Valentina Matvienko proposed to create a register of companies with a ban on work from abroad

Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko reported on the results of the year of work of the upper house of parliament (she has yet to meet on December 23 for the last meeting) and announced a number of plans for the next one. She said that a new head of the Accounts Chamber could be appointed to replace Alexei Kudrin at the beginning of the spring session, after the New Year holidays. According to her, now there are consultations on this issue.

In addition, already on December 23, the chamber will present certificates to new senators from the annexed territories.

According to Matvienko, a whole block of laws was adopted in 2022 for the needs of the special operation, its participants and their families. She touched on another topic, which has not yet become a law. In particular, it proposed to correct idea Senator Andrei Klishas on a ban on remote work from abroad according to the list of professions.

“Now, if a person has such a profession in his diploma, it doesn’t matter where he works, to deprive him of such a right, in my opinion, this is the wrong approach,” she told reporters. In her opinion, it is more correct to make a certain register of companies, organizations and positions that can affect information and commercial security. It would be wrong to introduce such a ban on the principle of the profession as such, for example, in the field of IT technologies, she is sure.

“But not like this: let’s, if he is an IT specialist, forbid working remotely. No, I don’t think it can be done that way. On the contrary, we must support the IT industry in every possible way,” the speaker of the Federation Council noted. The day before, on December 20, United Russia announced the preparation of a bill according to which tax non-residents of the Russian Federation will not be able to conclude employment contracts for remote work in a number of specialties.

When asked how long the hostilities would last in general, Matvienko replied that it was incorrect to talk about specific dates, because “initially, when the decision was made on the special military operation, it was not adjusted to any dates.” Despite the fact that “goals and objectives must be achieved,” she does not see any prospects for negotiations with Ukraine: “I see no prerequisites for negotiations to take place in the near future: there is nothing and no one with whom.” Matvienko hastened to reassure about the second wave of mobilization – according to her, one should not be expected. “I will tell you honestly as a member of the Security Council, I am absolutely sincere: this topic has never been raised, it has not been discussed, it is not on the agenda at all today.”

Russia, according to Matvienko, “was, is and will remain a part of Europe.” This is how she responded to a journalist’s request to comment on the “pivot to the East”: “Russia is not a weather vane to turn right and left on an opportunistic basis.”

In addition, Matvienko promised journalists next year to finalize the topic of limiting the terms of detention in a pre-trial detention center. On December 7, at a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and the HRC, journalist and ex-member of the PMC of Moscow Eva Merkacheva raised the topic of many years of being in a pre-trial detention center during the investigation, including women with children.

As Matviyenko told Vedomosti, the Federation Council is ready to develop a bill on limiting the terms of detention of citizens in a pre-trial detention center, in her opinion, the period of detention should be limited to a year. She recalled that there is a provision in the legislation that gives the courts the right, after a year of a citizen’s stay in a pre-trial detention center, to study the arguments for extending the investigation.

Matviyenko expressed regret that she does not work well, and the courts, as a rule, “accept the position of the investigator and extend the terms of detention.” “Now we need to hold broad consultations with the Supreme Court, and with the prosecutor’s office, and with the Ministry of Justice in order to understand whether a new law is needed, whether new norms are needed. If necessary, we will prepare such a bill. But the fact that we will not leave this topic – I promise you, ”said Matvienko.

She stated that long periods of detention in a pre-trial detention center are unacceptable for citizens accused of non-violent, economic and other crimes, and “especially women, women with children.” “If the investigator opened a criminal case, filed a petition with the court to place this or that accused in a pre-trial detention center, then, probably, he already has sufficient evidence of this person’s guilt, but which needs to be further investigated. So, in my opinion, there should be a certain time limit for such cases. It should be a year to complete the investigation,” she said.

Speaking about her personal plans, the speaker said that she would meet the New Year on the plane: she would lead the Russian delegation at the inauguration of the President of Brazil, which would take place on January 1. But then she promised to spend a couple of days somewhere in “winter Russia”.