By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – Several Russian media outlets have boycotted Parliament in Russia after sexual misconduct charges were dropped against Leonid Slutsky, head of its international affairs committee.
On Thursday, March 22nd, Slutsky was cleared of sexual misconduct charges by the ethics commission in Russia. Since then, nearly all of Russia’s independent news agencies have decided to boycott coverage of the Duma, the lower chamber of Russian Parliament.
Accusations against Slutsky began in February 2018, when several female journalists accused Slutsky of making unwelcome sexual advances towards them.
Farida Rustamova of BBC Russia, said that Slutsky told her to leave her fiancé and “ran his hand, the flat of his palm, up against my nether region.”
Another accuser, Yekaterina Kotrikadze, deputy editor-in-chief at a Russian television station, said that in 2011 Slutsky pushed her against a wall and attempted to kiss her.
“He asked me to come without a camera,” said Kotrikadze. “He brought me into his office, locked the door and tried to pin me against the wall and somehow kiss and touch me. I got away and ran.”
Slutsky denied the allegations and mocked his accusers. In a Facebook post dated February 23rd, Slutsky stated that “attempts to make Slutsky into a Russian Harvey Weinstein look like a cheap and crude provocation … and are bound to fail.”
The ethics commission investigating the accusations released a verdict on March 22nd sating that it had “not found any violations of behavioral norms.”
The commission also took aim at the timing of the women’s allegations, suggesting that they were an attempt to undermine the presidential election in Russia that week.
One member of Parliament, Oksana Pushkina, did side with the journalists and pledged to seek adoption of a legal framework for the prosecution of sexual harassment.
Despite the committee’s decision, the accusations against Slutsky have ushered in the #MeToo movement in Russia. The boycott that has ensued in response to the allegations against Slutsky is the first of its kind in Russia.
Kotrikadze is not surprised by the ethics commission’s decision, but is optimistic about the media’s response to the accusations.
“I really think that the reaction of my colleagues, and lots of Russian media outlets, is the best thing I could imagine. This is the first time in Russian history that the journalists have not obeyed the decision of the state.”
For more information, please see:
ABC News – Russian Media Boycott Country’s Parliament Over Sexual Harassment Claims – 22 March 2018
CNN – Media Outlets Boycott Russian Parliament Over Sexual Harassment Scandal – 23 March 2018
The New Yorker – Russia Finally Gets its #MeToo Movement – 23 March 2018
The New York Times – Russian News Outlets Boycott Parliament After Harassment Decision – 22 March 2018
U.S. News and World Report – Russian Lawmaker Cleared of Sexual Harassment Accusations – 21 March 2018
