How the State Duma worked during the autumn session

The last plenary meeting of the autumn session of the State Duma took place on Friday. During these three months, deputies adopted a three-year budget, canceled Russia’s ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, allowed the Russian National Guard to create its own volunteer formations, banned schoolchildren from using cell phones in class, and deprived two deputies of their powers for absenteeism, and a third left of his own free will.

At first, the deputies planned to work more than usual during this session: the Duma canceled the regional week from October 30 to November 5 and filled it with plenary sessions. But in the end, the deputies first shortened the final plenary week, scheduled from December 18 to 21, and then canceled the meeting on December 19. Therefore, the plenary meeting on December 15 was the last one of the autumn session.

Traditionally, its main event was the adoption of the budget, the draft of which was first submitted to the Duma entirely in electronic form – on 14 disks. Revenues in 2024 should increase by 22.3%, from 28.67 trillion to 35.06 trillion rubles, but expenses will also increase by 15.8%, which will exceed revenues by 1.6 trillion rubles. In 2025, the deficit is projected at 0.83 trillion rubles, in 2026 – 1.54 trillion. The Communists and Socialist Revolutionaries voted against the budget, and traditionally prepared alternative documents. The leftists ignored the requests of supporters of the project to vote in favor, so that no one abroad would think of a split in the Russian elite.

But the international agenda was taking shape in a mode of confrontation with the West. One of the most significant events was the deratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (see material on the situation with the treaty on p. 6). Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called this a “mirror response” from the United States, which has still not ratified the document that was open for signature back in 1996. Duma commissions continued to investigate the facts of foreign interference in the affairs of the Russian Federation and “crimes of the Kyiv regime against children.” At the same time, ties with friendly countries were strengthened: deputies went there on business trips and hosted delegations, and also organized the Russia-Latin America conference.

In the field of defense, one of the main topics was the adoption of a package of amendments allowing the Russian National Guard to create its own volunteer formations. They were extended the full range of benefits and payments due to citizens who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense, as well as protection from discredit and fakes. Experts noted that the amendments, in particular, will help former soldiers of the Wagner PMC, who do not want to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, to find shelter under the wing of the Russian Guard.

During this session, the Duma dealt with internal enemies less actively than usual. Thus, amendments on criminal liability for public justification or propaganda of extremism passed only the first reading on September 28 and “stuck” in the legislation committee. United Russia authors, including the heads of the security and defense committees Vasily Piskarev and Andrei Kartapolov, proposed adding to the current article. 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls for extremist activity, punishment – from a fine of 100-300 thousand rubles to imprisonment for up to five years). Comments on the draft were expressed by the government and the relevant committee: their comments spoke of the need to avoid competition between norms, since these acts can be qualified under other articles of the Criminal Code.

Also, so far only in the first reading has a government bill been adopted, giving law enforcement agencies the right to access various information systems and the ability to correct the personal data of their employees in order to protect them. The amendments were previously opposed by the Association of Russian Banks and the Big Data Association.

By the beginning of the 2024 election campaign, parliamentarians decided to make targeted amendments to the law “On the elections of the President of the Russian Federation.” Most of the amendments repeat the norms already included in the laws on elections to the State Duma and “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights.” A number of changes concerned the elections of the head of state under martial law in part of the territory of the Russian Federation: their specifics are established by the Central Election Commission, and regional election commissions have the right to suspend the expression of will in the event of a threat to the life and health of citizens and even end voting early.

In the first reading, a bill introduced by deputies of all factions and senators was approved, which gives regional heads the right to dismiss mayors if, a month after the governor announced a reprimand to them, the reasons for it have not been eliminated. We have not yet reached the second reading of the Supreme Court’s amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure to limit the use of arrest against women and disabled people accused of minor crimes.

At the end of the session, the Duma adopted one of the most resonant projects of recent months – amendments to the law “On Education”. The main innovations were the ban on the use of mobile phones in classes (except in emergency cases) and the return of compulsory labor lessons. Speaking at a meeting on December 15, Vyacheslav Volodin called this document an initiative prepared at the request of citizens, along with projects aimed at combating vapes and “nalivikas.”

Finally, during the last session, for the first time since 2016, the Duma prematurely terminated the powers of deputies for absenteeism. Vadim Belousov (A Just Russia – For Truth, SRZP) and Vasily Vlasov (LDPR) were stripped of their mandates for missing meetings of committees and commissions. Mr. Vlasov promised to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court; nothing is known about the reaction of Mr. Belousov, who was sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison for taking a bribe and is on the federal wanted list. After this, but at his own request, Vladimir Blotsky (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), who in 2022 became known as the deputy with the highest income (over 3.5 billion rubles), resigned.

Deputy of the Parliament of Transbaikalia Vasilina Kulieva became a new member of the LDPR faction, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was replenished with the vice-speaker of the Nizhny Novgorod Legislative Assembly Vladislav Egorov. The mandate of the SRZP remains vacant for now: ex-deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region Olesya Redkina, who applied for it, turned out to be a defendant in a criminal case of fraud.

Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the Russian Public Relations Association, calls the Duma’s visiting councils, as a result of which specific amendments were included in the budget, the main novelty of this year. “In addition, decisions were made on a shortened procedure for rejecting bills from opposition factions, with their consent, in ten minutes, which made it possible to reduce the number of bills in the portfolio to less than a thousand,” the expert adds. In general, in his opinion, the legislative agenda, although “traditionally biased toward prohibitions and fines,” was supported by all factions. “Unanimity is probably helped by international trips, for example, to China and the UAE, after which inter-party differences among deputies are erased: “there are many parties – one Motherland,” summarizes Mr. Sklyanchuk.

Ksenia Veretennikova