Putin wins fight to rein in governors

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, JULY 26. The Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, has won a major victory in his battle to tighten control over provinces, with the Upper House of Parliament giving a final approval to the chamber's overhaul that would strip regional bosses of their parliamentary seats.

The Upper House, the Federation Council, voted 119-18 to endorse a Kremlin-drafted bill replacing regional governors and heads of local legislatures who make up the chamber with appointed legislators. The bill also strips the regional leaders of immunity from criminal prosecution.

The Federation Council vetoed the bill last month and pushed for its revision in talks with the State Duma. Under a compromise formula, the regional leaders can keep their Upper House seats until early 2002, instead of having to leave early next year, and will be able to recall their representatives in the Federation Council if supported by two-thirds of the local legislature.

Overall, the bill deprives the regional leaders of much of their political clout both on the regional and federal levels. On Wednesday, the Federation Council conceded defeat only because senators realised that the State Duma would easily override their second veto.

Last week, the Lower House overrode the Federation Council's veto on another bill proposed by the Kremlin that would allow the President to fire governors who violate federal laws. The will now take effect as soon as Mr. Putin signs it.

Mr. Putin has argued he needs more control over the regions to fight separatist tendencies in the provinces, when local bosses set up economic barriers and violate federal laws. Regional leaders warn the Kremlin wants to dispense with the Upper House which has been more independent from the government than the Lower Chamber.

``Such a disproportionate concentration of power in the hands of a single person and the destruction of the system of checks and balances, is very dangerous for democracy and for the fate of parliamentarism in Russia,'' said Mr. Nikolai Fyodorov, leader of the central Russian republic of Chuvashia.

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Section  : International
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