20 October 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Parliament Considers Prosecutor's Protests
Tatarstan's parliament discussed at its 19 October session an objection by Tatarstan's Prosecutor-General on the republic's law on licensing, Tatar Radio reported. The prosecutor demands that the law be abolished in whole, arguing that the republican law includes a wider range of activities to be licensed than the corresponding federal document. The production and sale of foods, advertising, owning bars, night clubs, and other activities are due to be licensed under the republican legislation. The head of the republican consumers rights committee, Vladimir Mikhailov, told Tatar Radio that the adoption of the prosecutor's proposal could result in an increase in criminal businesses.
Tatar-Bashkir Exhibition Opened In Tuimazy
The presidents of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, Mintimer Shaimiev and Murtaza Rakhimov, participated in the opening ceremony of an exposition on agricultural machines called "Bashkortostan-Tatarstan," which was arranged in the Bashkir town Tuimazy on 19 October, Tatar-inform reported. Thirty-five companies from Bashkortostan and 20 from Tatarstan displayed their products. An agreement about mutual cooperation and interregional integration of farm machinery was signed by officials from Tatarstan's Economics and Industry Ministry and Bashkortostan's Industrial Politics State Committee. Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeyev, Udmurtiya President Aleksandr Volkov, and a deputy presidential representative to the Volga federal district, Vladimir Zorin, attended the ceremony.
Deputies Concerned With Call Results
The Social Issues Commission of Tatarstan's State Council discussed on 18 October a draft for military service in the republic, Efir-Inform reported. Deputies were told that Tatarstan annually sends 8 percent of the total number of registered draftees to the Russian army, but is the worst among regions in the Volga district in the percentage of draftees who fail to answer the call. Over 2,000 men didn't report to recruiting offices during the spring campaign. Of the some 450 cases that the General-Prosecutor's office has investigated, more than half of them are Kazan residents. Deputies stressed that those being called up to the army are not prepared for the service.
Russian Daily: Kremlin Developed New Draft Law To Allow Shaimiev Third Term
The Kremlin will allow President Shaimiev to be elected for a third term, the Russian daily "Segodnya" wrote on 19 October. The newspaper reported that the State Duma voted against the amendment that would removing term restrictions for governors because deputies were told by the presidential representative to the Duma, Aleksandr Kotenkov, about President Vladimir Putin's own variant for solving the "third term" issue. According to the daily, the new draft has already been given to the Duma committees. "In fact," the newspaper comments, "the draft law was composed to suit one particular regional leader -- Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev -- whose support in carrying out federal reform is essential for the Kremlin."
By Gulnara Khasanova