MOSCOW, March 2, 2004. (RIA Novosti) -- Vladislav Reznik, deputy head of the United Russia faction in the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russian parliament), proposes within the framework of the on-going administrative reform to axe the number of vice-premiers in the future cabinet of ministers.
To him, the cabinet should have only one vice-premier "guiding the government apparatus and capable of holding sittings in the absence of the premier." The former cabinet, dismissed last week, had five vice-premiers.
Earlier, Duma vice-speakers Oleg Morozov and Vladimir Pekhtin of United Russia also voiced the need to cut the number of vice-premier posts.
