SKURATOV TO LEAVE FOR SWITZERLAND
Russian Television, Vesti, June 22, 1999, 20:00
Yury Skuratov stated to the Russian Information Agency that he intends to fly to Switzerland on June 23. Skuratov emphasized that the trip will be purely private, and that he is making it at the invitation of Swiss Prosecutor General Carla del Ponte. Skuratov promised that he will make no sensational announcements.
RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE PRESS AWARDS
Russian Television, Vesti, June 22, 1999, 20:00
On Tuesday the First World Congress of the Russian Press was resumed, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin found some time on June 22 to give his personal thanks to representatives of several publications for supporting domestic reforms. The newspapers “Russian Thought” and “New Russian Word” were given the special thanks of the president. Until relatively recently, “New Russian Word”, which is published in New York, and its Russian-language sister “Russian Thought”, were prohibited in Russia.
While the first day of the conference was one of gripes and rebukes, the second one was devoted to responding to the accusations of the day before. ORT General Director Igor Shabdurasulov did not accept the rebukes of the leader of the Fatherland movement regarding the prohibition of broadcasting the party anthem on TV and advised Luzhkov to wait until December 19 with the song.
DUMA DEPUTIES TO GO ON VACATION
Russian Television, Vesti, June 22, 1999, 20:00
On June 22, Gennady Zyuganov once more called for all left-oriented movements to unite and meet the elections in a united coalition. It is noteworthy that Zyuganov approved of Kirienko’s initiative in which he called on Boris Yeltsin and other high-ranking officials to resign. Three days remain until the parliamentary recess, and very soon deputies will leave for their constituencies to get ready for the upcoming elections. On June 22 deputies worked very hard. Out of the bills on the agenda they concentrated on those which needed a presidential veto to be overridden in order to be enacted. The work went well, and bills were enacted one by one. Some were rejected by the government, but the lower chamber did not think it necessary to heed the objections. Deputies almost unanimously enacted the law “On Free Economic Laws” and supplementary laws concerning the VAT and the turnover tax which call for creating privileged terms for new economic formations.
The Duma also took care of state employees by amending the Labor Code. Although the amendments remain to be worked out, the main task was fulfilled. Henceforth, wages are supposed to be paid no less frequently than once every half month, and the deadline for receiving vacation money is the day before the vacation starts. If wages are delayed by more than ten days, work may be stopped until the salary is paid. The law was passed in the second reading.
So far, only one bill out of the 33 in the IMF package has been completely blocked by the Duma, namely the law “On Gasoline Stations Taxation”. Four laws passed in the second and third readings, and 12 are being considered. The government decided to spare the strength and nerves of the deputies and rescheduled four laws for consideration in the autumn.
