The Moscow City Duma prohibited deputies from meeting with voters without permission from the authorities

The Moscow City Duma adopted amendments according to which meetings of deputies with voters are equated to rallies. Now the deputies will have to coordinate such meetings with the authorities. The amendments were adopted by 32 votes "for" with four "against".

“If a deputy organizes a rally, then there is no need to dissemble and cover up this public event with the term“ meeting with voters ”, you need to comply with federal law,” Moscow City Duma deputy Kirill Shitov told RBC.

In a commentary to TASS, Shchitov explained that it is not necessary to agree only on such a meeting format as a meeting. According to Russian law, a meeting can be held "in a place specially designated or adapted for this purpose."

The adopted amendments concern deputies of the Moscow City Duma and municipal assemblies. The draft law was developed by the commission on state building and local self-government, which is headed by Tatyana Portnova, a deputy from United Russia.

State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin told RBC that "if Portnova believes that she cannot meet on the street because she interferes with transport, then let her give up her mandate." According to him, the new bill was lobbied by the authorities, who do not like the fact that the population conveys information to the deputies.

RBC

• In Russia, in recent years, the legislation on rallies has been significantly tightened, increasing the punishment for violating the procedure for holding mass rallies. For repeated violations at rallies, criminal penalties were introduced.
• On December 15, a rally was held in Moscow against the expansion of paid parking, which was organized in the format of a meeting of voters with State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin.