State Duma Opens 2023 Autumn Session

Today, on September 19, Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma, opened the first meeting of the autumn session. By the end of the year, Russian deputies will review more than 50 priority bills.

“Our country has been living under illegal sanctions for the past ten years,” Vyacheslav Volodin noted in his speech at the first plenary meeting of the autumn session. “Since 2013, more than 17,500 of them have been imposed. The United States of America said that Russia’s economy would be torn to shreds. But the opposite has happened: the Russian Federation, despite the challenges, has become the world’s fifth largest economy during this time. This is the World Bank’s data on the results of last year.”

In the first reading deputies will consider a bill on the Day of Reunification of Russia and the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The document was introduced to the State Duma by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Chairman of the State Duma noted that more and more countries are choosing the course of independent domestic and foreign policy, they view Russia as a reliable partner to build relations based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and trust. According to Vyacheslav Volodin, they constitute the majority of the countries in the world.

“In the autumn session we plan to meet with comrades from the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, with colleagues from the United Arab Emirates. On the initiative of the State Duma, the first international conference of Russia and Latin America will be held in Moscow, with more than 200 of our colleagues from Latin American countries expected to arrive,” Mr Volodin said.

The deputies will also consider a draft law on the ratification of the Agreement on Joint Logistical and Medical Support for the Troops (Collective Forces) of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The Agreement was signed on September 16, 2021 in Dushanbe.