Russia agrees party cash bill

MOSCOW, Russia -- A bill limiting Russian political parties' fund raising capabilities has been agreed in the parliament's lower house, the Associated Press reports.

By restricting the amount of private donations each party can receive to 3,000 rubles ($110) a year, and banning contributions from foreigners and international organisations, critics say President Vladimir Putin's administration is trying to restrict civil liberties.

Each party would also not be able to receive donations from companies that are more than 30 percent foreign-owned. But any party receiving more than three percent of the vote in elections qualifies for state financing if they submit routine financial reports to the government.

The bill also disqualifies any party with nationwide membership less than 10,000 and a minimum of 100 members in Russia's 89 provinces.

Critics say this would make the parties subservient to the government and also would drastically reduce the number of political parties existing.

The bill will be voted upon in the upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, and then will be brought before Putin for final approval.

Currently Russia has 200 political parties, though only 26 participated in the 1999 parliamentary election.

Another bill that would have banned any foreign control of Russian media was rejected in the State Duma, the lower house, in its second vote 223-149 on Thursday. The bill had been approved in the spring.

This bill had been drafted following the signing of the Information Security Doctrine, which cautioned against foreign manipulation of media against Russia.