Moscow - Russia's State Duma, in a final vote yesterday, approved President Vladimir Putin's bill stripping regional governors of their seats in the Federation Council, the upper chamber. Members backed the bill by 302 to 86 on second reading - exceeding the two-thirds majority in the 450-seat house needed to override a veto which the upper chamber might try to impose on the measure.
In a separate development, Mr Putin promised to uphold free media in Russia, but the owner of the country's only independent national television, Mr Vladimir Gusinsky - jailed briefly last week - said authorities only wanted a docile press.