Russian journalists accuse MPs and officials of sexual harassment

A number of Russian journalists, some anonymously and others revealing their identity, have accused lawmakers and officials of sexual harassment, breaking silence on a subject that remains largely taboo in the country.
Two journalists who currently cover the Duma lower house of parliament, and a television producer at the independent TV Dozhd channel, all made anonymous accusations against Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee.
Slutsky, a 50-year-old MP in the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, last year "put the palm of his hand against my pubis and moved his hand upwards," one journalist told the channel on February 22, speaking anonymously.

A television producer, also speaking anonymously, said Slutsky while at the television studio "tried to kiss me on the lips and touch me on the buttocks".
Then Yekaterina Kotrikadze, deputy chief editor of Russian independent channel RTVi became the first woman to make such allegations openly.
Kotrikadze, speaking on her channel, said that seven years ago Slutsky invited her to his office to discuss an interview.

When she arrived he pushed her against the wall and "started touching me and tried to kiss me," she said.
Slutsky on his Facebook page dismissed the accusations as a "cheap, low-grade provocation."
An official in his party, Igor Lebedev, responded by threatening to block parliamentary access to journalists from TV Rain.

Two other journalists then came forward with similar allegations.
Journalist and political activist Sofya Rusova told pro-Kremlin Govorit Moskva radio station on Wednesday that she was twice sexually harassed by officials and once by a lawmaker.
On the same day, a journalist at pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, Yelena Krivyakina, wrote of being harassed by an energy ministry official and a lawmaker, whom she did not name, while on a press trip 20 years ago.
The men openly demanded sexual favours from her and warned her not to tell anyone, she said, adding that she only spoke out because of the allegations against Slutsky.

"This showed clearly that our society has changed," she wrote.
Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin in his first comment, told Vedomosti business daily on Wednesday that the heads of party factions had discussed the situation with him.
"All the situations described cannot but concern me and no one will pass them by," he said, adding that the women could ask the Duma ethics committee to investigate.
The head of Slutsky's party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, on Wednesday while filming a televised debate called fellow presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak a "whore.