Moscow City Duma member says he was probably infected with coronavirus when he attended a meeting to approve fines for quarantine violations

Mikhail Timonov, a Moscow City Duma member from the A Just Russia party, and Sergey Timokhov, the chief of staff of the Communist faction in the City Duma, have both contracted COVID-19, according to the publication Kholod. Timonov said in a message posted on Telegram that a test conducted at a Medsi clinic had shown he was infected with the virus. He said an earlier test had been negative.

On April 1, Timonov attended an urgent meeting of the City Duma to approve amendments to the municipal legal code, imposing new fines for violating the self-isolation regime. The day before the meeting, all City Duma members had been tested for the coronavirus, and Duma President Alexei Shaposhnokov said that everyone present was healthy. All attendees were given masks to wear, but Timonov did not wear his during some parts of the meeting. A total of 50 people, including the legislators, were in the room.

Timonov wrote on his Facebook page that he probably had the coronavirus infection when the meeting was held, but he noted that “all of this requires double-checking and clarification.”

Sergey Timokhov, in turn, reported that he had been tested on March 31 and learned on April 6 that he was suffering from COVID-19. Timokhov was not at the meeting on April 1, but was at the Duma building that day. He said that he was in contact mainly with his Communist Party colleagues while there.

Earlier, two other Moscow City Duma members, Yevgeny Stupin and Lyudmila Stebenkova, reported that they had been infected. Stebenkova also said that Stepan Orlov, the head of the United Russia faction in the City Duma, had been infected, although this has not been confirmed. Kholod reported that some staff members of the citywide legislative body have also fallen ill.

Shaposhnikov, the City Duma’s president, said on April 6 that there was no need to impose a quarantine on the Duma, since its building has been closed.

Text by Alexander Baklanov

Translation by Carol Matlack