Irina Yarovaya
Irina Anatolievna
recalled that it was initiative of the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav
Volodin
Vyacheslav Victorovich
The Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the eighth convocation. Elected in single mandate constituency № 163 (Saratov constituency - Saratov Oblast)
to begin the procedures for a parliamentary investigation. According to the parliamentarian, the initiative to start such investigation was supported
by 448 members of the State Duma, when it was only required to collect one-fifth
of the signatures of members of the State Duma.
The Deputy Chairwoman of the State Duma stressed that the Commission would use only objective evidence, materials and facts. She added that at the first meeting, there would be created working groups, which would organize the materials that would help to produce a dossier.
“In accordance with the law, on the basis of this dossier, a final report will be prepared and sent to the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation, and may also be sent to the Investigative Committee of Russia and the Prosecutor General’s Office,” the parliamentarian said.
Irina Yarovaya also did not rule out that the list of authorities and organizations where the report would be sent could be expanded by the decision of the Federal Assembly.
The Deputy Chairwoman of the State Duma stressed that the dossier would include all the documents reviewed by the Commission. In addition, all information containing the information on the Commission’s activities will be public, as the parliamentarian said. She added that the Commission intends to involve a wide range of experts representing the scientific community.
“I would like to emphasize once again that Russia has always acted and is acting in the strict compliance with the norms of international law. The issues of the security aspects of the activities of any biological laboratories, research and even such activities as development of biological weapons, bacterial weapons – all those activities are actually governed by an international convention and some activities are even prohibited, and we will investigate all these circumstances guided by not only the interests of protecting life and safety of citizens of the Russian Federation, but also understanding the threat that may actually already exist in relation to other countries and nations,” Irina Yarovaya added.
The Parliamentary Commission will also evaluate the possibility of preventing bioterrorist attacks, sabotage and any aggressive actions of the foreign states, which may not hypothetically, but actually threaten Russia and other countries, as the Co-Chair said.
“It is really great that our current work is actually a joint work of the two chambers. I am absolutely convinced that both the State Duma and the Federation Council have a common understanding of our responsibility — the responsibility to ensure that the investigation is conducted in strict compliance with the law requirements and in the interests of the security of our country and other sovereign states,” Irina Yarovaya added.
The initiative to create a Parliamentary Commission on investigation belonged to the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and was supported by members
of all factions. According to the law, an appeal to initiate a parliamentary
investigation must be signed by at least one-fifth of the total number of members of the State Duma. The relevant document was signed by 448 members of the State Duma.
The Commission consists of 14 members of the State Duma and 14 senators. The Commission's Co-Chairs are the Deputy Chairwoman of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya and the Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev.
