MOSCOW, September 9 (Itar-Tass) - The State Duma lower house of Russia’ s parliament on Wednesday will open to the strains of the national anthem its autumn session. Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov will tell lawmakers about the session’s main tasks.

At a plenary meeting the deputies intend to discuss the issue of assessment of activities of state power bodies of RF regions in the exercise of transferred to them powers in the sphere of forest relations. The leadership of the Agriculture Ministry will speak within the framework of the Government Hour of questions and answers.

Aside from this, the parliamentarians intend to pass in the first reading the bill on Moscow Lomonosov State University and St. Petersburg State University that will give these two higher educational establishments a special status. They will be given the right to implement their own educational programmes, as well as to hold, aside from the unified state examination, additional entrance examinations. The rectors of these universities will be appointed by the RF president for a term of five years.

Duma deputies will also consider in the first reading presidential amendments to the law on defence related to the use of the RF military contingent abroad. The initiative for hearing the bill was introduced in the Duma August 11. It aims “to create a legal mechanism making it possible for the Russian President to use units of the Armed Forces for missions outside Russia’s borders in an operative way.”

The bill envisions addition of a new article of the Federal Law on Defence. It stipulates that units of the Russian Armed Forces can be used operationally outside Russia’s territory in conformity with the generally accepted principles and norms of international law for the solution of a number of tasks, including the repelling or prevention of aggression against other states, fighting with piracy and ensuring safe navigation.

The federal law on defence will also get Article 101 that will spell out the patterns for passing decisions on the operation use of Russian armed units on foreign territories. Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said earlier the novel provision that the President has proposed for legislation has become especially topical on the face of the last year’s armed conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia. “The opportunity to use the Armed Forces for the protection of one’s own citizens is part and parcel of natural practice used by many countries of the world,” Serdyukov said. “What’s more, it’s part of state obligations before its citizens.”

The State Duma in the RF is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (legislature). The Duma is headquartered in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to as deputies. The State Duma replaced the Supreme Soviet as a result of the new Constitution introduced by Boris Yeltsin in the aftermath of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, and approved by the Russian public in a referendum.

The State Duma was first introduced in 1906 and was Russia’s first elected parliament. The first two attempts by Tsar Nicholas II were too radical and ineffective and were subsequently dissolved after only a few months each. After the 1907 electoral reform the third Duma, elected in November 1907, was largely made up of members of the upper classes and radical influences in the Duma had almost entirely been removed. The establishment of the Duma after the 1905 Revolution was to herald significant changes to the Russian autocratic system. Furthermore the Duma was later to have a larger effect on Russia as it was one of the contributing factors in the February Revolution, which led to the abolition of the autocracy in Russia.

The State Duma has special powers enumerated by the Constitution of Russia. They are: consent to the appointment of the Prime Minister of Russia; hearing annual reports from the Government of the Russian Federation on the results of its work, including on issues raised by the State Duma; deciding the issue of confidence in the Government of the Russian Federation; appointment and dismissal of the Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia; appointment and dismissal of the Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounts Chamber; appointment and dismissal of the Commissioner for Human Rights, who shall act according to federal constitutional law; announcement of amnesty; bringing charges against the President of the Russian Federation for his impeachment (requires a two thirds majority).

The State Duma adopts decrees on issues referred to its authority by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Decrees of the State Duma are adopted by a majority of the total number of deputies of the State Duma, unless another procedure is envisaged by the Constitution.

All bills are first approved by the State Duma and are further debated and approved (or rejected) by the Federation Council. Additionally, there are constitutionally 450 deputies of the State Duma (Article 95), each elected to a term of four years (Article 96). Russian citizens at least 21 years old are eligible to run for the Duma (Article 97). Seats are awarded on the basis of the percentage of election votes won by a party. The party then elects candidates to fill its eligible seats.