State Duma News

Presidential Address to Federal Assembly

The President of Russia delivered the Address to the Federal Assembly. The ceremony took place in Gostiny Dvor. The presentation of the Address was attended by Federation Council members, State Duma deputies, members of the Government, leaders of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court, governors

Head of the Information Committee commented on the blocking of the RT video project on Facebook

The absence of clear Facebook’s explanations on blocking the RT video project suggests an ordered nature of these actions, aimed at putting pressure on media projects broadcasting a different point of view than those indicated by Western governments, Leonid Levin believes

Members of the State Duma commented on foreign media reports on the possibility of new anti-Russian sanctions

Leonid Slutskiy, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, noted that “the West prefers to blame Russia for everything, over and over again, for reasons that are absolutely far-fetched”, though the only ones against whom any restrictions could be imposed for the incident in the Kerch Strait are the current Kiev authorities headed by President Petr Poroshenko

Viacheslav Volodin and Andrej Danko discussed new formats of dialogue between Russia and Slovakia

Separately, the Chairman of the State Duma and the Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic discussed the issue of harmonization of legislation in the digital sphere

Chairman of the State Duma: more countries should engage in the development of model laws in the sphere of the digital economy

Viacheslav Volodin stressed this following a bilateral meeting with Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Andrej Danko, where the parties discussed different issues, including harmonization of legislation in the digital sphere

Petr Tolstoy met with the delegation of the Parliament of Ireland

During the meeting, parties discussed the development of bilateral cooperation and the dispelling of myths about Russia in the context of anti-Russian sentiments in Europe

Ivan Melnikov held a meeting with the DPRK ambassador to Russia

The parties discussed at the meeting the coordination of the positions of Moscow and Pyongyang at international platforms, including the UN, and the consistent development of inter-parliamentary, inter-party and inter-regional cooperation

Leonid Slutskiy: non-admission of Russian citizens as observers at the Ukrainian elections is neglect of Kiev’s international obligations

The Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs noted that even special representative of the US State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker indicated that Russians should be granted access to monitor the elections in Ukraine as part of the OSCE ODIHR mission

Vasilii Piskarev: Google assured the State Duma that it will correct the wrong mapping of the Crimea on the maps

Following the meeting with Government Relations Director of Google Russia Marina Zhunich, Chairman of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control Vasilii Piskarev announced that the company would correct the situation in near future

Ivan Melnikov discussed with the Bulgarian delegation economic cooperation between the two countries

In addition, the parties discussed at the meeting issues of development of relations in the field of tourism and inter-parliamentary interaction

Sergei Zhelezniak called accusations of the US against Russia in violation of WTO rules groundless

Member of the Committee on the International Affairs noted that sanction regime initiated by the United States has created the conditions for the active development of import substitution industries in Russia and this clearly irritates the West. What the United States calls "barriers to the export of American goods and services" is a strategy for the development of economic competitiveness and independence of our country, emphasized Sergei Zhelezniak

Leonid Slutskiy supported the initiative to return Russia a contribution paid to the Council of Europe

Earlier, the need to return Russian contributions to the Council of Europe budget was announced by Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin. He was talking about contributions that Russia made from 2014 to 2017

Viacheslav Volodin: a bill restricting the observers’ rights at the elections of the President of Ukraine violates international law

According to the Chairman of the State Duma, the draft law of the Verkhovna Rada is discriminatory. This initiative violates the principles of democracy and also contradicts the principles and foundations of the OSCE

Anton Morozov: US interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state provokes a civil confrontation in Venezuela

A member of the Committee on International Affairs commented on the negotiations between the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the self-proclaimed President of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó. The member of the State Duma noted that it is completely incorrect and unacceptable under the international law to incite the people of Venezuela against the incumbent head of state

Viacheslav Volodin: by withdrawing from the INF Treaty, the USA made European countries a target

The United States of America has endangered world security, said the Chairman of the State Duma, commenting on the US withdrawal from the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles