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which would not be considered part of any region and would be managed exclusively by the federal center.
● Mentioning God in the constitution, a suggestion made by Patriarch Kirill and supported by Communist party leader Gennady Zyuganov.
It’s not yet clear which of these proposals will make it into the final bill. Some of them were likely pushed for by the Kremlin, others emerged as rent opportunities, and yet others were born out of a desire to “work towards the president”--that is, make suggestions that politicians believe Vladimir Putin will support. Overall, they bend towards strengthening the federal centre over the regions and the president over the parliament.
But perhaps most notable is that there’s been next to no discussion about the future law on the specific prerogatives of the State Council, which Putin is expected to head after he retires from the presidency. Asked about it, co-chairman of the working group on Constitutional amendments Pavel Kreshenynnykov would only say that the Duma would most likely not vote on the law this year. It’s a card that Putin wants to keep close to his chest.
2.1 ​ ​MInsk, Moscow agree tentative oil price compensation deal
Russia and Belarus have tentatively agreed to an oil price compensation scheme after more than a year of wrangling that will minimize Belarus’ losses due to Russian tax changes, BMB reported on February 24.
Belarus has received Russian oil via a discounted formula since 2011. Minsk paid the average Urals oil price, minus an export duty and an extra discount of $3.7/ton, plus the price of transport from the Russian border to Belarusian refineries. Over the years, this pricing formula has effectively delivered a subsidy worth 3% GDP for the Belarus budget and allowed Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko to run a facsimile of the Soviet system for this people.
However, the cash strapped Russia began to change things up in 2019 and withdraw the subsidies by changing its tax system as it prepares to launched on six years of heavy spending to remake it own economy.
The Kremlin has proposed implementing the so-called oil sector tax manoeuvre that changes the way that the duties are calculated and thus ends Belarus’ subsidies.
The export duties will gradually decline by 5 percentage points annually, from 30% to zero in 2024, while mineral extraction tax will rise equivalently. The changes shift the tax burden from downstream to upstream.
As a result, Belarus is expected to lose $420-430mn in 2020, but the losses will rise in subsequent years to several billion. Lukashenko claimed compensation for the changes, but the two sides could not come to a compromise.
If and how Moscow should compensate Minsk for these losses has been the subject of much debate between the two neighbours and the primary reason they have not yet concluded a new oil agreement for 2020 after the old one expired on January 1. Currently they are operating under ad hoc arrangements.
Now this disagreement appears close to being resolved. The CEO of Rosneft was in Minsk last week to negotiate. Then on February 21 Lukashenko revealed during a meeting with the governor of Arkhangelsk that Putin had unexpectedly agreed to partially compensate Minsk for its losses to the tune of $300mn.
10​ RUSSIA Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com