AFPC was pleased to assist the US Congress-Russian Duma Study Group in hosting a delegation of members of the Russian Duma (lower chamber of parliament). The Honorable Lyubov K. Sliska, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma (the number two position in the Duma), headed the delegation, which visited Washington June 19-20, 2001. Other delegation members included:
- Mikhail Grishankov (People’s Deputy Group) – First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security;
- Yuri Shchekochikhin (Yabloko Fraction) – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on National Security;
- Rim Bakiev (Fatherland – All Russa Fraction) – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology;
- Svetlana Gvozdeva (Uity Fraction) – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Political Economy and Entrepreneurship;
- Dmitri Soldatkin (Agro-Industrial Group) – Member of the State Duma Committee on Defense;
- Anatoly Kulikov (Independent) – Chairman of the State Duma Subcommittee on Transnational Criminal and Terrorist Activity and former Minister of the Interior;
- Mikhail Musatov (Liberal Democratic Party) – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense; and,
- Khalil Barlybayev (Russia’s Regions Group) – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Property.
The delegation’s trip was Sliska’s first visit to the US as the Russian Chairman of the “Study Group.” One of the more recently elected members of the Duma, Sliska has rapidly risen to her current position. Originally from Saratov, an industrial city on the Volga River, she belongs to the pro-Putin Unity faction.
While in DC, the group met with their colleagues in the House of Representatives as well as with members of the executive branch. Their main agenda focused on four topics: 1) President Bush’s proposal for a national missile defense system and Russia’s response and reaction to such a proposal; 2) the outcome of the Bush-Putin summit in Ljubljana; 3) the situation in Chechnya; and, 4) bilateral trade relations.
AFPC arranged a working lunch at which the delegation was briefed by Washington’s top experts on the agenda topics of defense, security, counterterrorism, economics and trade. Additionally, AFPC held a reception and dinner in honor of the delegation in the Great Hall and Members’ Room at the Library of Congress. The guest list was a virtual who’s who of US/Russia relations policy community on our nation’s capital – the Russian Ambassador to the US and ten members of the US Congress also attended the 70-person function.
AFPC looks forward to playing a key role in fostering a solid basis of cooperation between the legislative bodies of the United States and Russia via the US Congress – Russian Duma Study Group.