Sergey Ivanov will hold a meeting of the government for the first time

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov in the absence of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers Mikhail Fradkov on Thursday will first hold a meeting of the Russian government. However, only Alexander Zhukov - Sergey Naryshkin and Dmitry Medvedev on vacation can theoretically be from the deputy prime ministers.

According to the publication, the question of who and how should hold meetings of the government at the time of the absence of the prime minister, until recently, had no formal answer. According to the law on the government, the prime minister gives the authority and. O. The premiere of one of his deputies. But the law is not about the holding of the government meetings, since earlier the regulations of the government allowed the convocation of the Cabinet of Ministers and the prime minister and any deputy prime minister "if necessary." In 2005-2006, Dmitry Medvedev held meetings of the government several times (the last time - September 29, 2006), Sergey Naryshkin, Sergey Ivanov and Alexander Zhukov - never.

The chance to personally hold a government meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers appeared on August 1, 2007, when Mikhail Fradkov went on vacation. However, on August 2, the prime minister unexpectedly interrupted the vacation, which began only a day ago, and personally came to discuss the problems of the Far East and Transbaikalia in the White House. A few days later, amendments were published in the regulations of the government, which, as it turned out, was signed on July 31, but before the publication they did not enter into force. In them, among other things, it was recorded that the Prime Minister for the period of absence should entrust one of the deputy prime ministers (not necessarily the first) honorary role of the chairman.

On August 9, according to Kommersant, Fradkov did not entrust anything to anyone, and the government meeting was generally canceled. Now the order is given to Sergey Ivanov.

The White House explained the choice of the prime minister by the fact that it was Sergey Ivanov who should deal with the issues of the agenda of the meeting on August 16. In the government, he oversees science, high technologies and communication - respectively, as Academician Yevgeny Velikhov explained, there is a discussion on the agenda "The main provisions of the strategy of mastering the energy of thermonuclear synthesis."

The second question is the consideration of the concept of the formation of an “electronic government” in Russia, which Leonid Reyaman will report to the head of the mininforms blessing. Two other issues - amendments to the pension legislation (formally - the scope of liability of Dmitry Medvedev) and the ratification of one of the agreements of the EURSECES (competence of Sergei Naryshkin) - are not purely technical and do not imply discussions.