MOSCOW, July 6 (AVN) - The defence committee in the State Duma lower house of parliament will consider 22 bills during the Duma's autumn session, committee chairman Andrei Nikolayev said on Friday.
During the spring session the commiteee elaborated 37 bills for which it is made responsible, Nikolayev told the Military News Agency. Another 16 bills are being elaborated
Two bills were passed on the first reading, one on the second and six on the third, Nikolayev went on. President Vladimir Putin signed five of them. Another 55 bills on issues within the committee's range of competence have become outdated and were withdrawn from further consideration.
The approved laws aim to increase social protection of servicemen, people who have retired from military service and their family members, as well as to improve legislation on liability to bear arms and military service, the lawmaker stressed. According to him, the most important laws were "On Martial Law", "On Basics of Alternative Military Service" and "On Legal Status and Fiancnial-Economic Activity of Military Organisations."
The committee elaborated 40 reviews on bills submitted for expert examination. It wrote 31 appeals to Putin, 116 letters and appeals to the Russian government. Besides, the committee implemented 22 resolutions and instructions of the Duma and responded to 218 letters of the people.
Nikolayev went on to say that the committee initiated parliamentary hearings on the legal status and financial-economic activity of military organisations, on state and development prospects of the Russian nuclear forces, and on rear support of the Armed Forces.
The committee held three extramural sessions, one in the Space Troops centre of spacecraft tests and management, another in the Energomash research and production enterprise and the third in the Burdenko military clinical hospital.
During the spring session the committee received 17 foreign delegations including led by defence ministers of France, Syria and Norway. It held 14 meetings with ambassadors of foreign nations to discuss pressing issues of international security.