20 March 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatarstan Security Officials Preparing For Putin Visit
Tatarstan's interior minister, Asgat Safarov, said on 18 March that extraordinary security measures will be taken during the visit of acting Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tatarstan this week. Safarov said in an interview with Tatar Television that special measures are being developed by the republican bodies of the Federal Security Service, the Security Council, and the Interior Ministry. He said "it isn't a secret that there are lists composed by Chechen fighters where [Russian] leaders are...[and who] are subject to annihilation. Putin is number one. Taking into account the real threat of terrorist acts, we will take all measures to rule out the possibility of any emergency during the visit."
Social And Economic Development Programs Being Planned
Tatar and Russian officials agreed to work on a federal program of social and economic development in Tatarstan over the next five years, Tatar-inform reported on 17 March. The issue was discussed at a meeting of Tatarstan's deputy premier and economics and industry minister, Sergei Kogogin, with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Arkadii Samokhvalov in Moscow. A working group is being formed to plan the program.
Tatarstan's Election Legislation To Be Changed
The chairman of Tatarstan's Central Election Committee, Anatolii Fomin, told a news conference on 17 March that the committee will start working out a legislative basis of its activities after the Russian presidential election. We plan to overcome differences between the electoral legislation of Russia and Tatarstan. He said that "both federal and republican legislation is in force on Tatarstan's territory and therefore controversies arise which prevent synonymous interpretation of drafts of the laws." Fomin said the committee is going to undertake a legislative initiative to make changes in republican legislation. He said that laws on the election of Tatarstan's president, of local authorities, and of the State Council are expected to be changed. In the last quarter of the year, the Central Election Committee is scheduled to develop the "Election Code of Tatarstan."
Otechestvo's Kazan Branch Backs Putin
The regional branch of Tatarstan's Otechestvo made a call to its supporters at its conference on 18 March in Kazan to vote for Vladimir Putin in the upcoming presidential election, Tatar Television reported. Delegates to the conference agreed that the transformation of the movement into a political party is one of the main tasks of the organization current year. Prospects for cooperation between Otechestvo and other leading political forces -- the Communist Party and Yedinstvo -- in order to create a powerful political "center" were debated at the forum. The decision to appeal to political movements before the presidential election was approved. Farida Gainullina, State Duma deputy representing Tatarstan, was re-elected as a leader of Tatarstan's Otechestvo branch.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova