Russia Launches Second Stage Of Legal Remake Of Federative Relations

The second stage of legal reform of federative relations has begun in Russia, said on Monday Dmitry Kozak, deputy chief of the Kremlin administration. He appeared at a Russian-French seminar in Moscow on delineating powers between organs of central and local power. Kozak said that at this stage it is planned to legally seal a more clear-cut delineation of joint jurisdictions between the three levels of power -- federal center, federation constituents and municipal formations. Switchover to the second stage has become possible, to Kozak, because "in a matter of a year, we have managed to rehabilitate operation of federal laws and the constitution in the entire country." During two days, participants in this seminar will exchange experience on problems of the distribution of power between different administrative levels in Russia and France. The seminar is held within the framework of an official visit by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to Moscow, which begins on Monday,.