Date
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По материалам информагенств и собственной информации
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Preserved copy
Translated material
OFFICIALLY
Appointed First Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Mikhail Solonin as the official representative of the government when the chambers of the Federal Assembly considered the draft amendments and additions to the law “On the Use of Atomic Energy”. Previously, the government was represented by Deputy Minister of Atomic Energy Valery Lebedev, who retired at the end of last year. The amendments and additions provide for the ownership of legal entities of non-defense radiation sources, radioactive substances and radioactive waste that does not contain nuclear materials. This bill was adopted by the State Duma on December 22, 2000. On January 31, 2001, it was rejected by the Federation Council, after which a conciliation commission was created.
He stated that during the current week the government will decide to introduce measures to protect Russian livestock farming. Previously, the government commission on protective measures in foreign trade and customs tariff policy recommended introducing a three-year import quota for poultry meat in Russia in the amount of 1,050 thousand tons per year. Imports of poultry meat in excess of this quota will be prohibited. The commission recommended maintaining the same import duty on poultry meat - 25% of the customs value, but not less than 0.22 euros/kg. The distribution of import quotas for individual countries will not be introduced. The commission's decision was made after an investigation showed that between 1999 and the first half of 2002, the share of imported poultry meat on the Russian market increased from 23% to 58%.
Government
It will pay a lump sum of 900 rubles to each participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, and 450 rubles to the widows of the dead . This resolution was adopted in connection with the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad. For this purpose, in January 2003, 36.5 million rubles will be allocated to the Ministry of Labor and Social Development from the government reserve fund. The payment must be made in the first quarter of this year.
Departments
The Ministry of Finance is on schedule to pay the International Monetary Fund on January 21 31.223 million euros and 27.125 million pounds sterling towards settlements of external debt. Besides, On January 22, the Ministry of Finance will pay the IMF $10.91 million. All necessary funds for payment have already been reserved. In total, Russia must pay $17.3 billion in foreign debt in 2003.
The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Vitaly Artyukhov, begins negotiations with the heads of the constituent entities of the Federation on the creation of a unified management body in the field of subsoil use. Negotiations will ensure the efficient use and reproduction of natural resources, environmental protection and environmental safety of the regions. At the meetings, issues of staffing will also be discussed, the results of the past year will be summed up and plans for cooperation in the main areas of activity of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia for 2003 will be considered.
The Ministry of Economic Development plans for gross domestic product growth in 2003 to be 3.5-4.4% versus 4.1% in 2002. According to the forecast of socio-economic development for the period up to 2005, GDP growth in 2004 is planned to range from 4.3 to 5.5%, and in 2005 it may range from 4.6 to 5.9%.
Ministry of Railways in 2003-2005. will allocate over 98 billion rubles to update rolling stock and develop railway infrastructure. Minister Gennady Fadeev emphasized that currently more than 70% of freight volumes are concentrated on the main directions of railways with a length of 24.5 thousand km (28% of the length of the entire network) and they must be brought to ideal condition. Fadeev called the renewal of rolling stock the main problem in the development of the passenger complex. He called on scientists and practitioners to join forces to create new reserved seat carriages, seats in which are in great demand among the population.
Federation Council
The Russian delegation will recommend Mikhail Margelov, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, for the position of PACE Vice Speaker, which is assigned to Russia. This decision was made at a meeting of members of the Federation Council included in the Russian delegation. The annual rotation of the PACE parliamentary delegations takes place in January and is traditional. One of the meeting participants, Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation of the Upper House Yuri Sharandin, explained that, according to the internal regulations, a member of the Federation Council is nominated for this post. The former head of the Russian delegation, Valery Sudarenkov, still remains in the PACE delegation. The next PACE session will open in Strasbourg on January 27.
State Duma
The Unity faction will submit for consideration amendments to the Tax Code providing for the abolition of VAT on transport services provided by Russian carriers. The head of the faction, Vladimir Pekhtin, said that the current wording of the relevant provisions of the Tax Code leads to the fact that Russian carriers are not able to take advantage of the zero VAT rate and pay a value added tax of 20%. Such a regime leads to a loss of competitiveness of the services of Russian carriers and to the loss of the market for the transportation of exported and imported goods.
Army
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov is leaving on Tuesday on a working trip to the troops of the Volga-Ural Military District. He intends to familiarize himself with the progress of the district's combat training and check the compliance of formations and units of permanent readiness with the requirements.
The Air Force's supernumerary MiG-31 interceptor fighters will be mothballed at the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol Aviation Plant and will not be cut up for scrap. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Colonel General Vladimir Mikhailov, these aircraft will be assigned to the mobilization reserve.
An information center on chemical disarmament issues has opened in Saratov. His task will be to highlight the work of the plant for the destruction of chemical weapons in the village of Gorny, where a line for the destruction of mustard gas is currently operating and a line for the destruction of lewisite is being prepared for launch. The opening was attended by the Presidential Envoy to the Volga Federal District, Chairman of the State Commission for Chemical Disarmament, Sergei Kiriyenko.
Regions
Minister for Reconstruction of Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov said that the appointment of the republic's finance minister will be agreed upon next Wednesday at a meeting at the Russian Ministry of Finance. In addition to Ilyasov, it will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District Viktor Kazantsev, head of the Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov and Prime Minister of the republic Mikhail Babich. According to Ilyasov, the issue of appointing a new minister of finance in the government of Chechnya, which caused a personnel conflict between Mikhail Babich and Akhmad Kadyrov, has not yet been closed and the appointment of another candidacy for the minister is possible at the meeting.