In Russia there is a scandal due to sexual harassment of a State Duma deputy towards journalists

In Russia, three journalists accused Leonid Slutsky, head of the international affairs committee of sexual harassment, writes Meduza. The charges against Slutsky began to sound at the end of February 2018, now the story is rapidly evolving.

Photo: Facebook Leonid Slutsky

What happened?

The journalist of the “Russian Service Bi-bi-si” presented a voice recorder, on which it was heard that Slutsky was pestering her. Writes "Mediazone", Rustamova came to Slutsky’s office on March 24, 2017 to take a comment about the visit to Russia of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. During the conversation, Slutsky advised the journalist to “fuck this BBC” and suggested “taking her with you.”

Rustamova inquired whether the reluctance to tell the details of Le Pen's visit is connected with the fact that she works precisely at the BBC.

“No, you just run from me, you don’t want to kiss, I’m offended at you,” Slutsky answered.

Rustamova told the deputy that she has a young man whom she wants to marry, to which Slutsky suggested the journalist to become his mistress. Slutsky with the words "come on, little hare, there will be a mood, look in, I missed you", "I ran my hand, the inside of my hand, in her pubic hair" up and bounced.

Similar accusations were also made by the deputy editor-in-chief of RTVi, Ekaterina Kotrikadze, and the producer of Dozhd, Daria Zhuk.

The situation with Kotrikadze occurred 7 years ago. She was an employee of Georgian television and came to Moscow to interview Slutsky.

“And, in general, it happened that he took me to his office, locked the door and tried to somehow lean me against the wall, and somehow touch and kiss me. I escaped, ran away, ”said the journalist.

The beetle was faced with inappropriate behavior of Slutsky when the second time she invited him on the air of “Rain”.

“As soon as you entered the studio, you almost immediately showed yourself - by force they tried to kiss me, tried to touch me, behaved rudely and persistently. It was unpleasant and scary, so I asked my colleague to take you on the air and did not contact you again, ”she said in an address to Slutsky.

Reaction Slutsky and the State Duma

Slutsky denies his guilt, writes Newspaper.ru. He called the statements of journalists “nonsense”, election provocation and added: “Let them tell me. It's funny. The deputy believes that “when it is impossible to find fault with the substance of the work, such provocations appear”.

"I am confident that the leadership of the State Duma and our faction will understand the situation and give an extremely harsh assessment of the authors of this slander," wrote the parliamentarian on his page in Facebook.

Igor Lebedev, deputy chairman of the State Duma, wrote on his Twitter account that he wanted to raise the issue of depriving the accreditation of Dozhd journalists in the State Duma. “I consider the charges of harassment a gross violation of ethics, criminal law and an insult,” Lebedev wrote in a social network.

Member of the State Duma Ethics Commission Raisa Karmazina said in an interview with The Insiderthat "does not believe a single word" of journalists, who accused the harassment of the deputy Leonid Slutsky.

Karmazina said that Slutsky is “the noblest man”, and called the journalist “dreamers”.

“I myself have defended and protect myself. Nobody harassed me. Was three hundred times prettier than them! And no more stupid than them! <…> Didn't give a reason and didn't give anything! And if someone harassed - I would have slapped! ”- said the deputy.

According to her, the commission would have considered the accusations against Slutsky, if their authenticity had been confirmed by the investigating authorities.

Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Slutsky case. 22 March journalists asked Peskov four times to comment on the situation, but each time he refused, he writes Meduza.

“The administration cannot comment on decisions of the State Duma Ethics Commission. This is a question for the State Duma. This is an issue that does not fall within the competence of the presidential administration,” Peskov said.

Reaction of the State Duma Ethics Commission

The State Duma Commission on Ethics did not find violations in the behavior of the LDPR deputy Leonid Slutsky. Such a statement after the meeting, at which these complaints were considered, was made by the head of the commission Otari Arshba, writes BBC Russian Service.

“We believe that the commission does not find any behavioral violations in Mr. Slutsky. If fellow journalists who submitted applications believe that their materials and evidence can be presented to law enforcement agencies, that is their right. We in the commission did not find such facts from the materials that were presented, after listening to both Daria Zhuk and Farida Rustamova,” Arshba announced the opinion of the deputies.

The reaction of the Russian media

After that a few Russian editions announcedthat they stop or limit their work with the State Duma in protest against such a decision and expressing solidarity with journalists.

The following journalists from the Duma were recalled: RBC, Novaya Gazeta, Dozhd, Ekho Moskvy, Znak.com, Tatar Edition.

The boycott was announced - Vedomosti, Kommersant, Inc.

They will mention the harassment of Slutsky in all the news about the State Duma: Republic, “Such cases”, “Moscow says,” Lenta.ru, MBH media, “The secret of the company”, “Paper”, “Lentach”.

Support the baikot: the Village, The New Times, Pravo.ru, Mediazona, RTVI, Medusa, The Bell, Special Forces of Russia, Smolensk edition of Keytown, Wonderzine.

The list of publications continues to grow.

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