MOSCOW, February 15 (AVN) - The State Duma defence committee has drafted an appeal to acting President Vladimir Putin concerning top-priority directions of lawmaking in the spheres of defence and security in 2000, an official of the Duma press-service said on Tuesday.
The document signed by committee chairman Andrei Nikolayev says that new federal laws should only concern unsettled issues, the official told the Military News Agency. One of them is the use of Armed Forces, including for protection of Russia's territorial integrity, another is the use of raw recruits in trouble spots. The committee believes that the Constitution and Russian legislation are contradictory in these issues.
The appeal urges Putin to define "main aims and directions of Russia's political, economic and social development in the near future (three to four years) and in 2001" by the beginning of next year's Duma session, the official said. Besides, it recommends drafting and submitting to the Duma amendments to the Constitution which would regulate the use of army, including for protection of Russia's constitutional order and territorial integrity.
The committee also urged to speed up the work on tabled constitutional bills concerning martial law and state of emergency and introduce a bill on alternative military service already this year.