9 June 2005
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Poll Reveals Large Gray Labor Market in Tatarstan
Over 20 percent of Tatarstan's employable population is working illegally, State Statistics board official Valerii Kandinov said during a Tatar government meeting dedicated to gray labor market enforcement in Chally on 8 June. Some 468,000 people work illegally and of those 83 percent maintain an above-average lifestyle, research showed. The data was compiled from a public opinion poll in which respondents' identities were kept anonymous.
Only Part Of Top-Secret Aviation Enterprise Shares Handed To Moscow
Tatarstan's government will hand over a blocking stake in the Elektropribor aviation-electronics plant to the federal government, "Kommersant Volga-Urals" reported on 9 June. This move follows the plan to gradually privatize strategically important Russian companies. However, it is questionable whether Elektropribor will further incorporate with Russia's aerospace corporation because Kazan will soon pass a controlling stake to the holding division of the Ak Bars family of companies.
Siemens Interested In Expanding Its Presence In Tatarstan
Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev met with the president of the Russian branch of Siemens, Heinrich Fristatski, in Kazan on 8 June to discuss the German company's plans to expand its operations in Tatarstan, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau reported the same day. Fristatski said Siemens will offer Tatarstan its communications, medical care, and industrial equipment and is interested in developing the republic's Tekhnopark Ideya venture projects support center. Siemens would invest in the most promising Kazan research projects.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi
DAILY REVIEW FROM BASHKORTOSTAN
Bashkirskii Kapital Fighting To Keep Control Over Petrochemical Industries
Despite recent claims by the Bashkir Property Ministry, the state-owned stakes in Bashkortostan's leading petrochemical ventures could remain under the management of Bashkirskii Kapital (BK), "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 8 June (see "RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Report," 8 June 2005). BK, headed by Bashkir President Murtaza Rakhimov's son Ural, is reportedly discussing the possibility of leaving the shares under BK's control and allowing the republican government to appoint the top managers of certain industries. The future reassessment of the value of stakes, which were reportedly handed over to BK at minimum possible cost, is also under discussion. However, the intention of BK representatives to settle the illegal privatization issue outside the Bashkir Arbitrage Court is strongly opposed by the republic's prosecutor, Aleksandr Konovalov.
Legal Dispute Over Parliament Seat Resumes
Russia's Supreme Court on 8 June ordered Bashkortostan's Supreme Court to reconsider the case of Anatolii Dubovskii, the head of the Rus opposition group, against the republic's election commission, an RFE/RL Ufa correspondent reported the same day. After Dubovskii won a seat in Bashkortostan's State Assembly from Ufa's Chernikovskii electoral district in the March 2003 elections, the result was overruled by the commission and a second round of elections were initiated. The second vote was won by Federal Employment Service official Florida Fartukova. This vote was later declared illegal by the Bashkir Supreme Court and the case was appealed to the federal Supreme Court in Moscow.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi