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DATE=6/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA REFORMS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263259
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  Russia's President Vladimir Putin is 
encountering opposition in parliament to several key 
legislative initiatives. VOA's Peter Heinlein in 
Moscow reports that Mr. Putin suffered a rare setback 
when he was forced to ask lawmakers to delay their 
debate on portions of a tax reform bill.
TEXT:  President Putin's honeymoon with parliament may 
be over.  Exactly one month after he was sworn in, 
many Russian lawmakers seem to be putting aside their 
early spirit of cooperation and preparing to fight 
proposed reforms.
Last month, Mr. Putin called for a dramatic shakeup in 
the upper house of parliament, the federation council. 
The plan calls for stripping governors and heads of 
regional legislatures of their seats in the house and 
replacing them with appointed legislators.
In their first meeting since the proposal was 
announced, members of the federation council vented 
their fury.  Ruslan Aushev, governor of the southern 
republic of Ingushetia, called the idea an insult to 
voters who elected their representatives.
       /// AUSHEV ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ////
Governor Aushev says, "Don't make us useless.  We have 
been elected legally.  So don't use us as something to 
wipe your feet on."
Governor Alexander Rutskoi of the Kursk region said 
President Putin's plan would undermine the balance of 
powers among the branches of government.
       /// RUTSKOI ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO.///
Governor Rutskoi says, "The foundation on which 
government's power is based is being shifted.  The 
upper house is being destroyed."
The lower house, or Duma, also witnessed opposition to 
a key reform measure, this one to streamline the tax 
system. Some lawmakers and trade unions say parts of 
the proposed reform will result in cutting social 
benefits to workers and pensioners.  
The outcry was so strong that the government was 
forced to ask for a delay in the debate on a 
controversial new social security tax law.
As unions held protest demonstrations outside 
parliament and Communist lawmakers denounced the 
proposal, President Putin's envoy to the Duma asked 
that consideration of the measure be postponed until 
Friday to allow time for amendments. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/GE/ENE/KL
07-Jun-2000 11:19 AM EDT (07-Jun-2000 1519 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.