Draft Law On Petersburg's Functions As Capital Likely To Be Considered In Parliament

Chairman of the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Sergei Mironov intends to submit for consideration to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) a draft law on St. Petersburg's functions as a capital, the Federation Council Chairman told the Petersburg radio station Baltika live on Thursday. Mironov stressed that the draft law did not stipulate any special status of St. Petersburg. The essence of the draft law is to compensate the city's expenses for hosting events of all-state significance. Among such events Mironov cited the Petersburg economic forum, the Russo-German forum Petersburg Dialogue and sessions of the Interparliamentary Assembly of CIS member-countries. The draft law has been worked out by Sergei Mironov on the initiative of Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev. Now legal experts are checking the draft law. After that the Russian government should file a corresponding report and then Sergei Mironov will personally submit the draft law to the State Duma.