Wednesday, Mar 03, 2004
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By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW, MARCH 2. The Russian Prime Minister-designate, Mikhail Fradkov, is going to overhaul the structure of the Cabinet, cutting the number of Deputy Premiers and Ministers and streamlining their functions. "The smaller the government machinery, the more efficient it is," Mr. Fradkov said at consultations with legislators ahead of Friday's debate on his confirmation as Prime Minister. He told MPs that the number of Ministries will be reduced to 14 or 16 from 24 and they would oversee sectors of the economy, rather than separate industries as they did until today. The pro-government party, United Russia, which controls a two-thirds majority in the State Duma, the Lower House of Parliament, said it would support Mr. Fradkov's appointment as Prime Minister. Mr. Fradkov, nominated for the post by the President, Vladimir Putin, on Monday, said today he would appoint the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alexander Zhukov, as his deputy in a further indication of that radical reformers may be sidelined in the Cabinet. The nomination of Mr. Fradkov and Mr. Zhukov, who have a reputation of moderate reformers to the top two positions in the Government is a setback for radical liberals in the outgoing cabinet — the Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, and the Economic Minister, German Gref. Both reportedly hoped to strengthen their positions in the new Cabinet after Mr. Putin sacked the Prime Minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, last week. Some analysts even predicted that Mr. Kudrin may become Prime Minister. Communists today said they would vote against the appointment of Mr. Fradkov. They also refused to hold consultations with him, claiming he did not have any programme of action.
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