Russian lawmaker says he only supported repressive new legislation because he feared for his job

Andrey Tumanov, a deputy in the State Duma and a member of the political party “A Just Russia,” admitted earlier this week that he and many of his colleagues voted in favor of controversial new legislation “out of fear” that opposition would cost them their seats in the next parliament, which will be elected this September.

“I think the majority of United-Russia representatives are also against it,” Tumanov told the radio station Echo of Moscow, warning that current deputies can be “scratched off” party lists without much warning. “So people are scared,” he explained.

• For more on this controversial legislation, see: *Russia’s State Duma just approved some of the most repressive laws in post-Soviet history*