27 October 2004
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatar President Visits Kazakhstan
Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev visited Kazakhstan on 27 October, meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov, and Astana Mayor Umirzak Shukeev, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported the same day. Accompanied by top-level managers of leading Tatar industries, Shaimiev will join business talks with major Kazakh officials, dedicated to further economic cooperation between Tatarstan and Kazakhstan.
Tatar Industries Report Growing Output
Tatar industries manufactured some $8.4 billion worth of goods in the first nine months of 2004, a 5.9 percent year-on-year increase, Intertat reported on 26 October. Nevertheless, despite general growth, republican industries reduced their output of plastics, timber, and bricks.
Tatneft To Join Forces With Gazprom In Siberia
Russia's Gazprom monopoly and the Tatneft oil company will join forces in 2005 to prospect the Menzenskaya Sinekliza oil and gas deposits in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Komi Republic, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russian news agencies reported on 26 October.
Chally Abolishes Long-Running Construction Project
Chally Mayor Ildar Khalikov said on 26 October that his administration is halting the construction of the city's second heating plant, AK&M reported the same day. The project was launched in 1992, when the KamAZ automotive concern was planning to boost its annual output to 150,000 trucks per year. Federal, republican, and city money, amounting to more than $9 million, has been spent on construction work, while $25 million more is required to finish the project. Meanwhile, the city's existing heating plant is operating at 80 percent of its total capacity.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi
DAILY REVIEW FROM BASHKORTOSTAN
Human Rights Defenders Ask Interior Minister To Probe Bashkir Police
The Russia-wide For Human Rights NGO has appealed to Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev, complaining of numerous human-rights violations by Bashkir police, "Vedomosti" wrote on 27 October. The organization cited a number of cases of illegal conduct, police brutality, and corruption, and emphasized how the Interior Ministry is taking few measures to combat the problem. Nevertheless, in 2004, according to the NGO, 80 Bashkir police officers have received criminal convictions for illegal conduct.
Bashkir Officials Promote New Federal Law On Individual Appeals To Government
Radii Khabirov, head of the Bashkir presidential administration, said at a meeting of the republican parliament on 26 October that his office considered around 9,500 appeals from Bashkir residents in 2003, Regnum reported the same day. Deputy parliament speaker Salavat Kusimov told the same meeting that, since 1997, Bashkortostan has had a special law on considering such appeals and, because of the law's efficiency, the federal government should consider introducing such a law.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi