The leadership of the State Duma will hold field meetings of the council of the chamber more often

The practice of visiting meetings of the Council of the State Duma in the autumn session will continue: this initiative was recognized as successful. They will be held, most likely, during the regional weeks. This was told to Vedomosti by two sources in the State Duma and confirmed by the first vice-speaker of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov (United Russia).

The next offsite meeting of the council was held in Korolev, near Moscow, on August 28. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, heads of factions and relevant committees gathered at the Research and Testing Cosmonaut Training Center named after V.I. Yu. A. Gagarin. Together with them, the general director of Roskosmos Yuri Borisov participated in the meeting. Following the trip, Volodin said that the next year’s budget should provide for measures to support the cosmonaut training center.

The topics of trips are often related to industries that are now critically needed to be developed, notes one of the interlocutors of Vedomosti: “Regional elections also influence, since the appearance of federal politicians allows us to “highlight” the merits of the governor.” Topics for discussion with the participation of deputies are problems that need to be solved, says another source. For example, he connects the visit to Korolev with the failure of the Luna-25 project.

Duma chiefs began to travel more actively to the regions in June 2023, when council members left for the Murmansk region. There, the deputies visited the Center for the Construction of Large-tonnage Offshore Structures of PJSC Novatek, and the deputies were accompanied by the head of the region, Andrey Chibis, and the chairman of the board of Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson. At the meeting itself, measures for the development of the energy industry and the expansion of legislative support for the serial production of natural gas liquefaction plants were discussed.

Then, in July 2023, the leadership of the State Duma came to the Kaliningrad region, where they visited the Avtotor automobile plant and met with the head of the region, Anton Alikhanov. We discussed issues of socio-economic development of the Kaliningrad region and measures to counter sanctions.

Also in July, the deputies visited the new medical and diagnostic complex of the Moscow Clinical Research Center named after I.I. Loginova. Together with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, they toured the complex, and the topic discussed at the retreat of the council of the lower house was the introduction of a new standard of oncological care in the capital.

In the Tver region on August 15, the council discussed the development of the agro-industrial complex and the support of rural areas. The meeting was attended by the head of the region Igor Rudenya and the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev.

And in the Nizhny Novgorod region on August 21, the deputies visited the Central Design Bureau for Hydrofoils named after. R. E. Alekseev and discussed the development of river passenger transport in Russia with the governor of the region Gleb Nikitin, presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District Igor Komarov, head of Rosmorrechflot Zakhary Dzhioev and Deputy Minister of Transport Alexander Poshivay.

Trips to the regions intensified after the end of the session. The last plenary session was held on July 26, then there was one regional week, after which the deputies are on vacation for a month. After the formal end of the holidays from September 5 to 17, they will have two regional weeks, and the first plenary meeting of the autumn session will take place on September 19 – only then all deputies should appear in Moscow.

Any trip to the regions is useful, as it provides an opportunity to see how the laws adopted by the State Duma work in practice, says Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), chairman of the committee on labor and social policy. Committees can also hold off-site meetings – one per session: “We, for example, recently held such a meeting in Kabardino-Balkaria.”

The practice of visiting meetings of the Council of the State Duma used to be, too, but the leadership of the chamber held events outside of Okhotny Ryad less often, says Nilov. Such council meetings are becoming a useful practice, Zhukov told Vedomosti. According to him, they will continue already during the session: “The results of the trips are discussed at the Council of the State Duma, then legislative initiatives or amendments to the budget appear, if additional funding is needed to implement one or another issue raised during the discussion at the meeting.”

This allows you to look at the problems that exist in different regions, and how different industries are developing in them, Alexei Nechaev, leader of the New People faction, told Vedomosti: “In Murmansk, we visited the Novatek liquefied gas plant, in Nizhny Novgorod – design bureau, which produces “Meteors”, and discussed the development of river transport in general, in the Kaliningrad region there was a visit to industrial facilities. In general, there was a big discussion about how to develop this region, how to ensure its connection with the “mainland”. In Tver, the theme was agriculture.”

Now the number of trips of the State Duma Council to the regions has increased due to the fact that official holidays have come on Okhotny Ryad, Nechaev says. But he is convinced that in the autumn such events will not stop, they will simply, most likely, be held less often, at regional weeks.

Factions and committees make proposals on where else to hold offsite meetings of council members and on what topics, Vladimir Gutenev, chairman of the industry committee, says: “Our committee proposed regions associated with the military-industrial complex, with the production of high-tech civilian products. At the beginning of the autumn session, a travel plan will be formed – probably once or twice a month such meetings will be held.

The heads of the regions believe that the arrival of deputies is useful for the territory, says Gutenev: “Following the results of the meeting, the relevant committee, together with the chairman’s office, expert councils, are preparing a draft resolution of the State Duma, where various steps can be proposed – amendments to the budget, legislative initiatives, appeals to the chairman of the government “.

In Kaliningrad, the deputies visited the Observer factory, which produces electric wheelchairs, the deputy noted: “A proposal was made to amend the public procurement law to stimulate the development of domestic manufacturers. A request was prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and soon, as far as I know, the problem will be solved one way or another.”

“In the fall, the State Duma will have hard work, but there is no way back. But the most important thing is to refine what is being discussed at them, to turn the proposals made into laws or programs. And not to do it just for the sake of PR during the holidays, you can’t let it remain an empty talking shop. Therefore, as a result, a lot of work will be required and everything needs to be brought to mind. In addition, the proposals that are made at such meetings require additional funding and a lot of conciliation work with various departments, ”says Vladimir Kashin (KPRF), head of the committee on agrarian issues.

Although he assumes that there will be fewer such trips in the autumn session than in the summer, since during the session they are replaced by government clocks: “But such meetings will certainly continue during the regional weeks.”

The choice of a region for holding meetings of the Duma Council also depends on the transport arm – all visits take place on the same day, while the topics for trips are selected from the presidential agenda and without party color, says Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the political technologies committee of the RASO. He cites as an example that the deputies’ trip to Murmansk took place a month before Vladimir Putin’s trip there. “Including proposals from factions are starting to come in, and soon there will be no end to them. For example, at the end of the spring session, Nikolai Kolomeytsev, the first deputy head of the Communist Party faction, suggested visiting Rosselmash in the fall, he recalls. According to Sklyanchuk, with such joint trips, the leadership of the Duma demonstrates the solidity of the factions and goes beyond the “walls of offices” on Okhotny Ryad, which “will increase the weight of arguments” from the ground “when discussing various topics with the government.”

Maxim Ivanov participated in the preparation of the article