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MOSCOW, March 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian State Duma has adopted in first reading and a whole the federal constitutional law on Crimea’s admission to the Russian Federation and on creating new sub-federal entities — the Republic of Crimea and the city of federal significance Sevastopol. In the final reading, 445 parliamentarians casted affirmative votes and one deputy voted against the bill submitted by the president. The only lawmaker that did not support the document was member of A Just Russia party Ilya Ponomaryov. The lawmakers have also ratified the interstate treaty on the admission of Crimea into Russia. The treaty,...

MOSCOW, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of Parliament, a treaty of Crimea’s reunification with Russia and a constitutional amendment on setting up two new constituent territories of the Russian Federation, officials at the parliamentary department for public relations said. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea Vladimir Konstnatinov and Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, Sevastopol Mayor Alexei Chaly signed a treaty which stipulates that the Republic of Crimea has been acknowledged as reunified with the Russian Federation. Since the date of Crimea's accession...

MOSCOW, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The State Duma, upper house of Russian Parliament, will convene for an extraordinary session on Thursday, March 20, to ratify the re-unification treaty with Crimea, First Deputy Duma Speaker Ivan Melnikov said. “There is the judgment of the Constitutional Court (which recognized the treaty as conforming to the Russian Constitution),” Melnikov told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday, March 19. “In this connection, the State Duma today will debate the draft resolution on holding an unscheduled plenary meeting at 16:00 tomorrow, March 20, to discuss the ratification of the treaty and the adoption of a constitutional law on the...

The State Duma has passed a motion suggesting that the US and EU extend the freshly introduced sanctions to all Russian MPs rather than a limited group of officials, defying western pressure just hours before Russia and Crimea signed a federation treaty. The motion was supported by a unanimous vote on Tuesday morning. It was prepared the day before by all four parliamentary parties after representatives of the United States and the European Union said they were slapping sanctions, such as visa bans and asset freezes, on a number of Russian officials who are seen as “key ideologists and architects”...

The Russian Duma, or the lower house of parliament, passed a law banning homosexual propaganda by an overwhelming 436-0 vote on Tuesday, leading to clashes between gay activists and their opponents. "Traditional sexual relations are relations between a man and a woman, which ... are a condition for the preservation and development of the multi-ethnic Russian people," lawmaker Yelena Mizulina said on Tuesday before the Duma. "It is precisely these relations that need special protection by the state." The bill, which must still pass the upper parliament and be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, reflects the country's strong stance...

The Civil Authority and the IDF has cleared out 20,000 cubic tons of trash from an illegal Arab dump in Samaria, after ongoing appeals from an environmental organization. The Yarok Achshav (“Green Now”) group expressed its satisfaction at the resolution of the issue, preventing further damage to the environment by Arabs in the area. The site of the dump, near the Arab village of Kafr Duma, was situated right atop a well that tapped directly in into the large aquifer that runs under Samaria. As such, there was a strong danger that the groundwater throughout the entire region would have...

MOSCOW – Russia's lower house of parliament on Friday gave preliminary approval to a U.S.-Russian arms treaty, but decided to delay the final vote until next month. The Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted 350-58 to approve the New START treaty in the first of three required readings. The legislators said they would proceed further after returning from the New Year's vacation that lasts until Jan. 11. Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the State Duma's foreign affairs committee, said the full ratification could only happen next month "at the earliest." The New START treaty, which was ratified Wednesday by the U.S. Senate,...

A distinctive feature of the Russian power vertical is that leaders do not bother determining what government officials have already said on a particular subject before preparing their own remarks. At a meeting on security agency budgets on May 24, President Dmitry Medvedev set the goal of modernizing at least 30 percent of Russia’s weaponry by 2015. The president was apparently unaware of the previous arms program, announced by then-Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov three years ago. In 2007, Ivanov told State Duma deputies that the program would rearm 45 percent of the military by 2015. It failed miserably. In addition,...

Oil is going to reach $150 USD per barrel by winter. Gasoline will hit $6 USD per gallon in the USA. What are we going to do then?

Two Russian newspapers, Nezavisimaya gazeta and Moskovsky korrespondent, reported today, March 28, that Vladimir Putin will be named head of United Russia at a party congress that will be held in April. Noting that Putin used the occasion of a United Russia congress last October to announce that he would head the party’s federal list of candidates in the December 2007 State Duma election, and then used the occasion of a United Russia congress in December to accept Dmitry Medvedev’s invitation to serve as prime minister under a future Medvedev presidency, Nezavisimaya gazeta reported that Putin will use a United...

From Times Online November 16, 2007 Election monitor accuses Kremlin of blocking mission Goran Lennmarker, of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, left, and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, met today to discuss limits on election observers Tony Halpin, of The Times, in Moscow The credibility of parliamentary elections in Russia was plunged into doubt today when the main European democratic watchdog cancelled its observer mission. In an unprecedented move, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) abandoned attempts to monitor the election and accused the Kremlin of obstructing its mission. “Despite repeated attempts to...

Prime suspect in Litvinenko case to run for Russian parliament Posted on : 2007-09-16 | Author : DPA News Category : Europe Moscow - Andrei Lugovi, the prime suspect in the murder case of Kremlin opponent Alexander Litvinenko, is to run for Russian parliament (Duma) as number 2 on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) list, Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky announced Sunday. According to the Interfax news agency, Lugovoi agreed to run in the election with the LDPR, led by the nationalist Zhirinovsky. Former Russian secret service agent Lugovoi is accused by Britain's Scotland Yard of administering a lethal dose...

The Russian Space Agency has no objections to Madonna's plans for a space flight, but the American pop diva could make a space trip no earlier than 2009, the agency's spokesperson said Wednesday. Alexei Mitrofanov, a flamboyant lawmaker from the ultra-nationalist LDPR party, earlier proposed that Madonna's desire to make the trip, which she expressed during her two-day visit to Russia, be fulfilled - a proposal that met with rejection by Russian lawmakers. "We are aware of today's debates in the State Duma [the lower house of the Russian parliament] as to the proposed flight by Madonna to the International...

A “Purge” has been conducted on the FSB, MVD Prosecutor’s Office, Customs and the Federation Council. On Friday the Prime Minister was directed by the Russian president to order the forced retirements and firing of high ranking members of the FSB, MVD Prosecutor’s and Custom’s office and the Federal Customs Service. Federation Council members were also told to step down. These “retirements” were conducted in accordance with the government’s anti-corruption campaign. A government source told “Interfax” that this action was not a witch hunt, but was conducted in order to counteract the criminal elements that have taken hold in the...

National PR-ity // Moscow drafts a plan to influence the United States The Kremlin has taken up the promotion of Russian interests in the United States head-on. The key role will be given to the Russian-U.S. Council for Business Cooperation (RUCBC) whose supervisory board will include high-ranking officials from the Russian president’s administration, ministers and prominent public figures. The Russian government asked the Finance Ministry to find sources to finance the NGO. However, it has already been suggested that big business contribute for the council’s activities. The first donation is expected to amount to $50 million. Work has in progress...

The Russian State Duma Council has postponed discussions on the draft-statement commenting on the policy of Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili. Aleksei Mitrofanov from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and author of the statement requested that the statement be discussed on Thursday April 6, but the speaker of the Russian Parliament, Boris Grizlov turned down his request, saying that it would be on the agenda at the next week's session. In the statement Mitrofanov expressed concerns over the military preparations that have been evident since Saakashvili's rise to power. "It appears that Georgia in fact is completing preparations for an invasion...

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The current developments in France result from new political methods and the actions of the secret services, State Duma Vice-Speaker and leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky told Interfax on Monday. "These are new political methods. The current situation in France was planned in advance - secret services are behind the riots, their goal is to bring a pro-American leader to power in 2007," he said. Zhirinovsky does not think similar riots possible in Russia. People from former French colonies are taking part in the French unrest, he said. In fact, this...

RUSSIAN MPs SEE ANY FALSIFICATION OF WWII RESULTS AS INADMISSIBLE MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's lower parliamentary chamber, State Duma, adopted Friday a resolution on the inadmissibility of falsifying the results of WWII. Russian MPs are protesting against the increased number of pronouncements by their Baltic and Polish counterparts distorting history and offering their own "corrected" versions of the causes and results of the Second World War, says the resolution. "The most regretful fact is that these statements have appeared now when the world is observing the 60th anniversary of the historic victory over Nazism, with a crucial...

A String of Auctions Gets Canceled By Alex Fak Staff Writer A string of auctions for oil and gas development licenses have been canceled to prevent foreign companies from bidding, an official in the Natural Resources Ministry said.The cancellations appear to constitute a de facto widening of the ban on bids by non-Russian-controlled companies, contradicting recent assurances from Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev and other ministers. The latest cases also highlight uncertainties faced by foreign natural resource companies as the State Duma prepares to debate a long-anticipated bill on restricting foreigners' access to subsoil resources.Among the auctions canceled are those...

Duma rejects restrictions on John Paul II coverage MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) - The Russian Duma has rejected an initiative put forward by Alexei Mitrofanov a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, who called for restricting media coverage in Russia following the death of Pope John Paul II. The suggestion was supported by 98 members of parliament, with the required minimum of 226 votes, an Interfax correspondent reported.