First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Sobyanin (2nd left)entered the room and, as in Vladimir Putin’s presidency, that was a signal that Putin would arrive within minutes.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Russia without Development Concept, U.S. at Fault
The session of the government called by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to approve a long-term development concept for Russia through 2020 was held yesterday without approving the concept. The meeting was delayed as the prime minister finished last minute details in his office. It was announced that the meeting would begin in 15 minutes, and the ministers stood up and began to walk around but, instead of beginning the meeting after that, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin and them Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova were called into the prime minister’s office, where they spent 20 minutes.
Finally, the ministers returned and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Sobyanin entered the room and, as in the time of Putin’s presidency, that was a signal that Putin would arrive within minutes.
It was clear that the Finance Ministry’s point of view had triumphed over the Economic Development Ministry’s in the formulation of the concept. The single social tax will be replaced by insurance fees. The tax burden on business will grow as employers’ contribution to social taxes (renamed insurance fees) rises from 26 to 34 percent. The biggest battle between the ministries, over the VAT, remains undecided, however. The only decision made so far is not to change the VAT (which the Economic Development Ministry wants lowered) for another year.
Putin commented about the conditions the government was working in that “Russia has long been part of the world economy and everything that is happening began in the United States. That’s where the real crisis began and now we see that they are unable to make adequate decisions… It is already more than the irresponsibility of individual persons, it is the irresponsibility of the system that is not only unable to maintain its declared leadership in the world economy, but unable to make adequate decisions!”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 02, 2008
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