Russian Upper House Speaker Says No Lawmakers 'With Murky Past' Sit In Council

Faizan Hashmi Published February 11, 2019 | 03:55 PM

There are no senators with troubled past in Russia's Federation Council, the situation with a lawmaker detained in January was out of the ordinary, the speaker of the Russian upper house, Valentina Matviyenko, told RIA Novosti on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) There are no senators with troubled past in Russia's Federation Council, the situation with a lawmaker detained in January was out of the ordinary, the speaker of the Russian upper house, Valentina Matviyenko, told RIA Novosti on Monday.

An upper house lawmaker from Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Rauf Arashukov, was detained in January at the council session, after senators voted to strip his immunity.

"The situation with Arashukov is not an ordinary situation. Today, there are no senators with murky past or present in the Federation Council, I can tell you with certainty," Matviyenko said.

The speaker added that Arashukov had no criminal convictions when he began work in the upper house, although there were rumors he might be mixed up in some criminal activities.

"I told the head of the region at the time, it was on intuitive level, you are making a mistake. But I could only give advice, nobody can tell the region what to do on this issue," Matviyenko stressed.

The upper house speaker visited Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency office in Moscow and published a story on the agency's newswire. The story became immediately available to the agency wire subscribers and users of the mobile application.

Arashukov is suspected of ordering two murders, threatening a witness and being a member of a criminal gang, allegedly run by his father, an adviser to the top manager at a Gazprom subsidiary. He has been charged with embezzling 30 billion rubles ($454 million).