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Tatar-Bashkir Report: May 28, 1999


28 May 1999
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Shaimiev: Vsya Rossiya To Consolidate With Otechestvo And Golos Rossii
Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev said Vsya Rossiya will participate in the 1999 parliament elections together with the Otechestvo movement of Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov and the Golos Rossii bloc of Konstantin Titov. An electoral bloc, Vsya Rossiya was organized last week at the initiative of Shaimiev. He told "Noviye Izvestiya" on 26 April that it is difficult to imagine what would occur if the next State Duma is similar to the current one. In reality, he said, "we have lost these four or five years." Shaimiev added that the founders of Vsya Rossiya don't have ambitious aims, and none of them seeks to be Russian president. He said "our aim is to form a new State Duma, and only then we will determine our strategy at the presidential elections."

Tatarstan's Otechestvo Branch Leader Opposes Alliance With NDR
Farida Gainullina, the leader of Tatarstan's Otechestvo branch and chairman of the republican Trade Unions Federation, said if Otechestvo aligns with Our Home is Russia (NDR), headed by former Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin, it will lose the support of the Union of Labor. Gainullina said at a press conference in Kazan on 27 April that Otechestvo holds consultations with many political movements but that the Union of Labor's agenda varies greatly from the NDR's. Gainullina said that republican trade unions will hold rallies across Tatarstan on 1 May under such themes as pay overdue wages, pensions, and allowances, as well as protest the increasing unemployment. This year, she added, not only economic, but also political requirements will be moved. She said their efforts are aimed "not at the conquest of power but at [establishing a] presence in representative bodies for making influence at the state social policy."

State Council Reveals Next Meeting's Agenda
The next session of Tatarstan's State Council will be held on 28 April, Tatar television reported. According to the agenda, draft laws on state support for young families in obtaining housing; on freedom of conscience and religious associations; ecological issues; the Kama Alany offshore zone; state property and local self-government bodies; and on charitable activities are among the topics to be discussed.

Government Threatens Deadbeat Industrialists
Tatarstan's deputy prime minister, Vladimir Shvetsov, said that officials of republican companies who do not repay their energy debts within a month will be sacked. Shvetsov made his threat during a press-conference at the Cabinet of Ministers on 27 April. Shvetsov said 47 companies currently owe money to Tatarstan's energy monopoly Tatenergo. This month, Tatenergo began cutting power to its main debtors. As a result, in some districts of the republic debts were reduced by as much as 50 and 80 percent.

British Organizations Stage Competitions
The Bear Trust organization -- which is involved in the support of public and non-profits organizations -- has joined up with the Know-How Fund at Great Britain's Moscow embassy to sponsor a competition in Tatarstan called called the "Informational Cooperation of Non-Commercial Organizations." Five winners of the competition will receive a grant of some $600 each for training, the purchasing of equipment, and public relations projects, Tatar-inform reported.

Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova

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