27 April 2004 03:40
Kozak Lays Off Staff and Raises Salaries
Cabinet chief of staff Dmitry Kozak said Monday that he will lay off 20 percent of his staff and cut the number of
White House departments from 23 to 12.
The decision -- in line with ongoing administrative reform designed to streamline the federal government -- came as
media reported that more plans are in the works to restructure the federal government.
The White House, the government's seat of power, currently has a staff of more than 1,000, and Kozak told
reporters late Monday that 260 of them will lose their jobs.
He said the number of departments will be cut by merging some, disbanding others and establishing one new entity --
the department of defense industry and high technology.
"This has been done in line with optimizing the structure and personnel," Kozak said.
Kozak on Monday also cut the number of his own deputies from eight to just two: veteran economists Mikhail Kopeikin
and Sergei Naryshkin. Kopeikin, 50, has worked in the White House since 1996, while Naryshkin, 49, is, like Kozak, a
native St. Petersburger, and was promoted to deputy chief of staff after Kozak became chief of staff in March.
In addition to two deputies, Kozak said he will have 15 assistants.
Simultaneously, the salaries of the remaining White House staff will be raised -- in what the architects of
administrative reform, including Kozak, hope will help curb corruption and lead to more efficiency.
Kozak's monthly paycheck will be about 95,000 rubles ($3,335), while his two deputies will take home 80,000
rubles, and the 12 department heads will get between 70,000 and 75,000 rubles, according to the decree.
The size of their previous salaries was not immediately clear.
Among the other restructuring plans being thrashed out in government circles is one to strip ministries of their
power to oversee federal services that are responsible for enforcing laws, Kommersant reported Monday, citing sources in
the White House. Another proposal envisions cuts to the number of federal agencies that oversee different sectors of the
economy and other areas, the newspaper said. One agency facing the ax is the Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency,
whose functions overlap with the Culture and Press Ministry, according to Kommersant and Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The Kremlin is currently considering restructuring proposals submitted over the past few weeks by various defense,
law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies, as well as the Foreign Ministry -- all of which have not been
affected so far by the administrative reform. The restructuring of the federal agencies will start after President
Vladimir Putin's inauguration to a second term in May, Izvestia reported Monday.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's spokesman, Alexander Zharov, refused to comment on the pending reforms
Monday.
The number of civil servants in Moscow alone will be cut from 25,000 to about 18,000, reform planners have said.
While trimming down federal bureaucracy, Putin has decided to beef up his advisory Security Council by adding five
more permanent members. According to a recent decree, those members are Kremlin chief of staff Dmitry Medvedev, State
Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov, Foreign Intelligence Service director Sergei
Lebedev and Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev. The five previously were only allowed to attend meetings at
Putin's invitation.
The council's other permanent members are the secretary of the council, the prime minister, the defense
minister, the foreign minister and the director of the Federal Security Service.
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[The Moscow Times] |
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