Russia to build new parliament compound

Moscow, May 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A new Russian parliamentary centre will be built in central Moscow, that will house both the upper and lower houses as well as their administrative and support services, an official said.

The idea of building such a parliamentary compound has been considered for a while.

The upper and lower houses, their administrative and support services are currently scattered around Moscow at over 10 locations. The project was put on hold, however, due to the financial crisis.

The location for the centre will be announced in the very near future, said presidential property management administration chief Vladimir Kozhin.

"It is a place worthy of a parliamentary centre of a country such as Russia," he said.

In 2011, the Russian president proposed expanding Moscow's city boundaries to include a "metropolitan federal district".

A representative of the lower house, the State Duma, said a new parliamentary centre for the upper house, the Federal Assembly, would be built just outside Moscow within five years.

However, Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said he was against the idea of a parliamentary centre being built in "New Moscow", outside Moscow's Outer Ring Road, known as the MKAD.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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