Russia’s Federation Council moves to censure Senator Lyudmila Narusova for traveling to French Riviera
The upper house of the Russian Federal Assembly and its Protocol Committee are planning to censure Senator Lyudmila Narusova for traveling to a NATO country without prior clearance from the government.
According to the committee chair Vyacheslav Timchenko, on July 18 Narusova flew to Istanbul, from where she took another flight destined for Nice in the French Côte d’Azur region. Narusova returned to Russia on August 6 — after missing two plenary sessions, Timchenko emphasized.
The senator herself declined to comment on the situation when asked to do so by RIA Novosti.
TASS reported previously that Narusova had also visited Spain.
In early August, Narusova’s daughter, the Russian journalist and socialite Ksenia Sobchak, posted photos of herself and her mother together in Marbella, Southern Spain. Narusova herself claimed to be in St. Petersburg at the time.
According to Timchenko, senators who wish to visit NATO countries during Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine must first get clearance from the Federation Council.
‘Special military operation’
Russia has officially banished all references to the war in Ukraine from print and public speech, insisting that it must be called a “special military operation,” abbreviated to “SVO” in Russian.