“There are more important topics.” Zhirinovites in the State Duma do not want to expose foreign agents
On December 8, the State Duma of the Russian Federation will consider a bill according to which, starting from 2021, individuals who engage in politics or collect information in the interests of other states can be recognized as foreign agents in Russia.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports that Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the State Duma Council, first deputy chairman of the United Russia faction and the author of the bill, told Izvestia about this.
“We just want to know what these people are doing in Russia and what purposes the foreign funding they receive is used for. In this bill we do not prohibit them from doing anything, but everything must be transparent. Consumers – citizens – must also understand this. People need to know what quality this “political product” is and who produces it. After all, for example, parties in Russia do not hide where they get money from and officially report on their expenses,” said Shkhagoshev.
There is no unanimity regarding the bill among the State Duma opposition factions. Thus, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation declared support.
“Russian citizens cannot receive grants from abroad and carry out some unknown propaganda, organizational or subversive work. I, as a deputy of all convocations, remember very well what was going on here in the early 90s, when such activities flourished, and there were about a hundred foreign advisers in the government,” said Nikolai Kharitonov, a communist deputy and head of the regional policy committee.
At the same time, the first deputy chairman of A Just Russia, Mikhail Emelyanov, says that his party is still studying new norms.
They are not eager to support the document in the LDPR.
“But most likely, we will simply abstain from voting, since we believe that this is not the most relevant initiative for Russia today. More important topics are the fight against COVID-19 and supporting the population who are forced to work remotely and businesses suffering losses. This is what we should be doing,” said Igor Lebedev, vice speaker of the State Duma from the LDPR.
According to him, with the help of the new law they want to control the State Duma elections “even more tightly.”
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