A Russian parliamentary ethics committee has urged an opposition lawmaker to give up his seat in parliament after he publicly criticized President Vladimir Putin during a trip to the United States.
The State Duma ethics committee on March 20 also stripped Dmitry Gudkov of the right to speak publicly at plenary sessions for one month.
In a speech in Washington earlier this month, Gudkov criticized “the repressive methods of Putin and his minions” and urged Washington to help expose corrupt Russian officials by providing information on their accounts in Western banks.
His father, Gennady Gudkov, who also has been openly critical of the Kremlin, was expelled from parliament in September 2012 over allegedly conflicting business interests.
Both men were expelled from their left-leaning party, A Just Russia, last week for “activities damaging the party’s image.”