1. Time Warp

The national parliament is close to a populist move to re-introduce clock shifts abolished by then president Dmitry Medvedev.

United Russia’s Vladimir Gutenev has put forward the bill that would reverse Medvedev’s 2011 decree.

The note accompanying the bill indicates that 26 percent of Russians are unhappy with the constant summer time, with the amount of sleep they get cut by a third.

The MP also included calculations that said that the country has lost RUR 300-600 billion due to all the consequences of the new system.

2. Science to Scientists? Nope, MPs Know Better

Russia’s Academy of Sciences, along with that of Medical Sciences and Agriculture, will be now run by a new state agency, breaking the 289-year-old tradition of independence.

The State Duma and the Federation Council have voted into law a bill that has been strongly opposed by the academic community.

In spring this year, the public row between the Education Ministry and the Academy turned nasty and resulted in a draft law that angered many well-known scientists, including Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov.

The Academy tried to put together a quick reform plan of its own and appealed to the president to be given more time to consider long overdue changes, but in vain.

The parliament, however, has benevolently agreed to revise the law after a while if any changes become pressing.

3. Private Cemeteries

If the new bill is approved, entrepreneurs would be allowed to rent land for cemeteries.

The rent right would last for 49 years, and the owners would have to join professional self-regulatory associations to maintain high industry standards.

The draft law has been put together by the Federal Antimonopoly Service, looking to spur competition even in such earthly matters.