Putin scores wins in Parliament

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, APRIL 19. Russia's President-elect, Mr. Vladimir Putin, scored more political victories in Parliament on Wednesday, securing final ratification of a key arms treaty, winning the dismissal of a hostile Prosecutor-General and pushing through the appointment of an ally as head of a government watchdog agency.

The Upper House of Parliament, the Federation Council, overwhelmingly ratified the START-II nuclear arms reduction treaty, approved by the Lower House, the State Duma, last week. The 1993 treaty, which would halve U.S. and Russian warheads, was approved by 122 votes against 15, with seven abstentions.

Earlier in the day, the Federation Council readily granted Mr. Putin's request to fire the country's top prosecutor, Mr. Yuri Skuratov, whose dismissal had been sought in vain for over a year by the former President, Mr. Boris Yeltsin. The Council voted 133 to 10 to approve the dismissal even though Mr. Putin did not bother to give Senators any reasons for sacking the man.

Mr. Skuratov was originally suspended by Mr. Yeltsin last year, after he began investigations into corruption in the Kremlin, including the President's immediate circles. But the Upper House four times rejected Mr. Yeltsin's request to approve the dismissal.

Today's vote is seen as a demonstration of loyalty to Mr. Putin by Russia's regional Governors who make up the Federation Council. Mr. Putin has repeatedly stressed the need to tighten control over Russia's free-wheeling regions. Over the past three months, he has replaced about one-fourth of the presidential representatives in the regions - officials assigned to enforce Federal authority.

In another victory for Mr. Putin, the State Duma appointed his ally, the former Prime Minister, Mr. Sergei Stepashin, as head of the Auditing Chamber, a Parliament-formed body overseeing budgetary spending. Mr. Stepashin's appointment was opposed by Communists, who supported reappointing the previous head of the Auditing Chamber, Mr. Khachim Kharmokov, a Communist.

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Section  : International
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