April 27, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429

MOSCOW: Russia’s parliament has approved the creation of a foundation for President Vladimir Putin to preserve his legacy after eight years as Kremlin leader.

Putin is to step down on May 7 when president-elect Dmitry Medvedev will be sworn in, but the former KGB spy says he will serve as prime minister and lead Russia’s biggest party.

A state-funded museum, archive and library, controlled by Putin or his heirs, will be part of the “Russian President’s Centre for Historical Legacy” and serve as a repository for documents accumulated during his term in office.

The foundation, the first of its kind in Russia, is modelled on the libraries created for each outgoing president in the United States.

“The aims of the activities of the Centre are the study and public representation of the historical legacy of the Russian president, after the end of his duties, as an integral part of the new history of Russia,” according to the bill passed on Friday.

The lower house of parliament passed the bill 386-57 in the last of three readings. It now has to be approved by the upper house and signed into law by the president.

Supporters say Putin, who has presided over the longest Russian economic boom since the 1970s, saved Russia from a chaotic freefall after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Critics say he has created a political system far too dependent on one man, crushed media freedoms and failed to use the high world oil prices to push through enough major structural reforms.

“This bill insults the president because the legacy of any president is what he has done for the country,” Communist lawmaker Nikolai Kolomeitsev said. “We are giving this fund many billions (of roubles) of budget money but child benefits are paltry and pensions are miserly.”

The centre will be funded by the state but will be able to carry out commercial activities. It cannot be declared bankrupt, according to the law.

Both Putin and Boris Yeltsin, his predecessor who died last year, are now eligible to have centres in their names.

—Reuters