Russian and Ukrainian Duma: 20 deputies may be suspended

The Ukrainian prosecutor's office has filed a lawsuit and demanded compensation of 15-15 years' imprisonment and confiscation of property from 20 Russian State Duma deputies for "assisting terrorist activities" on the territory of Ukraine. They were presumed to be a threat to Ukraine's national security.

According to the information, on February 15, 2022, State Duma deputies addressed Russian President Putin, opposing the "annexation" of the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk by the provisional administrations, and on February 22, they supported the "agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance" with these regions of Ukraine, which the Kremlin used as justification for military action.

The Security Service of Ukraine does not specify what testimonies were given by the Russian State Duma deputies. Among them is Otar Arshba, who was born in Georgia and is a member of the United Russia party, which controls the deputies' income, as well as the mandate committee and the ethics commission.

Officially by biography, Otar Arshba was born in 1955 in Sukhumi and lived in Batumi until the age of 13, then moved to Russia, where he graduated from the higher school of the Committee on Military Threats.

Otar Arshba is included in the list of sanctions announced by the European Union and the United States of America. The Committee for the Investigation of Crimes in Russia announced that it intends to hold all Ukrainian prosecutors and judges who have ties to Russian State Duma deputies accountable for the "unlawful decisions" they made regarding compensation for damages caused by violence.