President Putin: Functions of state authorities must be radically reduced

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that functions of the state authorities must be radically reduced.

"Our bureaucracy should not be convinced to reduce its demands, they must be legally limited," the Russian president stated in his annual state-of-the-nation address.

"Functions of the state authorities must also be significantly reduced on the basis of the check-up completed by the governmental committee as well as the decisions aimed at dividing all authorities between the levels of power and ensuring their financial independence," the Russian leader pointed out.

"The Russian bureaucracy has turned out to be badly prepared for the development and realisation of decisions adequate to the country's modern demands. And on the contrary, it has quite well adjusted to take so-called administrative advantages of the situation, the Russian president stated.

He recalled that the state's inefficiency had been discussed as early as three years before. It was stressed then that the state's weakness invalidated all economic and other reforms.

"Today our bureaucracy has vast authorities, but their number still does not comply with the quality of the power," the president stated.

"Such power to a great extent originates from nothing else but the excessive number of functions of the state authorities," the Russian head of state believes.

According to the president, despite the vast number of officials, the country is currently suffering from a severe professional crisis. "This crisis is felt at all levels, in all power structures. This is a hunger for modern efficient managers," Putin stated.

"The above-mentioned information forms a background for conducting an administrative reform, vitally important for the country." The president also recalled that the government had checked the functions performed by all ministries and departments. Their number amounted to 5,000. "However, during this work we found out that nearly every authority believed that its functions should not be reduced but extended at the expense of similar authorities," Mr. Putin said, pronouncing the word "extended" by syllables.