NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
The government has decided to hold a special session in early June to discuss the implementation of the president's annual state-of-the-nation address to the Federal Assembly. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the cabinet would not have to change economic policy to implement the address. "However, we shall have to specify some details," he said.
Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref spoke on several aspects of the address and even criticised some of them. "We need a substantiated macroeconomic policy of consistently reducing inflation to 3% a year," Vladimir Putin said in his address. "Inflation can be quickly reduced to 3%, but it is hardly expedient," thinks Gref. He said the issue of 3% had been co-ordinated with his ministry but it is only a guideline for the future.
Gref pointed out that this level need not be attained before 2008, because the economy is now being restructured. "The reduction of inflation to 3% in the next few years might put a number of reforms on ice," said the minister. As for doubling GDP, Gref thinks this task will not be fulfilled by the end of Putin's second term. "I don't think GDP can be doubled by 2008. But it can be done by 2010, as I have said." The minister added that he had instructed his staff to analyse all GDP growth factors. The work should be finished within a month.
GAZETA
Audit Chamber Chairman Sergei Stepashin, speaking in the State Duma, warned senior officials about "the appearance of a large number of criminal cases." The point is that the recently adopted amendments to the Criminal Code stipulate a seven-year prison term for the inappropriate use of budgetary resources on a grand scale. "The grand scale entails only 1.5 mln roubles," said Stepashin. (1 US dollar is worth about 29 roubles). He reminded deputies that the chamber had exposed such violations to the tune of more than 500 mln roubles in Chukotka (North West Russia), governed by Roman Abramovich.
"49 cases were instituted on the results of our inspections in 2001, 72 in 2002 and 241 in 2003," said the chamber head. The number will be even larger this year. The Audit Chamber plans to focus on the inappropriate use of budgetary resources, which means that it will inspect above all senior officials who supervise the disbursement of state money - mayors, governors, ministers and their deputies.
IZVESTIA
Russia's largest oil and gas company, Yukos, has admitted it is insolvent. The Yukos management announced on Thursday that the company does not have enough money to comply with the requests of tax agencies if the decision of the arbitration court on the payment of 99 bln roubles in tax arrears comes into force. The honest admission of looming bankruptcy makes the future of Yukos boring and predictable: the company, which has the largest oil and gas deposits among the world's private companies, is rapidly sinking.
Yukos has a month to appeal against the Moscow Arbitration Court ruling. The company has announced that it has only $800 mln available and suggested that it repay its debts in instalments or sell some of its property (for example, the shares of other companies, above all Sibneft).
However, the Yukos management and shareholders cannot do this, because its property was arrested as security for the claim of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties. If the arrest is lifted, Yukos will sell its liquid assets and repay the debt. Otherwise, there is a high probability of bankruptcy before the end of this year, says the Yukos press release.
VREMYA NOVOSTEI
Thursday saw an unprecedented event in Russian history: the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) settled their 80-year-old differences. The event was witnessed by President Vladimir Putin, who met Metropolitan Laurus (ROCOR) and Patriarch Alexis II (ROC) at his residence outside Moscow.
Negotiations between the two churches were given a boost during Putin's visit to New York last year, when the president met Metropolitan Laurus and invited him to Moscow. They were crowned in Moscow on Thursday.
"Both parts of the Orthodox Church will do their best to carry on their rapprochement," Metropolitan Laurus said. Alexis II thanked the president for ensuring the success of the talks and pointed out that in the documents they signed the ROC and the ROCOR had agreed that the church was united and "was split only temporarily by circumstances."
Vladimir Putin pointed out that "the reintegration of the Russian Orthodox Church is more than an internal church process; it is a symbol of the revival and reunification of the Russian people as a whole." The president promised to "do everything possible to create conditions for the complete revival of the Russian Orthodox Church and the restoration of its unity."
VEDOMOSTI
Seven large cinema chains in Russia have announced their unification in a non-profit partnership, Kinoalyans (Cinema Alliance). The partnership will not regulate the operation of individual cinemas, but it will lobby the interests of cinema owners and invest in new films.
The heads of the companies that joined the alliance say this is not an attempt to monopolise the market: the cinemas will not have a common screening or price policy. Their goal is to study the market (nobody can say precisely how many cinemas there are in the country) and protect the interests of cinema owners everywhere, including in state and judicial bodies.
Kinoalyans is ready to participate in filmmaking at different stages, including by providing an expert assessment of the potential commercial success of future films. The projects which the alliance plans to finance will be made public in September.
