In Brief
Tax Bill Revised MOSCOW (SPT) — The State Duma on Friday officially approved a revised bill on the transportation tax, which leaves in place the current base rate, after a wave of criticism forced the Duma to recall an approved bill that would double the tax. The government had to backtrack on its intentions to double the rate of the transportation tax, which is key to funding some regional budgets, after protests from car owners, opposition parties and eventually the Kremlin. On Friday, 312 deputies — all from United Russia — voted to pass the revised measure, while the other parties in the Duma had 131 votes against the measure. Gryzlov on Tower ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said Friday that the Okhta-Center should be built in St. Petersburg, but that a better location should be chosen, Itar-Tass reported. The controversial 400-meter high skyscraper should be constructed on Vasilyevsky Island, where it could function as a lighthouse, or on the territory of the Rzhevsky range outside the city, Gryzlov told reporters at a United Russia forum in St. Petersburg. Cosmonaut Dies MOSCOW (AP) — Spaceship designer Konstantin Feoktistov, the only non-Communist space traveler in the Soviet space program, died Saturday at the age of 83. The Russian Space Agency said in a statement Sunday that Feoktistov died of unspecified causes in Moscow. In 1964, he traveled aboard the Voskhod spaceship as part of the first group space flight in history. Feoktistov played a key role in the development of the Voskhod, but approval of his flight met resistance from the Politburo, since Feoktistov was not a Party member at the time. Until 1990, Feoktistov helped design Soviet spaceships and stations such as Soyuz, Progress and Mir. Rubin Take Title ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Rubin Kazan on Saturday claimed its second straight Russian league title with one game to spare after a 0-0 draw with Zenit St. Petersburg. Rubin has 60 points from 29 games in the 16-team league, putting it out of reach for second place Spartak Moscow. Spartak lost 3-2 to crosstown rival CSKA on Saturday to sit five points behind. Zenit and Lokomotiv Moscow are tied for third with 51.
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