Duma's spring session comes to an end

On Monday, the State Duma, or the lower house of the Russian parliament, closed its spring session.

Closing the session, State Duma Chairman Gennady Seleznyov stressed that deputies had made legislative decisions concerning important issues like the country's economic expansion, the drive to eliminate poverty, and national security.

"The State Duma solved each of these tasks in accordance with the president's State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly," said Seleznyov.

According to his words, the parliament's lower house kept receiving numerous complaints from people asking to raise the efficiency of state management, take legislative measures to ensure social protection, and increase the living standard of the population.

Touching on the most important laws the State Duma adopted during its spring session, the speaker singled out laws dealing with tax and pension reforms, a package of bills related to the railway transport reform /which the lower house passed in the first reading/, and the law concerning purchase and sale of agricultural land. "Deputies bear historical responsibility for solving a key issue like the purchase and sale of land," he emphasized.

Of other important things done by the State Duma during the spring session, the speaker named adoption of amendments to the Criminal Code about crimes committed on the securities market, adoption of a new law concerning Russia's Central Bank, a raise in the minimal salary and in money allowance for the military and for the employees of customs offices, taxation bodies, and the judicial system.

The autumn session of the State Duma opens on September 11.