For the first time, the State Duma is preparing to deprive two deputies of their mandates for absenteeism

The State Duma Commission on Deputy Ethics decided to consider sufficient grounds for terminating the powers of deputies Vasily Vlasov (LDPR) and Vadim Belousov (A Just Russia – For Truth) for absenteeism. Both parliamentarians have not attended meetings of the committees and commissions of which they are members for more than 30 days.

As TASS reports, citing a source in the State Duma, the decisions have been sent to the mandate commission. He also recalled that personal attendance at meetings of committees and commissions is the direct responsibility of the deputy.

According to him, deputy Vlasov did not deny systematic omissions, and Belousov, sentenced to 10 years in the case of a bribe of 3.25 billion rubles, was put on the wanted list in August 2022.

In turn, the head of the commission on regulations, Viktor Pinsky, clarified to Vedomosti that Vlasov missed more than 60% of the commission’s meetings without good reason or warning; for example, during the 8th convocation, he was twice absent from commission meetings for more than 40 days in a row.

The source of the publication indicated that if the meetings of the State Duma commission on ethics and the commission on mandate issues today recommend depriving Vlasov and Belousov of their mandates, then a Duma council will be held, and at the next plenary meeting their powers will be terminated.

For his part, political turist Oleg Zakharov called “strange” the fact that “they want to deprive Belousov of his mandate for absenteeism, and not for a criminal record.” “With the approval of his sentence in the appeal in May 2023, the last questions related to its entry into force disappeared, and the fact that the deputy was wanted did not prevent him from being deprived of his mandate,” he noted.