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Worries
Grow Over Housing Reforms
By Caroline McGregor, The Moscow Times, July 26, 2004
Galina Khovanskaya, a State Duma deputy who specializes
in housing issues, is one of the draft code's main
critics. She worries that, precisely because of its
confusing ambiguity, the new code will serve to worsen
the already wide gap between Russia's rich and poor.
Cold
Citizens Not Warm To Price Reform
By Vladimir Kovalev, St. Petersburg Times, May 28,
2004
Some will say more money is needed to fix the system,
and therefore charges must be raised. If I thought
the extra money would be well spent, I would have
to agree, but my recent experience does not give me
any hope.
Before
elections, Russians feel the cold
By Oliver Bullough, Reuters, November 17, 2003
Six-month-old Vika Vikhreva died of pneumonia after
three freezing weeks in an unheated house.
YABLOKO
party pledges to defend utilities customers
RTR television channel, September 18, 2003
Grigory Yavlinsky:
The idea is that citizens should pay only for what
they receive in the form of housing and municipal
services.
Monopolists
Are Being Put on the Meter
By Ksenia Veretennikova, Vremya Novostei, September
12, 2003
Yesterday the YABLOKO party disclosed to journalists
the results of its action "Let's Put Monopolists
on the Meter" which aimed to indicate toYABLOKO
activists whether the utilities’ tariffs were
fair.
Citizens'
Payment for Water Exceeds the Real Costs by 3.5 Times
By Mikhail Dichev, Finansoviye Izvestia, September
12, 2003
If the person did not live in the flat and correspondingly
did not use water, a fairly high figure still appeared
on the bill.
YABLOKO:
Russian citizens pay on average three to five times
too much for housing and utilities services
Rosbalt, September 11, 2003
According to Yavlinsky, the preliminary results of
the "Let's Put Monopolists on the Meter"
action conducted in Russia's regions by the Russian
Democratic Party YABLOKO demonstrated that real consumption
of water in houses and flats was far lower than the
amount envisaged by standard rates - from 1.5 to 7
times less.
Russia:
Duma Opens For Last Pre-Election Session
By Sophie Lambroschini, RFE/RL, September 9, 2003
Sergei
Mitrokhin: ...it was time for the government to
take responsibility for the annual crisis instead
of pushing it into the hands of local authorities.
Who
Is for the People?
IA MIK, September 9, 2003
The Duma majority is not interested in preparing the
country for the winter.
"We'll
arrange the trial of the century for RAO UES"
By Boris Sapozhnikov, gazeta.ru, September 2, 2003
"I cannot believe that Nemtsov and Khakamada
know nothing of PR-campaigns that require such huge
expenses, worthy of being included in the Guinness
Book of Records."
Altai
District. YABLOKO to put the monopolists on the meter
AMITEL Information Services, August 12, 2003
A network of public control committees defending citizens'
rights in areas where monopolists dominate (the housing
and utilities sector, electricity and communications)
will be developed.
Russians
complain about housing and utilities
ITAR-TASS, July 27, 2003
The All-Russia Public Opinion Foundation carried out
a survey, revealing that 85 per cent of Russians pay
for housing and utilities regularly and on time, but
are dissatisfied with their poor quality.
Russia's
living nightmare: Communal dwellings in St Petersburg
bring together the most unlikely housemates
By Joseph Dunn, Sunday Times (UK), July 27, 2003
...She brought her entire family up in one room, and
recalls washing her children in the communal kitchen
sink.
Housing
and Utilities Elections Russian Regions Vote for
a Taming of Housing and Utilities Managers
By Natalia Ratiani, Izvestia, July 22, 2003
Today Russian voters are more concerned about the
performance of the housing and utilities services
rather than democratic liberties, and they will be
more eager to vote for parties that propose a way
out of the vicious circle in housing and utilities
reform.
RCS
Sets $200M Profit Target
By Alla Startseva, The Moscow Times, June 25, 2003
It didn't officially exist before last month and won't
actually start working until next month, but the nation's
newest big-ticket consortium is already expecting
to net a tidy profit of up to $200 million next year.
Yakovlev
Gets a Top Post in Moscow
By Vladimir Kovalev, The Moscow Times, June 17, 2003
President Vladimir Putin appointed St. Petersburg
Governor Vladimir Yakovlev as a deputy prime minister
Monday and put him in charge of reforming the country's
housing and utilities sector.
The
Housing and Utilities Sector Reform for Monopolies
By Sergei Mitrokhin, Trud-7, April 24, 2003
The Federation Council voted for the governments'
draft law on housing and utilities sector reform.
It can be summed up as follows: subsidies to enterprises
in the housing and utilities sector should be liquidated
and replaced with subsidies to households with small
incomes from budgets at all levels.
YABLOKO
Against Monopolists
Delevoi Peterburg, April 15, 2003
According to Yavlinsky, the crux of this approach
can be summed up as follows. Owing to constant tariff
increases, in particular electricity prices and pressures
from rolling blackouts, make the whole sector a debtor
of RAO UES; and then privatize the key structures
of the housing and communal services sector and the
whole infrastructure of the sector in general.
Duma
gives final approval to a controversial draft law
on housing and communal services reform
By: Marina Sokolovaskaya, Gazeta.ru, April 9, 2003
In view of the forthcoming parliamentary elections
many deputies found it difficult to vote in favour
of a law that, when enacted, is likely to complicate
the lives of their electorate.
People's
Deputies: in the Hall and at Home
By Irina Gordiyenko, Novaya Gazeta, April 7, 2003
Recently the State Duma rejected the draft address
to the President of Russia to repeal certain provisions
of the housing and communal service sector reform
and finalise the draft for wage system reform. Strangely
enough, many factions that had protested against the
"criminal policies of the regime", simply
sabotaged this important vote.
The
State Duma declined the draft address to the President
of Russia on abolishing the provisions envisaging
an accelerated transfer to 100% payment of housing
and communal services
Finmarket Novosti, April 3, 2003
At the plenary meeting of the Duma (on March 2, 2003)
164 deputies voted for the draft address prepared
by deputy from the YABLOKO faction Sergei
Mitrokhin against a required minimum of 226 votes.
President
does not know what draft laws are discussed by the
State Duma
Rosbalt, February 3, 2003
St. Petersburg. February 3, 2003. "President
does not dispose of all available information on draft
laws submitted to parliament," stated deputy
of the State Duma Sergei Mitrokhin in comments on
Vladimir Putin's statement regarding energy sector
reform and reform in the housing and communal sector
made during a meeting with Chairman of the State Duma
Gennadi Seleznyov on January 29, 2003.
Russia:
Arctic Cold Leaves Tens Of Thousands Without Heat
By Gregory Feifer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
January 9, 2003
Tens of thousands of people across Russia have been
left without central heating as temperatures in some
regions drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius and even
lower. The cold is also taking lives -- mostly those
of homeless people who freeze to death outside.
The
Whirlpool of Reforms, Structural reforms have obviously
become unpopular with Putin's team
By Kirill Rogov, Vedomosti, December 2002
Today it is possible to say that the major structural
reforms announced by the Putin administration when
it came to power would be postponed until Putin's
next term in office.
Duma
Succumbs to the Government's Version of Housing Sector
Reform
gazeta.ru, By Marina Sokolovskaya, Artyom Eiskov,
December 2, 2002
After concerted efforts by the government and the
pro-Kremlin Duma majority, the much-disputed package
of draft laws on reform of the nation's dilapidated
and heavily subsidized housing and municipal utilities
sector has eventually received the approval of the
lower house. On Friday 244 deputies voted for the
draft law, once again pledging unswerving allegiance
to the Kremlin.
Duma
Approves Housing Reform in First Reading
The Moscow Times, December 2, 2002.
After failing to pass housing reform two days earlier,
the State Duma mustered enough votes to pass a government-drafted
bill to phase out subsidies for gas, electricity and
water in the first reading Friday.
By
5 Votes, Duma Nixes Housing Reform Bill
The Moscow Times, By Alla Startseva, November 28,
2002.
In a vote that took the Kremlin by surprise, the usually
obedient State Duma on Wednesday narrowly rejected
a government-drafted bill to reform the housing sector
by phasing out subsidies for electricity, water and
gas.
Housing
and Communal Sector Reforms Postponed by Yavlinsky
gazeta.ru, By Marina Sokolovskaya, November 19, 2002
The first reading of the draft law on the fundamentals
of the federal housing policy has been postponed.
The State Duma Council refused to discuss the draft
at its session on Tuesday, let alone to include it
in the agenda of this week's plenary session even
after the president's opinion on the law became known.
Thus, one of the most important issues – housing
reform - has been put on hold again.
The governmental programme shifts the
burden of the housing and communal reform to the population
Rosbalt, February 19, 2002
In accordance with the programme proposed by the Government,
the burden of housing and communal reform will be
shifted to the population. Such an opinion was expressed
by Sergei Mitrokhin, member of the State Duma from
the Yabloko faction. According to Mitrokhin, "the
burden of the reform should be divided between the
budget, population and housing-and-communal services."
Now the Government virtually proposes fiscal, rather
than structural reform, he noted.
Yabloko Offers Alternative Conception
of Housing and Communal Reform
RIA "OREANDA", January 25,
2002
Moscow. The Russian Democratic Party "Yabloko"
and its faction in the State Duma continue advocating
a review of the state programme of housing and communal
reform.
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