Russian Federation

[RU] Statutes Supporting the Press to be Extended

IRIS 1998-9:1/21

Andrei Richter

Comenius University (Bratislava)

On 11 June 1998 the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading a package of statutes which extend until January of 2002 the state support of the mass media in Russia. The statutes were supported by all factions in the Duma and were adopted by an overwhelming majority of the deputies (267 for with 1 against and 0 abstained).

The statutes that are to go through the second and third readings in October will extend for another three years the Statute On State Support to the Mass Media and Book Publishing in the Russian Federation which is due to expire on 1 January 1999 (on the earlier acts on state support, see IRIS 1996-3: 13). It is considered to be very likely that despite an acute economic crisis in Russia the President will sign the bill into law soon after its passage through parliament. With the deteriorating financial infrastructure and a rapidly shrinking advertising market the broadcasters and publishers depend more heavily than before on the governmentprovided uniform tax and customs relief, reduced electricity and communications tariffs, low charges for the rent of the state property - all provided by the current statutes. According to the explanatory memorandum that accompanies the bills, the statutes have slowed down the decrease of the share which informational publications and programs hold among the mass media as well as the decline in book printing.