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Moscow, 21 March: The State Duma Ethics Commission has publicly censured A Just Russia MPs Oksana Dmitriyeva and Ilya Ponomarev, who refused to provide explanations on their meeting with First Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul in January.

Upon his arrival in Moscow, McFaul met several Russian public and opposition figures at the US embassy on 17 January. The meeting, which attracted great public attention, was attended by A Just Russia MPs Oksana Dmitriyeva and Ilya Ponomarev, MP Leonid Kalashnikov (Communist Party), co-chairmen of the unregistered party Parnas Vladimir Ryzhkov and Boris Nemtsov, and chairman of the Yabloko party Sergey Mitrokhin.

On 24 January two Duma factions - One Russia (United Russia) and the Liberal Democratic Party - condemned the meeting at a Duma session. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy proposed that the participants in the meeting be stripped of the right to speak at Duma sessions. MP Andrey Isayev suggested that the Ethics Commission should look into the behaviour of A Just Russia. Its leader Sergey Mironov described the attacks as pre-election "hysterics".

Deputy head of the Ethics Commission Andrey Andreyev (Communist Party) told RIA-Novosti today that the commission had considered the appeal of One Russia MPs, as well as the members of the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk Region on this issue and asked three MPs - Leonid Kalashnikov, Ilya Ponomarev and Oksana Dmitriyeva - to provide explanations.

"The commission accepted Communist Party MP Leonid Kalashnikov's explanations, who clarified the background of his visit to the US embassy, but representatives of A Just Russia did not give such explanations, despite our requests," Andreyev said.

In view of this, the commission decided to subject the two MPs to public censure.

Public censure is used mainly for educational and preventive purposes and bears no restrictions on the activities of those censured.

(Commenting on the public censure, MP Oksana Dmitriyeva told Interfax that such cases should be dealt with by the Duma International Affairs Committee and this was why she had ignored the Ethic Commission's request for explanations.

"I see no reason to regret my visit to the US embassy. This whole campaign against opposition politicians who had been invited to the embassy became a vulgar smear campaign which used federal television channels and media," Dmitriyeva said.

She advised her opponents in the Duma, those who feel for Russia's national interests, to discuss the deployment of a US military base in the heart of Russia and the situation "with trillions of roubles from the federal budget which are sent every year to purchase foreign securities, including US securities".)

Keywords: Russia, U.S.-Russian Relations - Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia

 

Moscow, 21 March: The State Duma Ethics Commission has publicly censured A Just Russia MPs Oksana Dmitriyeva and Ilya Ponomarev, who refused to provide explanations on their meeting with First Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul in January.

Upon his arrival in Moscow, McFaul met several Russian public and opposition figures at the US embassy on 17 January. The meeting, which attracted great public attention, was attended by A Just Russia MPs Oksana Dmitriyeva and Ilya Ponomarev, MP Leonid Kalashnikov (Communist Party), co-chairmen of the unregistered party Parnas Vladimir Ryzhkov and Boris Nemtsov, and chairman of the Yabloko party Sergey Mitrokhin.

On 24 January two Duma factions - One Russia (United Russia) and the Liberal Democratic Party - condemned the meeting at a Duma session. LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy proposed that the participants in the meeting be stripped of the right to speak at Duma sessions. MP Andrey Isayev suggested that the Ethics Commission should look into the behaviour of A Just Russia. Its leader Sergey Mironov described the attacks as pre-election "hysterics".

Deputy head of the Ethics Commission Andrey Andreyev (Communist Party) told RIA-Novosti today that the commission had considered the appeal of One Russia MPs, as well as the members of the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk Region on this issue and asked three MPs - Leonid Kalashnikov, Ilya Ponomarev and Oksana Dmitriyeva - to provide explanations.

"The commission accepted Communist Party MP Leonid Kalashnikov's explanations, who clarified the background of his visit to the US embassy, but representatives of A Just Russia did not give such explanations, despite our requests," Andreyev said.

In view of this, the commission decided to subject the two MPs to public censure.

Public censure is used mainly for educational and preventive purposes and bears no restrictions on the activities of those censured.

(Commenting on the public censure, MP Oksana Dmitriyeva told Interfax that such cases should be dealt with by the Duma International Affairs Committee and this was why she had ignored the Ethic Commission's request for explanations.

"I see no reason to regret my visit to the US embassy. This whole campaign against opposition politicians who had been invited to the embassy became a vulgar smear campaign which used federal television channels and media," Dmitriyeva said.

She advised her opponents in the Duma, those who feel for Russia's national interests, to discuss the deployment of a US military base in the heart of Russia and the situation "with trillions of roubles from the federal budget which are sent every year to purchase foreign securities, including US securities".)