Viktor Korotayev / Reuters A bandaged Yabloko supporter shouting slogans at a rally against the social reform bill on Manezh Square on Tuesday. The sign reads, "No to Ban on Social Benefits!"

The adviser, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, also said that regional governors have been warned not to speak out against the bill if they want to be re-elected.

The State Duma on Tuesday passed the bill in its key second reading by a vote of 304 to 120, with one abstention, after the pro-Kremlin United Russia majority steamrollered through about 300 votes on packages of nearly 5,000 amendments in an eight-hour session.

Opposition and independent deputies complained about being given just 24 hours to scrutinize the amendments to the bill, and also said they were handed a new, revised version of the bill minutes before Tuesday's debate started.

Ready or not, the Federation Council also will have to vote on the bill Sunday, but the adviser said it was very unlikely to encounter any opposition there.

"Everything was done in such a hurry that we had absolutely no time to study the bill carefully, but we have to pass it anyway next Sunday, the same way the Duma has done," the adviser said. "The Kremlin has transformed both the Duma and the Federation Council into rubber stamps. It is so unfair."

Most senators and governors are against the bill because it requires the regions to make cash payments out of their budgets to war veterans, the disabled, Chernobyl cleanup workers, Leningrad siege survivors and victims of Stalinist repression, the adviser said.

"Governors complain that they don't know where to take the money from, but they won't say anything against the bill. Everyone is afraid of doing anything against the Kremlin," the adviser said.

The bill passed without encountering any heated discussions as the entire pro-Kremlin United Russia majority voted unanimously for all the amendments supported by the Kremlin, and automatically rejected amendments proposed by the opposition.

Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov recommended that deputies approve a total of 1,060 amendments and reject 3,707 others, Interfax reported.

Despite the large number of amendments to the bill, changes between the first and the second reading were largely cosmetic, with no substantial improvements, independent deputies said.

Duma deputy speaker Lyubov Sliska said that United Russia deputies voted automatically because "they were well prepared. They had carefully read everything. United Russia decided to vote unanimously."

But other deputies complained that the law, a 761-page version of which was iven to deputies to read only on Monday, was being passed with major procedural violations.

"I spent all night studying the two-volume bill we were given yesterday, but before the voting started I found out that there were three volumes and not two. This is a violation of procedures," said independent Deputy Svetlana Goryacheva.

Another independent deputy, former Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov, complained that in the latest version of the bill deputies were given just before the vote, he could not find the amendments he wanted to discuss.

"With the new version, the numbers of the amendments were mixed up," he said. "Deputies now have to automatically vote on amendments, when they do not know what they are about."

The bill, approved by the Duma in a first reading on July 2, annuls 55 laws and amends 196 more to end Soviet-era benefits to millions of retirees, military veterans, the disabled, Chernobyl cleanup workers and other socially vulnerable groups.

The Kremlin has argued that cash payments, which will be divided between the federal and regional governments, will give recipients more money in their pockets -- and ease the strain on the federal budget.

But critics fear the payments will be not enough to cover costs such as medical care, and say that cash-poor regional administrations may not be able to meet their obligations.

From January 2005, when the law is due to come into effect, recipients will be entitled to a basic cash payment of 450 rubles ($15), plus other packages of benefits of between 650 rubles to 1,550 rubles, depending on the category, Interfax reported.

From January 2006, people will be asked to choose between taking the 450 rubles in cash, or in the form of a basic package of free medicine and free electrichka rides, said Oleg Shein, a Rodina deputy.

The only real change between the first and the second readings, Shein said, is that the reforms will now be introduced in stages, rather than all together.

The bill is being promoted as a crucial part of President Vladimir Putin's efforts to implement social reforms.

Valery Bogomolov, first deputy head of the United Russia Duma faction, said that the social reform was necessary, since "80 percent of people [who are entitled] will finally get benefits. Those people know that benefits exist, but never use them. With the cash, they will decide how to spend the money themselves," he said.

Bogomolov admitted that the bill was being pushed through the Duma very quickly. "If the law does not work, we will amend it," he said. "Only with practice do you know whether laws work or not."

Amid tight security, a police cordon ringed the Duma building on Tuesday to keep the area free from protesters, and anyone approaching the building had to show a pass.

Nearly 200 mostly elderly communists demonstrated against the bill, waving red flags, while nearly 40 members of the youth wing of the liberal Yabloko party rallied near the Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station, carrying posters that read, "No to Ban on Social Benefits!" Several Yabloko activists were dressed in bandages, which they said represented the meager healthcare Russians would have after the bill was passed.

The bill is due to receive a technical third reading from the Duma on Thursday, before it goes to the Federation Council for approval and is signed into law by Putin.

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The Moscow Times, August 4, 2004