12 January 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Shaimiev To Participate In Nominating Putin
Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev, will participate in an initiative group that will propose Vladimir Putin as a candidate for the Russian presidency, Tatar Television reported on 11 January, citing Interfax. Shaimiev confirmed again in an interview with Interfax that he will support Putin in the presidential election. Additonally, Tatarstan's scientists and other representatives of the intelligentsia held a meeting on 12 January in Moscow's President Hotel to nominate Putin. Shaimiev said that several influential regional leaders also attended the meeting. Shaimiev said it's good that the leaders of territorial entities have joined in nominating Putin. He said it's more beneficial for Putin to be nominated by such people than to be proposed by political parties or work organizations.
Deputies' Representatives To Set Agenda Of First Plenary Session
Representatives of newly-elected State Council deputies will hold a preliminary State Council meeting on 17 January instead of the previously scheduled 12 January, Tatar Television reported. The deputies will prepare for the first plenary session of the State Council and go over the agenda. Attendees to the representatives meeting were nominated in recent days at territorial meetings held by the newly-elected deputies.
Drug Use Rises In Chally
Officials from Chally law enforcement bodies say that an increase in the rate of drug addiction is city's main problem, Tatar-inform reported on 11 January. A meeting of the city's law enforcement organizations--attended by acting Interior Minister Renat Timerzyanov and Chally administration head Rashit Khamadeyev--discussed the results of last year's activities. Most elicit drugs are smuggled in from Central Asian countries, among them Tajikstan. It was reported at the meeting that six drug smugglers from Tajikstan were convicted last year, and more than 30 arrested for selling drugs. Drug addicts committed 380 thefts, 50 robberies, and more than 20 murders in 1999, officials said.
Decrease In Meat Production Halted
The general manager of the Tatarstan Meat Industry company, Renat Gizatullin, told a briefing in the Cabinet of Ministers on 11 January that the decrease in meat production that has been going on the last eight years has stopped. Growth in the meat industry was achieved in such areas as meat purchases and production. Some 99 percent of meat deliveries were paid in cash. The growth in poultry production was 26 percent higher in 1999 than the previous year, and egg production was up 12 percent. Meat prices, however, will reportedly not be lowered. Ever since the import of poultry tainted by dioxin, the cost of laboratory testing, which costs some 6,000 rubles a day, has been added to the price of meat.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova