Stop Political Gambles Round Russian Land Code, Calls Putin

It is high time to put an end to political gambles round the new Land Code all over Russia, calls President Vladimir Putin. The Land Code, presently getting through parliament, does not concern farmland, whose turnover presents a separate theme which demands great attention and the utmost caution, the federal President said in an opening address to the State Council Presidium as it gathered in Orenburg, provincial centre in South Siberia. Normal market relations offer the best possible way to settle the farmland issue--but then, Russia cannot form such relations overnight, said President Putin as he called to make due account of landtillers' social status, living standards and historical background, and Russians' love of land. Overall investment terms are also to reckon with alongside the state's ability to implement laws and cope with its own pledges. Major reforms are out of place before the entire range of above problems are settled, remarked the President as he appealed for thorough calculations and warned against headlong moves. The landholding reform needs thorough elaboration, said Vladimir Putin as he called the conferees to come up with practical initiatives.