boris Gryzlov, on the contrary, said that the first package of laws on judicial reform will be submitted to the Duma in April and deputies are required to pass it before the summer holidays. And the main Yabloko leader, Grigory Yavlinsky, generally stated that before doing anything, “all the guilty must be imprisoned and all the innocent must be released.” That's where they parted ways.

SUZANNA Kommersant-FARIZOVA, VLADIMIR Kommersant-NOVIKOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 53 dated March 27, 2001, p. 2

Authors:

Suzanna Farizova