Quitting the parties 

The State Duma deputies Maria Maksakova and Denis Voronenkov, who fled to Ukraine, have been expelled from the parties which they represented in the lower house. Maksakova was deprived of membership in United Russia, and her husband - in the Communist Party.

As the vice-speaker of the State Duma, a member of the Communist Party Ivan Melnikov told RBC, Voronenkov's membership was terminated automatically. "According to the law on the Russian political parties, a foreign citizen can not be a party member. Same is true for dual citizenship," he said.

The same reason United Russia used for decision on Maria Maksakova. At a press briefing the head of the Moscow branch of the party Andrey Metelsky explained that the Federal Law "On political parties" forbids a person with dual citizenship to be any party's member.

However, under the Federal Law "On political parties" it is not forbidden for persons with dual citizenship to join political parties: the prohibition applies to foreign citizens, stateless persons and disabled citizens.

Earlier it was reported that Maksakova was fired from the Russian Academy of Music, where she was a teacher. The singer learned about her dismissal from the students, she said in an interview to radio Kommersant FM. The Mariinsky Theatre, where Maksakova was a member of the opera company, didn't comment on her dismissal.

Prior to this, in an interview with Medusa Maksakova said that, in addition to Russian, she had German citizenship. She explained that the other Duma members learned about her dual citizenship after the elections and tried to force her to give it up. In the party, according to her words, she had discussed this topic only in the "private conversations." The fact that she had to notify the leadership of the party about a foreign passport, was not known to her, said Maksakova.

The Russian parliament did not prepare separate statements about the fugitive deputies, the head of the Duma Committee on CIS Leonid Kalashnikov informed. Runaways should deal with law enforcement agencies, if they have any questions, he said. The representatives of United Russia, commenting the situation to RBC, also noted that there were no decision to tighten the regulation because of the incident with Maksakova and no checks of the party members for dual citizenship would follow. The CEC said they would conduct an audit at the election of the deputy Maksakova in 2011, reported "Argumenty Nedeli", although so far there have been no requests from deputies and law enforcement authorities to the Commission.

Runaway MPs

Spouses Voronenkov and Maksakova left Russia to Ukraine in the autumn of 2016. A month before, they did not win the election to the State Duma of the 7th convocation. In late January, it was reported that in Kiev Voronenkov testified against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on charges of treason.

Voronenkov and Maksakova are not the first Russian politicians, who fled to Ukraine, but they have become the most resonant ones.  On February 14, the ex-MP in an interview to Ukrainian Sensor.net (blocked in Russia) compared Russia with the Third Reich and called the reunification with the Crimea "an annexation". In the interview, he also said that in Russia everything is controlled by the FSB, a large-scale falsification of the election results in the country happens at all levels and that "Putin does not like litter carried out of the house, if it means his closest friends, for whom corruption, as it turned out, is permitted." He also confirmed that he had received Ukrainian citizenship in December 2016.

The next day it became known that Russia's former deputy was declared federally wanted and found guilty under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code (fraud). Investigative Committee also ruled on bringing him to responsibility for p.3 of Art. 33 (crime accomplices: the organizer) and Part 1 of Art. 170.1 of the Criminal Code (organization of falsification of the unified state register of legal entities). According to the Committee, Voronenkov became the organizer of the fraud in the sale of a building at the International Street in Moscow, which belonged to OOO TOMA. 

Thereafter Voronenkov gave an interview to Ukrainian Gromadske TV Channek. In it he developed the theme of the Crimea joining Russia and said that the Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov was "totally against" the decision. This was followed by an article in Gazeta.ru with an interview of Surkov's advisor, Alexey Chesnakov, in which he stated that the Assistant to the President, "laughed" over the allegations of Voronenkov and once called him "the little man with the face of the lice."

To Moskovsky Komsomolets the former MP from the Communist Party said that the reason for his departure to Ukraine was "illegal" and "unfair" criminal prosecution. According to Voronenkov, in Ukraine he was "well received".

Against this background, the deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Vladimir Kashin, citing his own sources said that Voronenkov was allegedly planning to become governor of the Odessa region.

According to an RBC source in the Verkhovna Rada, the plans for the active involvement of Voronenkov and Maksakova in Ukrainian politics, are unknown. "For various reasons quite a few prominent Russians moved to Ukraine, including former deputy Ilya Ponomarev. But after a series of high-profile interviews the interest in them is usually exhausted. They do not participate in the policits actively: there's high competition, plus there is a suspicion towards immigrants from Russia," he added.

The local authorities were not impressed with their coming to Ukraine, and the common people did not even know who Voronenkov and Maksakova were, Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told RBC. According to him, in Kiev there was "the entire Russian diaspora" of opposition figures, but this pair is the most famous among the Russians, "who left Russia because of persecution."

Legislative activity

Voronenkov, like his wife, was a deputy in the State Duma of the 6th convocation, from 2011 to 2016. During this time he became a co-author of 30 legislative initiatives, of which six were signed, 11 rejected, and the others are under consideration.

In December 2013 he became a co-author of the introduction of the Criminal Code Article 280.1 on liability for public incitement to infringement of integrity of Russia. According to this article, in Russia people talking about the status of Crimea in the same way in which he gave an interview to Ukrainian media, declaring the annexation of the Crimea, are persecuted.

The most notorious of his bills were the amendments to the law "On Mass Media" in September 2014. The document prohibits foreign states, international organizations and the Russians with dual citizenship from owning more than 20% in the Russian media. Voronenkov himself argued that he developed the only the "legal component" of the bill.

The law was passed, and because of it the Cypriot company Kommersant Holding (Cyprus) Ltd had to sell its stake in OOO Kommersant Holding and Vedomosti newspaper changed ownership: in late November, Dow Jones and Pearson announced their withdrawal from the edition, and sold their shares to the former general director of the publishing house Kommersant Demyan Kudryavtsev.

In 2014, Voronenkov also co-wrote the law on controlled foreign companies (CFC), which obliged the Russian beneficiary of offshore companies to pay tax on foreign income. Among other resonant Voronenkov's initiatives is the adopted bill criminalizing public incitement to breach the integrity of the Russian Federation and a rejected one on the establishment of restrictions on the payment of remuneration to managers of state corporations.

In July 2016 the MP became famous due to the official request to the Minister of Communication and the Director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, which proposed to ban the spread of augmented reality game Pokemon Go in Russia. The fight with pokemons, according to Voronenkov, was justified by the fact that "with the help of a video game the US agencies responsible for psychological warfare are trying to create the image of a future war, the most relevant objectives and interests of Washington: a high-tech and ultra-modern war of the 21st century", "an American-style war/"

Maria Maksakova, in her turn, offered to criminalize female genital mutilation and provide respite care for a child for pregnant women and single parents convicted of pedophilia, terrorist acts, violence to life of the statesmen, violent seizure of power or armed rebellion. Maksakova also became famous for her struggle for "spiritual buckles." In January 2014 she proposed a ban on giving children any information, "negating family values, promoting the priority of sexual relations and forming disrespect to parents or other family members."

Maksakova was also co-author of additions to the draft law "On foreign agents" and voted for the bill "On measures against persons involved in violations of human rights and freedoms" - an analogue of the American "Magnitsky list".

Judging by Voronenkov's Twitter, before he actively supported the reunification of Russia and the Crimea. "Pictures from a trip to the Crimea. I was struck by its beauty. I fully support its accession to Russia," he wrote in August, 2014.

Speaking in the Duma, Voronenkov was not skimp on the criticism of the Ukrainian authorities, alluding to the fact that its elite was operating under the control of outside forces: "An example of this we see in Ukraine, where billionaires brought almost the entire country in the offshore, where people are freezing, and the state has no money to pay for gas: it is through the large business owners that the external forces influence everything and continue to shape the domestic and foreign policy of the Ukrainian state."

The two ex-deputies before fleeing were positive about President Putin. "Frankly speaking, I've been liking Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as a man for 12 years," explained Maksakova to Izvestiya in 2011, commenting upon her membership in the pro-presidential Russian Popular Front.

The blow to the image of the Duma

Experts surveted by RBC believe that the image of the State Duma and the Russian political parties will not be negatively affected by this flee to Ukraine. "Its [State Duma] image will not be affected by the incident, because there have already been many flees, criminal cases and persecutions of MPs," said political analyst Andrey Kolyadin. According to him, it wasn't for naught that United Russia decided not to introduce additional checks for party members, as they could threaten the most prominent members.

Political analyst Konstantin Kalachev added that the situation with Voronenkov and Maksakova may even benefit the image of the State Duma of a new convocation. "On the contrary, now it is possible to say that the ranks [of the deputies] are cleared of any fugitives, this will even increase confidence in the new State Duma," suggested the expert.

In July 2016 the MP became famous due to the official request to the Minister of Communication and the Director of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, which proposed to ban the spread of augmented reality game Pokemon Go in Russia. The fight with pokemons, according to Voronenkov, was justified by the fact that "with the help of a video game the US agencies responsible for psychological warfare are trying to create the image of a future war, the most relevant objectives and interests of Washington: a high-tech and ultra-modern war of the 21st century", "an American-style war/"

Maria Maksakova, in her turn, offered to criminalize female genital mutilation and provide respite care for a child for pregnant women and single parents convicted of pedophilia, terrorist acts, violence to life of the statesmen, violent seizure of power or armed rebellion. Maksakova also became famous for her struggle for "spiritual buckles." In January 2014 she proposed a ban on giving children any information, "negating family values, promoting the priority of sexual relations and forming disrespect to parents or other family members."

Maksakova was also co-author of additions to the draft law "On foreign agents" and voted for the bill "On measures against persons involved in violations of human rights and freedoms" - an analogue of the American "Magnitsky list".

Judging by Voronenkov's Twitter, before he actively supported the reunification of Russia and the Crimea. "Pictures from a trip to the Crimea. I was struck by its beauty. I fully support its accession to Russia," he wrote in August, 2014.

Speaking in the Duma, Voronenkov was not skimp on the criticism of the Ukrainian authorities, alluding to the fact that its elite was operating under the control of outside forces: "An example of this we see in Ukraine, where billionaires brought almost the entire country in the offshore, where people are freezing, and the state has no money to pay for gas: it is through the large business owners that the external forces influence everything and continue to shape the domestic and foreign policy of the Ukrainian state."

The two ex-deputies before fleeing were positive about President Putin. "Frankly speaking, I've been liking Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as a man for 12 years," explained Maksakova to Izvestiya in 2011, commenting upon her membership in the pro-presidential Russian Popular Front.

The blow to the image of the Duma

Experts surveted by RBC believe that the image of the State Duma and the Russian political parties will not be negatively affected by this flee to Ukraine. "Its [State Duma] image will not be affected by the incident, because there have already been many flees, criminal cases and persecutions of MPs," said political analyst Andrey Kolyadin. According to him, it wasn't for naught that United Russia decided not to introduce additional checks for party members, as they could threaten the most prominent members.

Political analyst Konstantin Kalachev added that the situation with Voronenkov and Maksakova may even benefit the image of the State Duma of a new convocation. "On the contrary, now it is possible to say that the ranks [of the deputies] are cleared of any fugitives, this will even increase confidence in the new State Duma," suggested the expert.

This story as a whole won't strenghten the positive image of MPs and the Duma, but to say that they suffer irreparable damage is also an exaggeration, says political analyst Abbas Gallyamov. According to him, the general patriotic and "anti-Ukrainian" spirit of MPs is not in doubt and betrayal of two people does not change anything. "For that to happen, it is necessary that such incidents were multiple and, in addition, some of the politicians or the media must clearly articulate that, they say," all the deputies are traitors ", and many, many times to repeat this thesis. Without it the image of the Duma is not threatened," says the analyst.