| Duma: the Russian parliament worked overtime earlier this year, passing a flurry of reform measures |
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President Vladimir Putin must be feeling pleased with himself. By the time the Duma broke up for its summer holidays this year more than 140 laws touching on virtually every aspect of day-to-day life had whizzed through.
In his April state-of-the-nation speech, Putin said that he wanted to push through reform of the legal system, cut red tape and liberalize land ownership. All these goals have been at least partly met and many more as well, dealing with improving the efficiency and accountability of government. Some outdated Soviet laws, such as the labour code which has been untouched since the fall of the iron curtain, have been ditched.
"The pace of economic reform seems to be right, and certainly can be accelerated in some areas," says Ariel Cohen, research fellow with the Heritage Foundation in Washington.