MOSCOW, May 22 - RAPSI. Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev, speaking at a judicial council meeting on Tuesday, stressed that tax disputes are a major problem for courts.

"There are a great deal of them - more than four million," he said.

The Supreme Court has thus proposed compulsory pretrial preparation in several case categories to help minimize the burden. The categories would include disputes to recover taxes and disputes with an insignificant claims amount.

Earlier, Lebedev also proposed increasing tax claims in cases to recover taxes and duties to 3,000 rubles ($96) from 1,500 rubles ($48).

He said the average lawsuit amount submitted by the tax offices is 2,200 rubles ($70.6).