MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) – State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin announced on Saturday that he plans to join the ruling United Russia party.
Former Kremlin chief of staff Naryshkin, who replaced Boris Gryzlov as State Duma speaker after the December 2011 parliamentary elections, is not a United Russia member but belongs to the party’s faction in the lower house.
Naryshkin said he hoped to join the party in mid-November adding that it will boost his influence “on the parliament’s lawmaking activities, given the [leading] role of the United Russia party,” which currently holds 238 of the 450 seats in the State Duma.