The Moscow City Duma recovered by the New Year – Newspaper Kommersant No. 243 (7444) of 12/29/2022

The Moscow City Duma (MGD) at its last meeting in 2022 on Wednesday adopted a large package of amendments to the city charter and 29 Moscow laws. The bill, designed to bring the charter in line with federal legislation, was introduced and supported immediately by 30 deputies from United Russia (ER), the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) and the pro-mayor association My Moscow. Nevertheless, some oppositionists criticized the amendments, and Yabloko proposed their own instead, but there were not enough votes to approve them.

The deputies were clearly in no hurry to open the pre-New Year’s meeting of the Moscow State Duma: by its beginning, the hall was half empty, and only 21 out of 45 deputies pressed the buttons during registration. Several other colleagues responded to the call of Speaker Alexei Shaposhnikov to hurry up with the registration, which finally made it possible to collect the necessary quorum.

The main issue on the agenda was amendments to 16 articles of the Moscow charter. This draft was introduced on December 19 by 30 deputies from almost all factions (except Yabloko), as explained by their editor Alexander Semennikov (ER), to bring the charter in line with the new federal law on public power. Similar changes were made on the same day to 29 more Moscow laws.

Earlier, the representative of the prosecutor’s office, Irina Zaluzhnaya, noted that the amendments must be adopted before January 1, otherwise there will be discrepancies in the laws. As a result, the deputies voted for the changes at once “as a whole”, and not in several readings.

In addition to purely technical amendments, the draft, in particular, provides for depriving the Moscow State Duma of the right to vote for the recall of the mayor (deputies have never used it) and forbidding the mayor himself to own or use foreign financial instruments. At the same time, the amendments to the charter were approved not only by the leaders of almost all factions, but also by the relevant commission of the Moscow State Duma in full force.

Nevertheless, at the plenary session, several oppositionists nevertheless criticized certain provisions of the bill. So, Elena Shuvalova (expelled from the Communist Party faction) was indignant that the Moscow State Duma had lost the title of the “highest” and “only legislative and representative” body of power in Moscow, becoming only a “representative and only legislative” body. She called this amendment “commensurate with the shooting of the House of Soviets in 1993.” Ms. Shuvalova introduced her own formulations in the form of amendments to the draft, but they were rejected due to a lack of votes.

Yabloko Maxim Kruglov and Socialist-Revolutionary Mikhail Timonov criticized the law on public authority itself and the amendments to the Constitution, in the development of which it was adopted.

Mr. Kruglov called the previously adopted norms “nightmarish” and noted that he was “very sorry” that the charter of Moscow had to be brought into line with them.

By the way, back in the spring, Yabloko introduced its own amendments, proposing to oblige the mayor, members of his government and heads of local governments to report annually to the Moscow State Duma on their work. This project was also submitted for discussion on December 28, but the Duma majority, as expected, rejected it, referring, among other things, to the fact that “it is not ready to listen to the reports of 146 heads of metropolitan areas.”

Almost all the communists present in the hall also had questions about the draft, although the leader of their faction, Nikolai Zubrilin, supported the amendments. For example, Evgeny Stupin (almost expelled from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation for supporting foreign agents entered in the register and convict for fakes about the army of the oppositionist Ilya Yashin) complained that the project does not ban the mayor from owning foreign real estate, and Dmitry Loktev, who was expelled from the Communist Party, was outraged by the amendment banning the recall of the mayor. Mr. Semennikov replied that the rule on overseas real estate cannot be adopted at the level of Moscow, since it is absent in federal legislation, and with regard to the recall of the mayor, he only reminded that this provision has not been in force since the spring and it is pointless to discuss it.

Inna Svyatenko (ER) drew a line under the controversy, calling the discussion “insignificant”. As a result, 35 deputies supported the amendments to the charter, six voted against and four abstained. Amendments to 29 city laws received slightly less support: 29 deputies voted in favor, 12 abstained and one opposed.

By the end of the meeting, the deputies began to disperse, so the discussion of the bill by Daria Besedina (Yabloko) on monetary compensation for deputies who do not use official cars, in fact, lost its meaning due to the lack of a quorum (14 votes for, three against and two abstained).

With the same audience, the oppositionists read out several requests to various city departments. For example, Mikhail Timonov asked the Moscow government about the legal basis for compulsory attendance at schools and colleges for “Conversations about the Important” (weekly class hours on political issues). After listening to all the requests, Speaker Shaposhnikov closed the meeting and announced a break until January 13, 2023.

Kira Heifetz