The State Duma spoke about the ban on travel abroad for deputies
Deputies and officials cannot be completely restricted from traveling abroad, Sergei Leonov, a member of the State Duma commission on parliamentary ethics, believes.
In an interview with Lenta.ru, he spoke about the prospect of banning civil servants from leaving the country against the backdrop of a series of scandals with deputies of regional parliaments.
The work of officials and deputies implies important trips abroad, Sergei Leonov noted.
“If it is impossible for officials and deputies to travel abroad, then why not? On vacation or not at all? But there are a lot of different missions related to foreign business trips, the same election observation, for example, when foreign observers are invited,” said a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Refusal to travel to other countries will have a negative impact on Russia’s contacts with foreign partners, Sergey Leonov is sure. If negotiations are not held, interstate relations will weaken, he believes. Considering the issue of a travel ban for deputies and officials, it is necessary to take into account which states are in question, the deputy says.
“There are aggressive countries, they can be taken hostage, for example. On the other hand, there is an ethical moment when an official can afford to go abroad, relax there in a big way and make it public. It used to annoy people, and now even more so. Seeing the well-fed and satisfied faces of officials and deputies is not very pleasant when not everything is good in the country, ”he concluded.
In an interview with Podyom, State Duma deputy Yuri Shvytkin said that the issue of trips of deputies and officials abroad needs to be worked out. His words were a reaction to previously published photos of Denis Dolzhenko, a deputy of the Vologda Regional Duma, from a run in Dubai. Secretary of the General Council of the party “United Russia” Andrey Turchak proposed to deprive him of his party card. The deputy himself replied that he did not have such a document, since he was non-partisan.
Another regional deputy was subjected to the same criticism. Member of the Kursk Parliament Maxim Vasiliev, who recorded a video greeting from Mexico, was advised to resign. “While the inhabitants of the border Kursk region are being shelled, some “people’s representatives” allow themselves to “warm rolls” in warm foreign resorts while drinking beer,” Turchak responded to the entry.
