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When you see this piece, on Friday May 15, I will be celebrating my 29th birthday! (Happy birthday to me...:)
Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev (Communist), in a press conference, identified some of the issues that would seize the Duma later in 1998. The now-perennial issue, wage and pension arrears, is not going to die down anytime soon. The Duma's actions upon returning from its anticipated summer recess will depend partly on how the new government handles this problem in the meantime. Spending cuts would be another likely bone of contention. Most likely, cuts in scientific research and the arts may be necessary because of shortfalls in expected revenues. ("Shortfalls in expected revenues" are to government what "inventory shrinkage" is to retail.) More broadly, the new tax code, which has already passed its first reading, would be the subject of further discussions, especially as amendments are proposed. Seleznev expressed hopes that it would be the subject of broad talks between ministers and businesspeople in the context of drawing up the whole 1999 budget. He also hoped that, contrary to the 1998 budget experience, the first reading of the 1999 budget itself could be managed before spring recess. If in fact there are such broad business-government talks, much like last year between bankers, media leaders and government officials, they will most likely include - to put it mildly - the privatization issue. Watch the Duma starting next week: the whole privatization program is expected to be presented to the Duma on May 21, and Seleznev did not expect the Duma to approve all of it. As you've seen from my previous pieces, privatization is a nasty issue in Russian politics, and it's going to stay one for a while longer at least. Meanwhile, the much more adversarial Gennady Zyuganov, Communist floor leader in the Duma, said that there would be an extraordinary Party Congress on May 23 for "technical changes" to the charter. Don't be surprised if the party leaders come out of the huddle with a detailed game plan for dealing with Kiriyenko & Company, including provisions for a no-confidence vote. Seleznev doubts that will happen before the summer recess, but stay tuned. Another bone of contention will be START-2, the nuclear treaty signed by Russia and the US, and already ratified by the US Senate. The Duma has yet to ratify it, and it may be hard work getting them to do so. President Boris Yeltsin, Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and General Vladimir Yakovlev (who commands the Strategic Rocket Forces) have called for its ratification. Primakov also said Defense Minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev would join him in working for START-2's ratification. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Eye of the Storm? in Russian Politics is owned by . Permission to republish Eye of the Storm? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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