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// Republics
// Adygea, Republic of >>
// Altai (Gorno-Altai), Republic of >>
// Bashkortostan, Republic of >>
// Buryatia, Republic of >>
// Chechnya, Republic of >>
// Chuvashia, Republic of >>
// Dagestan, Republic of >>
// Ingushetia, Republic of >>
// Kabardino-Balkaria, Republic of >>
// Kalmykia, Republic of >>
// Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Republic of >>
// Karelia, Republic of >>
// Khakassia, Republic of >>
// Komi, Republic of >>
// Mari El, Republic of >>
// Mordovia, Republic of >>
// North Ossetia, Republic of >>
// Sakha (Yakutia), Republic of >>
// Tatarstan, Republic of >>
// Tuva, Republic of >>
// Udmurtia, Republic of >>
// Territories (Krai)
// Altai Territory >>
// Khabarovsk Territory >>
// Krasnodar Territory >>
// Krasnoyarsk Territory >>
// Primorye (Maritime) Territory >>
// Stavropol Territory >>
// Regions
// Amur Region >>
// Arkhangelsk Region >>
// Astrakhan Region >>
// Belgorod Region >>
// Bryansk Region >>
// Chelyabinsk Region >>
// Chita Region >>
// Irkutsk Region >>
// Ivanovo Region >>
// Kaliningrad Region >>
// Kaluga Region >>
// Kamchatka Region >>
// Kemerovo Region >>
// Kirov Region >>
// Kostroma Region >>
// Kurgan Region >>
// Kursk Region >>
// Leningrad Region >>
// Lipetsk Region >>
// Magadan Region >>
// Moscow Region
// Murmansk Region >>
// Nizhny Novgorod Region >>
// Novgorod Region >>
// Novosibirsk Region >>
// Omsk Region >>
// Orel Region >>
// Orenburg Region >>
// Penza Region >>
// Perm Region >>
// Pskov Region >>
// Rostov Region >>
// Ryazan Region >>
// Sakhalin Region >>
// Samara Region >>
// Saratov Region >>
// Smolensk Region >>
// Sverdlovsk Region >>
// Tambov Region >>
// Tomsk Region >>
// Tula Region >>
// Tver Region >>
// Tyumen Region >>
// Ulyanovsk Region >>
// Vladimir Region >>
// Volgograd Region >>
// Vologda Region >>
// Voronezh Region >>
// Yaroslavl Region >>
// Federal Cities
// Moscow >>
// St. Petersburg >>
// Autonomous Areas (Okrugs)
// Agin-Buryatia Autonomous Area >>
// Chukotka Autonomous Area >>
// Evenk Autonomous Area >>
// Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area >>
// Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area >>
// Koryak Autonomous Area >>
// Nenets Autonomous Area >>
// Taimyr (Dolgan-Nenets) Autonomous Area >>
// Ust-Ordynsky Buryat Autonomous Area >>
// Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area >>
// Autonomous Regions
// Jewish Autonomous Region >>
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Moscow Suburbs to Be Incorporated into City
Summer in Moscow is an amusement park ride for the weak-nerved. I noticed long ago that my acquaintances who put off their vacations begin to show clear signs of altered states of consciousness by August. And what amazing rumors arise in brains inflamed by the summer heat!
What news I heard upon returning to Moscow after two weeks. I confess that what I was most struck by was rumors about the future of our great country's capital, more exactly, what awaits our dear Muscovites and residents of the inner suburbs closer to winter. They say that, as part of the Kremlin's efforts to bolster the regions, Moscow will be joined with its suburbs to form the Capital Region. If the gossipers are right, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov will be the first victim of this movement. They say that the mayor is soon to retire and the head of the bolstered subject of the federation will be Georgy Poltavchenko, who already wears the dual hats of friend of the president and presidential representative in the Central Federal District. Now sharp tongues are saying that Moscow will expand beyond the bounds of the Ring Highway and the Central District will be squeezed into the boundaries of Podmoskovye.
It should be noted that Poltavchenko has been angling for the capital's highest office for years already. Since regional leaders are no longer elected, the native of St. Petersburg has a much greater chance to occupy that office. He has only to introduce his candidacy to the president. I am not worried about his chances. For him that is not an overreach.
It is well known that the bureaucracy decides everything. Especially the top bureaucracy. It is not surprising that there is a mass of applicants for many posts. Lots of people want to be a presidential aide. It's a good thing that vacancies in the Kremlin are pretty rare. There are always well-wishers who would rout even the most entrenched official. There was a rumor recently that the Kremlin would eject chief of the presidential administration Vladimir Kozhin in September. Last week, the ruling beau monde shocked the world with talk of the coming dismissal of presidential aide Viktor Ivanov. They say that the head of Kremlin personnel has fallen out of favor. I chock it up to the heat.
The tongue waggers seem to have a soft spot for Sergey Yastrzhembsky. They have not only decided to remove him from his post as presidential aide, but they have taken pains with the further development of his career. According to them, Yastrzhembsky has a good chance of heading up the Ministry of Culture. No one creeping around behind the power scene doubts that that ministry is in line for big changes. They say that his conflict with head of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography Mikhail Shvydkoi could cost Culture Minister Alexander Sokolov his job. And not just him.
They say that the public squabble between the two high-profile culture vultures raised the ire of Vladimir Putin, who, after seeing the first episode in that soap opera, decided to cancel the whole show. I'll give a short rundown on it for those who don't know. Two months ago, Sokolov talked on live television about the corruption that had bloomed in the Culture Ministry under his predecessor Shvydkoi, who was understandably offended and sued him. The preliminary hearing in the case was held last week and now the wags are placing their bets on who gets the sack first. I wonder if Yastrzhembsky knows that, after the reform of the state apparatus, most of the questions that will remain in the provenance of the Culture Ministry will be purely theoretical. He is not likely to be too interested in such issues as development plans for rural libraries. Shvydkoi refused a ministerial appointment once to remain in his agency post.
To round things off, let's turn to regional gossip. They say that authorities in Tatarstan have found an original way to underwrite the 1000th anniversary of Kazan celebration. Local residents have are being forced to pay tribute. The local businessmen are being most heavily dunned and, they say, the tax collectors are acting as enforcers to see that business makes its proper contribution to the people's holiday. And the tax is determined individually in every case.
They kept it simple with budget-financed employees and pensioners, they say. They just kept 250 rubles from every pension. It is a small price to pay for the gifts the residents of the republic will receive in exchange. They are opening the fist line of the city's Metro to mark its millennium, fixing up the stadium, opera, city hall, racetrack, and, on August 30, a grand concert will be held in Kazan with all the biggest stars of the Russian stage. It's all right that Tatarstan is the only region in Russia public utilities are no longer financed by the government and pensions often don't cover the cost of heating and water. You have to agree that someone has to pay to pray in the Kul-Sharif Mosque, just restored five centuries after its destruction, or Kazan's newly restored Annunciation Cathedral.
by
Elena Kiseleva
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 22, 2005
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