Against the backdrop of a military special operation, the State Duma increased its activity

On December 22, the autumn session of the State Duma ended, and at the same time, the 2022 legislative year. Its results were summed up by the chairman of the lower chamber, Vyacheslav Volodin. According to him, in 2022, deputies adopted 653 laws: “This is the largest number in the history of the parliament.”

Under the conditions of “unprecedented external pressure”, measures were developed aimed at protecting our citizens, supporting military personnel and their families, developing the economy and ensuring security, Volodin said: “Moreover, it must be emphasized that since the Soviet Union (the 100th . – “Vedomosti”), since the times that we often cite as times and standards of achievement, with regard to housing construction, roads, agriculture, this is a historical maximum, an indicator of work efficiency.

In this, he did not forget to mention, “there is also a fraction of the work of the deputy corps.” But “the fateful events left their mark on the content and organization of the work of the State Sumy,” the speaker noted, apparently referring to the recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR, the launch of a special operation, the fight against sanctions, and then the annexation of four territories to Russia – not only the republics, but also Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Now “it is urgently necessary, in the shortest possible time, to form a single legal field in new regions,” Volodin said. “To date, 18 laws have already been adopted to solve this problem. There are 8 bills under consideration. Of these, 7 were adopted in the first reading,” the speaker said.

In general, speaking about plans for the next year, he announced that 1,319 bills remained in the legislative portfolio, of which 968 are being prepared for consideration in the first reading, 346 – in the second, five – in the third. Last week, the president set six priority tasks for 2023 aimed at achieving national development goals, Volodin recalled, and asked First Vice Speaker Alexander Zhukov (earlier the media wrote that he could allegedly be appointed chairman of the Accounts Chamber) until the end of the weekend ” prepare appropriate proposals” for work in 2023.

“We have one party – our country!”, Volodin concluded his speech. After him, the results of the year were summed up by representatives of other political parties, although their position did not strongly contradict Volodin’s position.

For example, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov called the main decision of the autumn session – the unanimous adoption of laws “in the name of success and victory.” “Remember, no agreements will lead to peace! Only victory! Otherwise, this situation will rot for decades,” Zyuganov said.

LDPR deputy Vladimir Koshelev supported Zyuganov: he noted that the most important initiatives concerned, in particular, the admission of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and the Kherson region to Russia, as well as credit holidays for the mobilized. Speaking about the crisis in international relations, Koshelev noted that “no Western world needs a strong, independent Russia.” “Our only answer must be industrialization. We must become the most attractive country in the world for investment,” he added.

Aleksey Nechaev, head of the New People faction, admitted that Russia is now in crisis due to the fact that the West “planned to bring down the economic, social and political system” of the country with its sanctions. Against this background, the party proposed a new economic policy (NEP), which, according to Nechaev, once helped overcome the devastation after the policy of “war communism.” The politician during his speech also noted the unprecedented unity of all factions.

The leader of the Just Russia faction, Sergei Mironov, joined his colleagues and noted that this year the country “turned the page of history, and it’s not just the beginning of a special military operation.” Russia, according to him, managed to send back a world where “the cult of strength and the ability to fulfill any whim under the guise of a struggle for democracy predominated.” “I am absolutely sure that the coming year, the year 2023, will be a year of breakthrough decisions both in our economy and in the social sphere, and most importantly, it will be a turning point and a year of victory,” he added.

The head of the United Russia faction, Vladimir Vasiliev, said that the recognition of the LPR and the DPR, as well as the special operation, are historical and the only correct decisions. In the current conditions, the country’s leadership, in his opinion, has managed to find adequate responses to the unprecedented sanctions that have been brought down on the country and which continue to be introduced. He also pointed to the consolidated work of all factions to support military personnel, mobilized, volunteers and their families.

In 2022, especially against the backdrop of the fight against sanctions, a trend has taken shape for the extremely rapid adoption of anti-sanctions bills or bills aimed at combating an external enemy, if there was a consensus on them in power. But there were a number of exceptions (for example, in the end, the bill on a single digital advertising operator was not adopted).

“The work of the State Duma and the legislative process as a whole have been diligently optimized for more than one year, which, as a result, has made it possible to accelerate the adoption of laws more and more often,” says political scientist Vitaly Ivanov. “Party consensus on most issues is clear,” says political analyst Alexander Nemtsev.