Russian Legislator Accused of Treason After U.S. Visit

In a striking move to purge the Russian Parliament of even the faintest of contrarian voices, legislative leaders on Friday accused an opposition lawmaker of treason and demanded an ethics investigation, saying that the legislator had used a visit to Washington this month to urge the United States to meddle in Russia’s internal affairs. The lawmaker, Dmitry Gudkov, is one of just two members of the State Duma who are leading supporters of the Russian political opposition and who have participated since December 2011 in the large street protests in Moscow calling for the ouster of President Vladimir V. Putin. Dmitry Gudkov visited the United States this month where he participated in a panel discussion held by Freedom House, a nonprofit pro-democracy group that Russia has called biased and accused of promoting American interests. While Mr. Gudkov made some remarks critical of Mr. Putin’s government and of the Parliament itself, the charges of treason were all the more stunning because Mr. Gudkov went out of his way during his public statement to emphasize that the political opposition was working only in Russia’s interests. He urged the United States to help make that clear to the Russian public as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/world/europe/russian-legislator-accused-of-treason-after-us-visit.html