One of the leaders of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma, Sergei Ivanenko, together with the Deputy Head of the “Fatherland-All Russia” faction (OVR) Vyacheslav Volodin, prepared and submitted to the State Duma a draft resolution on the establishment of a commission to investigate the accident with the “Kursk” submarine.

According to Ivanenko (in an interview with the “Ekho Moskvy” radio station on September 6, 2000), the draft will be discussed at a meeting of the State Duma Council on September 7.

Ivanenko also said that the initiative to establish this commission had also been proposed by other deputies, in particular Chairman of the Duma Committee on Defence Andrei Nikolayev.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Alexander Shishlov says that a parliamentary commission may be established to investigate the accident with the nuclear submarine “Kursk”

Telegramme of Grigory Yavlinsky to the Headquarters of the Northern Fleet

Yabloko proposes establishment of a State Duma commission to investigate the situation around “Kursk”

Catalogue of lies that added to tragedy

The Yabloko faction insists on an independent parliamentary enquiry into the causes of the “Kursk” submarine disaster

The Deputy Head of the Sub-committee of the State Duma on the Central Bank (the Budget Committee) Mikhail Zadornov (the Yabloko faction) said in an interview with journalists on September 6 that budget revenues or 2000 may amount to 1.1 trillion roubles.

According to Zadornov, even the most conservative estimates yield this figure.

Zadornov thinks that budget revenues for 2000 will exceed the level forecast by the government, which is slightly over 1 trillion roubles, in particular their budget indicator of 800 bln roubles.

Zadornov thinks that this year the government has also underestimated GDP estimates. According to Zadornov, economic growth this year will exceed 6%. GDP growth in the first half of the year amounted to 7.5%, compared to GDP for the first half of 1999.

Zadornov believes that the budget for 2000 also understates the level of

inflation. Its budget index amounts to 18%, whereas by the end of the year inflation may reach 21-22%, and 2-2.5% in September-December.

As the budget will receive additional revenues this year, amounting to at least $10-11 bln, in autumn 2000 the government must make amendments to the budget, which stipulate the breakdown of such additional revenues. Zadornov thinks that we can already state today that $5.5 bln will replace foreign loans projected by the budget, which were not granted to Russia.

Zadornov believes that part of the funds will be allotted to covering the debt of the Ministry of Finance to the Central Bank. However, this will amount to only 15 bln roubles. Another part of the additional revenues will be allotted to financing of the military operation in Chechnya, as well as additional transfers to the regions.

Based on Interfax reports.

The Chairman of the Subcommittee of the State Duma on the Central Bank (the Budget Committee) Mikhail Zadornov thinks that the inflation rate stated in the budget-2001 is understated. Zadornov made this statement in an interview with journalists on September 7, 2000.

The draft budget for 2001 “obviously understates” the level of inflation

-12% , inflation will be considerably higher 15-18%, said Zadornov.

He thinks that at a real inflation level of 15-18%, GDP will total in 2001 at least 8 trillion roubles (7.74 trillion roubles in the draft budget for 2001).

At the same time Zadornov notes that it is impossible to forecast the average rouble/dollar rate for 2001, as it remains unclear what kind of monetary policy will be adhered to.

According to Zadornov, the draft budget for 2001 fails to answer the main question: “What should be done with the balance of payments surplus and the excess money supply?”. Zadornov stressed that the vagueness surrounding monetary policy rendered all budget forecasts unclear.

Zadornov also thinks that the main parameters of the draft budget for 2001 are considerably understated and that this issue will be discussed by the Budget Committee of the Duma.

Next year, stressed Zadornov, we will obviously have additional budget revenues. In this case, according to Zadornov, it is necessary to form a

budget including a balance of payments surplus amounting to 70-80 bln roubles (about 1% of GDP). Zadornov thinks that this should be done, as in 2001 “we cannot rely on IMF loan” and foreign loans should be replaced by budget revenues.

Zadornov expressed his conviction that the draft budget for 2001 would be adopted. “Nobody doubts that the present Duma will adopt the budget,” stressed Zadornov.

At the same time he noted that it was unlikely that the first reading on the draft budget could be held on September 22. Zadornov believes that it is more likely to be held at the beginning of October, once most of the deputies have examined the document and the Duma has received a draft of

monetary policy from the Central Bank of the RF.

Zadornov also expressed his hope that the State Duma and the Government would be able to reach a compromise on disputed budget items. Such items

would, claimed Zadornov, concern first of all redistribution of financial aid between the federation subjects. While the scheme proposed by the government on the one hand placed the regions on an equal footing in terms of assistance, it might at the same time lead “to a wave of refusal by the regions to fulfil their obligations,” noted Zadornov.

Zadornov said the expenditures on defence and the interior may also be disputed. He also noted that it was unrealistic to think that military expenditure may be raised to 3% of GDP. He called such declarations “pure politics”, linked to a certain political moment. “In military expenditure we should increase expenditure on only one item – the state order on defence,“ added Zadornov.

He also expressed his concern that less than 20% of total military will be allotted to the development of weapons, while all the rest will be “eaten up”. Zadornov thinks that in 2001 the Ministry of Defence “will turn into a social ministry … supporting people in uniform”.

Based on Interfax reports.

The Yabloko faction will work on draft laws in accordance with its plan for legislative work, including 79 draft laws, which was approved in spring 2000. This decision was taken at the first meeting of the faction held on September 7, 2000.

Currently 20 draft laws prepared by Yabloko have been submitted to the State Duma and examined by Duma committees; 19 draft laws are being prepared and undergoing expert review by working groups of Yabloko.

The deputies of the Yabloko faction determined five priority directions for their work in the autumn session of the Duma.

• The budget for 2001and corresponding amendments to tax laws. As was the case last year, the faction will propose comprehensive solutions embracing the main items of the budget of the country for the next year. According to Yabloko’s experts, the government considered in its draft budget for 2001 about 70% of Yabloko’s proposals from Yabloko’s alternative draft budget for 2000.
• Work with the Second Part of the Tax Code.
• Development of the laws “On Political Parties” and “On Elections”.
• Traditional Yabloko work over the development of the Production Sharing Agreement legislation.
• The faction will submit its draft of the Civil Legal Procedural Code to the State Duma

Yabloko will also spare no efforts to ensure that the Duma adopts at its

second reading the amendment to the Constitution on the parliamentary investigation: otherwise the deputies of the Yabloko faction believe that the efficiency of work of the parliamentary commission on the investigation of the “Kursk” submarine accident will be low.