Russian Communists distance themselves from letter condemning MP Gudkov's conduct
MOSCOW. March 15 (Interfax) - The Russian Communist Party faction in the State Duma has not sought an assessment of A Just Russia MP Dmitry Gudkov's conduct by the chamber's ethics commission, deputy chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee Vladimir Kashin told Interfax.
"Our faction did not decide to authorize anyone to sign any official request asking the Duma ethics commission to assess Gudkov's trip to the U.S. and the speech delivered by him there," he said.
Signing this request "was the personal initiative" of Communist MP Oleg Denisenko, who signed the document along with representatives of other parliamentary factions, Kashin said.
Members of all four factions in the State Duma earlier asked the ethics commission to give an assessment of A Just Russia faction member Dmitry Gudkov's participation in what they described as an anti-Russian forum in the United States.
The document describes Gudkov's report at the forum as "strongly-worded, anti-Russian and aimed at discrediting our country."
The authors of the factions' request said that "[the report] characterized Russia as an 'authoritarian state"," where "the authorities took massive reprisal measures against the middle class" and "where criminal cases were fabricated against innocent people who attended a street protest on May 6, 2012."
Furthermore, Gudkov's report "describes the State Duma as an "obedient parliament", which automatically adopts all bills submitted by the country's leadership, including "anti-constitutional bills", supports the Magnitsky Act and asks for U.S. support in tackling political problems inside Russia," the MPs said.
