Federation Council to assist Chechnya in restoring parliamentary system

The Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, intends to set up a working group to undertake "comprehensive assistance in restoring the parliamentary system in Chechnya".

The group's set up will be discussed on May 27th at a session of the Presidium of the Legislators' Council that comprises the heads of all legislatures from Russian regions, the Federation Council's deputy speaker Alexander Torshin reported.

The creation of a two-chamber parliament is especially important for Chechnya, "a region where the situation is especially difficult and so far is economically and politically unstable," Torshin said when speaking at an international seminar in Moscow.

"The two-chamber parliament will allow Chechnya to work out and adopt the most important laws necessary to create structures of power in the republic as soon as possible," he pointed out.

The deputy speaker emphasised the necessity to set up a working group to prepare an agreement on separation of powers between the federal centre and the Chechen republic. "The adoption of the agreement is crucial for earliest stabilisation of the situation in Chechnya," he said.

The agreement should specify the main clauses of the Chechen constitution and to stipulate the exact mechanisms of fulfilling it," Torshin believes.