People have long been saying that one of Russia’s biggest problems is its huge army of powerful bureaucrats. There have been attempts in various quarters to do battle with the bureaucracy, but so far without result. This is hardly surprising given that the bureaucrats are essentially being asked to cut back and reform their own ranks. No wonder they are busy extolling the successes of debureaucratization even though nothing has been done.

But the public, especially its more active and influential part – the business community – isn’t giving the bureaucrats any peace. The Kremlin has taken the side of the public and intends to pearl jewelry wholesale join the battle against the country’s octopus-like bureaucracy, which is a breeding ground for corruption.

The Duma will examine a package of draft laws on administrative reform and local-authority reform on Friday. The package was drawn up by a commission headed by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak. Also this week, President Vladimir Putin met with representatives of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) to discuss administrative reform.

The meeting was in danger of not going ahead because tycoon Alexander Mamut, the RSPP official who was going to be the main speaker, fell ill. But the RSPP decided not to risk postponing the meeting, all the more so as it had been six months since the last one.

One of the participants in the meeting said the RSPP members were happy with its results. Putin admitted that the efforts to cut back bureaucracy have had no result, but that there is nonetheless determination to hack away at the roots of corruption by removing the various administrative barriers that are its fertile soil. Putin also invited the meeting’s participants to get directly involved in preparing and implementing administrative reform.

The best news for the RSPP was that Putin spoke in favor of further tax cuts. This was seen as a major statement, especially as it comes amidst sharp debate in the government between Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who wants to postpone further tax cuts.

But even with such high-placed support, administrative reform will still be a difficult matter, especially in an election year. Many deputies count not so much on their voters to reelect them as on the so-called "administrative resource" – support from the authorities – which, going by past experience, is known to perform all sorts of miracles.

The Kremlin wants a unified party system

Putin held another important meeting this week, this time with the heads of the regional legislative assemblies in the Federation Council. Two things were on the agenda: Local-authority reform and a new electoral system for regional legislative assemblies.

Putin called for a more responsible approach and an end to twisted pearl necklace unrealistic promises. The problem is that local authorities often put forward initiatives that have a good propaganda effect but don’t take into account what the budget can actually afford. Putin calculated that fulfilling all these announced promises would cost 6.5 trillion rubles – more than double the entire Russian budget.

On the question of election procedures, Putin spoke in favor of a mixed system for regional legislative elections that would be the same as the federal system and would see half the deputies stand in single-seat districts and half from party lists. Putin said this would make deputies more accountable and that voters should know not only whom they are voting for but also their particular ideological platform.

It might be regional elections that are under discussion, but the motives behind the new proposals lie more at the federal level. The Kremlin is pursuing its idea of forming a clearly defined party-based political system, and strengthening the role of parties in the regions and making them work more actively with voters is a part of this overall project.

There is a risk, however, in today’s political environment. The problem is that the party best-prepared to work at grassroots level with voters in the regions is the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Reliable sources say that the Communists recently received a considerable new inflow of financial aid and have hired a good team of analysts. The Communists have clear positions on various issues and have a lot of experience at grassroots work.

As for Kremlin favorite United Russia, it suffers from the traditional ailments of "parties of power" – formalism and a lack of clear ideas. Many, including the more ideologically committed among the party’s members, recognize this and say the party needs a purge. They were saying the same thing a year ago, but now time is running short, and United Russia can’t afford to take the risk of an upheaval within its ranks . If it’s called "United," it should make a show of unity, after all; otherwise, its image just won’t hold up. Polls back this up: Its rating fell from 27-28 percent to 14-15 percent a few weeks ago after a reshuffle at the top. United Russia is not yet sufficiently well-known as a brand to pearl strand wholesale be independent of specific names and market fluctuations.

(Ekaterina Larina is assistant editor of The Russia Journal. E-mail Katya at katya@russiajournal.com)

PRAGUE - U.S. President George W. Bush hastened to reassure Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO's freshly christened expansion to Russia's western border poses no threat and that Moscow's economic interests will be honored in any postwar Iraq.

Bush was making a brief trip to St. Petersburg on Friday, the morning after NATO agreed to expand its membership into the territory of the former Soviet Union.

"I will tell my friend, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian people that they, too, will gain from the security and stability of nations to wheat pearl Russia's west," Bush said before traveling to Catherine Palace for an 80-minute meeting with Putin.

"Russia does not require a buffer zone of protection; it needs peaceful and prosperous neighbors who are also friends."

Referring to the human rights and counterterrorism agenda he planned to press with Putin, Bush added, "We need a strong and democratic Russia as our friend and partner to face the next century's new challenges."

Asked by LNK-TV of Lithuania whether he trusts Putin, Bush replied, "Of course I do."

The president and first lady Laura Bush were to be on the ground in Russia just 2$ hours before going to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to celebrate the Baltic nations' invitation to join NATO in 2004.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, former Soviet states nestled along the Russian border, were among the seven ex-communist countries offered NATO membership at this week's alliance summit in Prague.

"The Baltic countries know what it means to live under fear and the lack of freedom and to have these countries be allied with the United States and other nations is important to our soul. It's important to have that sense of freedom as a source of vigor and strength," Bush told LNK.

The 19 leaders of today's NATO, including staunchly anti-war Germany, also issued a unanimous pledge to help the United Nations "fully and immediately" disarm Iraq.

Russia had been reluctant to take on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because his government owes $8 billion for equipment the Soviets sold Iraq during the 1980s and its war with Iran. Bush assured the Russians on Thursday that "of course those interests will be honored" in any post-disarmament or postwar situation.

"We'll be interested in all interests. We have no desire to run the show, to run the country," Bush told Russia's NTV. "We will work to encourage the development of new leadership - should this happen - that will recognize the rights of all citizens that live in this country, that will keep the territorial integrity of Iraq intact. And we understand Russia has got interests there, as do other countries."

It was Bush's phone call to Putin this month, when the United States was seeking votes from the U.N. Security Council, that led to pearl jewelry the scheduling of Friday's trip. In that conversation, White House officials said, Putin told Bush he should come to Russia after the NATO summit, leaving unspoken - but clear to Bush - the message that the Russian people will want to be reassured that an expanded NATO means no harm to Russia.

Bush immediately accepted, without consulting his staff, the officials said.

In its summit declaration, the NATO leaders committed themselves to broadening cooperation with Russia as "equal partners."

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO's enlargement is not directed at Russia. "We leave the Cold War behind us, but we also make an investment in the future," Rasmussen said.

But at least one of the NATO newcomers - Latvia - voiced some skepticism about nationalist sentiment in Russia.

"I hope that this step will be a reminder to those forces in Russia who may still think in terms of the former Soviet empire that those days are gone," said President Vaira Vike Freiberga. "Those days are gone - they are on the dustheap of history," he said.

Bush has promised to "absolutely" raise Putin's least favorite subject, the Chechen war.

In the NTV television interview aired Thursday in Russia, Bush said Chechnya was an internal issue for Russia but that he would encourage Putin "as best I can" to gemstone necklace solve the conflict peacefully.

Putin has likened Moscow's war with Chechen rebels in the breakaway province to the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida terrorists. But Bush, acknowledging terrorist elements in Chechnya, insists the violence there is best resolved diplomatically.

Russian peace advocates say the United States has done next to nothing to push the Kremlin to initiate a peace process because Washington has been so focused on the international terror campaign, and is reluctant to alienate Putin, who has proven to be a valuable diplomatic partner.

ST. PETERSBURG - U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to put aside differences over Iraq on Sunday, looking instead to cooperation on thwarting the spread of illicit weapons in Iran and North Korea.

Even so, the two leaders remained at least partly at odds over Russia's technology assistance to Iran - help the United States claims is allowing Tehran to freshwater pearl bracelet speed development of nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful development of energy.

Putin said he needed no convincing that nuclear and other mass-killing weapons must be "checked and prevented throughout the world" in Iran and elsewhere.

But, he added, "We are against using the pretext of a nuclear weapons program of Iran as an instrument of unfair competition against us."

It was a clear reference to U.S. sanctions, and the threat of additional sanctions, against Russian companies with certain business dealings with Iran.

"Sometimes - and we have encountered this - baseless pretensions were made toward Russian companies about their cooperation with Iran," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said later. "We do speak out against such dishonorable competition and we will continue to speak out against it. "

It was a rare jarring note at an otherwise harmonious meeting - their first since the Iraq war, which Putin opposed. Bush invited Putin to the presidential retreat at Camp David this September.

At a joint news conference, they pledged cooperation in working to curb the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang and Tehran, in fighting terrorism and the spread of lethal weapons and in rebuilding Iraq.

"We strongly urge North Korea to visibly, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons program," Bush said. "We are concerned about Iran's advanced nuclear program and urge Iran to comply in full with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty."

Bush called Putin "Vladimir" and "my good friend." "Our relationship is broad," Bush said. He seemed impatient at times, though, tapping his hand on his massive desk during the news conference.

On his third visit to pearl jewelry wholesale Putin's hometown, Bush joined other world leaders in helping to celebrate St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary.

Bush and Putin celebrated in signing papers acknowledging that the legislatures of both countries had ratified the biggest single nuclear-arms reduction treaty in the history of the two powers, reducing their respective arsenals by two-thirds.

The U.S. Senate ratified the "Treaty of Moscow" earlier this year, the Russian parliament last month.

Putin even agreed to work more closely with Bush on developing missile-defense systems, completing a full 180-degree turn from his bitter 2001 opposition to Bush's plans to build a U.S. missile defense program - a move that resulted in the scrapping of a landmark 1972 nuclear-arms agreement.

In his most conciliatory words yet since his vocal opposition to the U.S. led war on Iraq, Putin said he was committed to working "in practical terms" with the United States on postwar issues. He said he fully agreed with Bush on the need for the Iraqi people to determine their own future.

"Cooperation will continue to expand and develop," Putin said.

Putin made a bid for Russian oil and other companies to bid for business deals in postwar Iraq. "Russian companies have a wealth of experience operating in Iraq," he said.

Bush said he believed the Russian leader was "committed to working for a sustainable democracy in Russia where human, political and civil rights will be fully ensured." The U.S.-Russian disagreement over going to war in Iraq "will make our relationship stronger, not weaker," Bush said.

Bush's efforts to freshwater pearl earrings mend fences with Putin came before he met with another Iraq war critic, French President Jacques Chirac, host of this year's Group of Eight summit of major industrial powers in Evian, France. However, Bush's differences with Chirac seemed to be more deep-seated than those with Putin.

In the lead-up to war, France, Russia and Germany had maintained that U.N. weapons inspections should have continued in Iraq and that diplomatic options had not been exhausted.

WASHINGTON - Congressional resentment over Russia's opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq has stalled President George W. Bush's push to lift Cold War-era trade restrictions that have long been a source of tension between the countries.

The administration wants Congress to repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions, but lawmakers have little desire to consider them anytime soon. The dispute over Iraq has added to pearl necklace wholesale previous concerns about Russian trade policies.

"Every time we take one step forward in Congress, Russia takes two steps back," said Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee, which would consider lifting the restrictions.

The trade restrictions were imposed to protest the Soviet Union's treatment of Jewish dissidents. They require the administration to send semiannual reports to Congress on Russian emigration and human rights policies for Russia to qualify for lower tariffs.

Russia views Jackson-Vanik as outdated and a hindrance to improved economic and political ties. It is also an obstacle to Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization.

Bush has urged Congress to remove Russia from Jackson-Vanik requirements. A Commerce Department spokesman, Trevor Francis, said Friday that position hasn't changed, despite differences about Iraq. "The administration has always been supportive and will always be supportive," of ending the restrictions, he said.

A bill introduced this year by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar would end the Jackson-Vanik restrictions and give Russia permanent normal trade relations.

Democrats have offered a similar bill that would also include provisions to pearl jewelry ensure that Russia makes progress on trade liberalization, religious freedom, human rights and democratic reforms. That bill was sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus ,top Democrat on the Finance Committee.

The administration had once hoped Congress would act before a summit next month between Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia. But Congress is unlikely to begin debating the bills by then - or anytime soon."

"We don't see this moving anywhere in the foreseeable future given everything that happened with Iraq," said Laura Hayes, spokeswoman for Democrats on the Finance Committee, led by Baucus.

Russia, along with France and Germany, was one of the biggest obstacles to the Bush administration's failed efforts to win U.N. support for the war against Iraq.

The poultry issue remains a bigger concern for many Democrats. Disputes over U.S. health and safety conditions have hurt U.S. poultry exports to Russia. That has contributed to a decline in prices of other meats, because freezers usually used for pork and beef have been stuffed with poultry.

Though Russia and the United States have been working out their differences, some lawmakers won't be satisfied until the dispute is resolved.

Lugar continues to pearl jewelry wholesale hope his bill will pass soon, but doesn't know its prospects, said his spokesman, Andy Fisher. "It is really in the jurisdiction of (Grassley's) Finance Committee," he said.

Grassley said in a statement he would support removing Russia from Jackson-Vanik "under the right circumstances."

"Id like to see the United States and Russia develop a closer economic and political relationship," he said. "But both countries need to be committed to get it done.

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush said he'll assure Russian President Vladimir Putin this week that Russia "has nothing to fear" from NATO expansion into territory once claimed by the Soviet Union.

Bush also said the alliance will play an increasing role in tracking down international terrorists.

"Russia is not a threat, and therefore the military strategies of NATO need to pearl jewelry wholesale be changed to recognize that new reality," Bush said Monday, previewing his trip in a round-table interview with eastern European reporters.

On Iraq, Bush promised to consult with allies over possible strikes, even though the United States is not directly seeking NATO's help in confronting Saddam Hussein.

"The NATO alliance understands this issue," Bush said. "One way or the other, he is going to be disarmed."

The president left early Tuesday for Prague, the Czech Republic's capital, for a summit of leaders of the 19 NATO nations. He will also visit Russia and prospective NATO members Lithuania and Romania on the five-day trip.

The president offered support to Putin for his handling of last month's hostage crisis in a Moscow theater that left 128 captives dead.

"He made some very tough decisions. People try to blame Vladimir, they ought to blame the terrorists," Bush said. "They're the ones who caused this situation - not President Putin."

The president noted that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in his recent audiotaped message was "praising these Muslim attacks," including the one in Moscow, and mentioned Chechnya.

"To the extent that there are al-Qaida members infiltrating Russia, they need to be dealt with, they need to be brought to pearl jewelry wholesale justice," Bush said.

The Cold War-vintage North Atlantic Treaty Organization is bringing into its fold three Baltic nations - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - once claimed by Moscow as republics of the Soviet Union, a claim never officially recognized by the United States. Three other soon-to-be NATO members, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia - were tied to the Soviet Union through the Warsaw Pact, the Kremlin-dominated alliance signed in 1955 to counter the U.S.-led NATO formed six years earlier. The other prospective new member, Slovenia, was formerly part of non-aligned Yugoslavia.

Former Warsaw Pact members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999.

"The Warsaw Pact doesn't exist," Bush said Monday. "As a matter of fact, the Warsaw Pact is becoming NATO, slowly but surely," he said in a Radio Free Europe interview.

After the Prague meeting, Bush flies to Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg - his second visit in a year.

"I'm going to Russia to make it clear to Russia and to Vladimir Putin they have nothing to fear from NATO expansion ... to explain why I think it's a positive development," Bush said.

"... There is a threat to all of us in the form of international and global terrorism, which we must be able to deal with," Bush said.

Of the seven-year long battle between Russian troops and independence-minded rebels in the small Caucasus Mountain republic of Chechnya, Bush said, "I hope Chechnya can be solved peacefully."

"I will continue to talk to pearl strand wholesale Vladimir about the need to protect and recognize the rights of minorities in any country, and at the same time deal with terrorism. I hope he can find that balance. I think he can," Bush said. Several times, Bush referred to the Russian leader by his first name.

He also praised Russia for helping to draft the strong resolution on weapons inspections in Iraq that was ultimately adopted by the U.N. Security Council. U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Iraq on Monday.

"This isn't a free pass" for Saddam, Bush said. "We expect him to disarm."

Bush will hold separate one-on-one meetings on the sidelines of the NATO summit with Czech, Turkish and French leaders and with NATO Secretary-General George Robertson - but not with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who angered Bush by opposing U.S. plans toward Iraq during his re-election bid.

Administration officials sought Monday to play down the dispute.

"He'll certainly see Chancellor Schroeder during the course of the meetings," said Secretary of State Colin Powell during a session with local high school editors. "They'll be in meetings together for two days. They will have an opportunity to exchange greetings."

Thousands of militant protesters have said they will converge on Prague during the two-day meeting. "I am mindful of what happens when a U.S. president shows up at times," Bush said. "There is going to be a lot of noise and clamor." But Bush said he had confidence that Czech authorities would maintain order.

In a separate interview with Radio Free Europe, Bush said he recognized that the new members of NATO are small and have little military might to offer the alliance. "They can contribute their love for freedom. ... It will add some vigor" to cultured pearl jewelry NATO he said.

Asked if he ever envisioned Russia as a full-fledged NATO member, Bush said, "Time will tell. The key thing is to make sure the relationship works the way it should, which really says to Russia that an expanded NATO on your border is not a threat to you or your future."

As whether he believed bin Laden was plotting another attack on the United States, Bush said, "Whether it's him or somebody else, they're plotting an attack, no question about it. That's why we've got to get them."