Turning moment – Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023

The greatest public outcry last year, judging by the appeals of citizens to the State Duma, was caused by the law on a unified biometric system. As follows from a report published by the apparatus of the lower house, this issue worried the Russians even more than the special military operation (SVO) and partial mobilization. The mechanism of appeals to the Duma today is reduced to the deputies providing assistance to citizens in solving their private social problems, and its influence on lawmaking remains low, the expert believes. In the State Duma, however, they believe that “a deputy can give a pendel to officials.”

In 2022, the Duma received 424.7 thousand appeals, according to a report of the Duma apparatus published on the website of the lower house. This is 14% less compared to 2021, when a large part of the letters to deputies and Duma officials were related to the discussion of high-profile bills on QR codes. Over 90% of last year’s appeals were received through the Internet reception, the rest were delivered personally to the Duma reception and by mail.

The lion’s share of appeals (over 100,000) were received in the fourth quarter of 2022 and concerned the topic of “crimes against the person”: first of all, citizens opposed the adoption of a bill on the transfer of biometric data already collected by state and commercial structures into a single state system. Recall that this draft was introduced in October by MP Anton Gorelkin (United Russia) and adopted at the end of the autumn session. The head of the Presidential Human Rights Council Valery Fadeev and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ Kirill asked to discuss the amendments and take into account the concerns of citizens about the possibility of using biometric data without their knowledge. The document was finalized for the second reading. As the Duma United Russia members reassured, the adopted law is not about the forced collection of biometric data, but about a ban on their uncontrolled circulation in the country.

There were noticeably fewer requests for IAS issues: the maximum number (more than 17.5 thousand) was received in the first quarter. But on the topic of partial mobilization in the fourth quarter, less than 1,000 letters came to the Duma. In particular, citizens complained about the work of military registration and enlistment offices and asked to adopt bills on exemption from mobilization of certain categories of Russians – fathers of three children, citizens caring for a disabled child, the only sons of single parents.

26.7 thousand submissions in the last three months of 2022, according to a separate report for the fourth quarter, contained responses to bills to ban the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations and preferences. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the adoption of these laws was caused by the numerous wishes of citizens. At the same time, Kommersant’s interlocutors in the factions said that they also received requests not to adopt these laws, since they allow them to recognize works of art as propaganda.

At the end of the year, Russians also complained about the Ministry of Education (4.3 thousand appeals) – in particular, in connection with the transfer of students to study according to the new federal state educational standards (FSES), the modernization of school education systems in the regions, and the introduction of a digital educational environment. On matters of family law, letters continued to be received asking for the adoption of a bill aimed at limiting the list of reasons for which a child can be removed from the family; fix the upper limit of the amount of alimony; amend the Family Code to equalize the rights of fathers and mothers to raise children in the event of a divorce. Finally, the authors of almost 3,000 petitions in the last quarter insisted on the adoption of a bill banning the capture of marine mammals for cultural and educational purposes and the rejection of a bill on the distribution of investment quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources.

Most often in 2022, voters turned to deputies of United Russia (more than 66% of all letters) and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (14%), least often to the LDPR faction (4.8%). The most popular in terms of the number of applications received were the committees on state construction and legislation, on security and combating corruption, on ecology, on family issues and on defense.

As an interlocutor in the security committee told Kommersant, most of the appeals relate to the work of law enforcement agencies, court decisions, the work of collectors: for example, people do not agree with court decisions or with refusals to initiate proceedings. From time to time, bundles of letters with the same text come from different people, from which we can conclude that the campaign was organized, the source said. “At the same time, there are often unfounded complaints. In addition, deputies do not have the right to interfere in the activities of bodies of inquiry, investigators and courts, so they direct them to a specific instance. A deputy can give a pendel to an official,” the interlocutor added.

Of the deputies, most of the letters came to Speaker Volodin, his deputy Pyotr Tolstoy (United Russia), Mikhail Delyagin (deputy head of the committee on economic policy from A Just Russia – For Truth, SZRP), communist Anzhelika Glazkova (member of the committee on legislation), United Russia Vladimir Burmatov (first deputy head of the committee on ecology), heads of committees on information policy Alexander Khinshtein (United Russia), on family issues Nina Ostanina (KPRF), as well as leaders of the SRZP, the KPRF and New People Sergey Mironov, Gennady Zyuganov and Alexei Nechaev.

The law on biometrics caused a mass mailing of appeals from religiously convinced citizens, these are the same self-organized traditionalists who previously opposed the bill on QR codes, Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the political technologies committee of the Russian Association for Public Relations, believes. At the same time, he says, some deputies are specifically trying to organize a campaign of citizens’ appeals to the leadership of the Duma, thereby hoping to increase the chances of passing their initiatives. According to the expert, appeals to the State Duma are now considered by citizens as an opportunity to involve a deputy in solving private social problems, and the impact of the appeals mechanism on lawmaking remains low. At most voters will be thanked for their “active citizenship” or they will be given an explanation of the essence of the proposed changes, concludes Mr. Sklyanchuk.

Maria Makutina