#9
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
May 15, 2003
DUMA LEADERS DISCUSS MILITARY REFORMS WITH PUTIN
The president meets with Duma faction leaders
Author: Maksim Glinkin, Ivan Rodin
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

THE DUMA RATIFIED THE STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE REDUCTIONS TREATY YESTERDAY. A MEETING OF THE PRESIDENT WITH FACTION LEADERS PRECEDED THE VOTING. AT THE MEETING, THE DUMA CHIEFS HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO VOICE THEIR STANDPOINTS ON QUITE A FEW ISSUES.

The Duma ratified the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) yesterday, on which Vladimir Putin had insisted at a meeting with faction leaders Monday evening. No one had doubted the outcome of this voting though. We managed to found out that the conversation in the Kremlin also had touched upon other acute political issues, and it went on nearly three hours. In particular, Duma members and the president talked about Russia's relations with Turkmenistan and Belarus and about the governmental crisis. The issue of military reform was also raised. At that, Vladimir Putin first told Duma members to which of the scenarios he was inclined.

As was expected, Union of Right Forces (URF) Boris Nemtsov raised this topic. He gave quite uncomplimentary assessment of the army modernization scenario lobbied by the Defense Ministry and the General Staff. Nemtsov characterized the generals' plan as "sabotage" and "a blow to the prestige of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief" - since the responsibility for letting the reform fail might eventually be shifted on to the head of state. In response, Vladimir Putin said suggestions of the rightists seemed comprehensible and clear to him. From the president's words it followed: like the URF, he did not like it in the Defense Ministry plan that its realization would cause inequality among officers - those whose subordinates would be transferred to professional service would be paid a much higher salary than those commanding usual conscripts. Putin suggested that Nemtsov should try to find a common language with Sergei Ivanov, but promised that he also will talk to him. It turned out this subject interested the president so much that even after the meeting was over he held Nemtsov back and once again discussed some positions with him.

At the same meeting, the URF leader handed Vladimir Putin a petition drawn up by the URF that covered details of all flaws in the Defense Ministry reform scenario. Besides the mentioned drawback (the probable tension amidst officers because of inequality in remuneration), the URF pointed out that the generals' program did not eventually solve the problem of transferring the entire army to professional service, as only one quarter of the personnel would be recruited under contract. The problem of abuse in the army will not be resolved. At the same time, it is planned to spend 138 billion rubles, which is unrealistic proceeding from the present potential of the federal budget. The URF called on the head of state to turn back to considering their plan: transferring 400,000 military personnel to service under contract, at a cost of 30-35 billion rubles. A source in the URF leadership told us that if their plan was rejected and the generals refused to compromise, the URF would demand Sergei Ivanov's dismissal. "We have thought through a series of measures to make the authorities heed this demand," the source told us.

Meanwhile, at the meeting with the president Grigory Yavlinsky raised the issue of dismissing the entire Cabinet. He related a vast list of grievances Yabloko people had concerning Kasianov's government - beginning with nuclear waste importation and ending with tax and administrative reforms being delayed. The president replied with one remarkable phrase to Yavlinsky's ardent speech: "One cannot but agree with a lot of this."

After the main meeting, the president received Gennady Raikov. While commenting on this meeting to us, People's Deputy group leader said he had "exchanged his views with the president on some economic and political problems of the country." "Our standpoints coincides in some things, and they did not in others," Raikov said. "We arranged anther meeting in ten days or so, after which the whole our group will possibly talk to the president."

Just as communist leader Gennady Zyuganov promised at the meeting with the president, the Duma leftists voted against ratifying the SORT yesterday. They insisted on shifting the discussion of this subject on to another day. However, the communists were unable to change the mind of the centrist majority. As a result, 294 deputies voted for ratification, 134 being against.

(Translated by P. Pikhnovsky)

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