The MPs of the Russian State Duma will refuse to visit the traditional National Prayer Breakfast with the US President on February 8 due to the listing of the policymakers of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament and members of the Russian government to the ‘Kremlin report’. Anatoly Aksakov, the Head of the Financial Marker Committee of the Russian State Duma claimed this as RBK reported.
According to the official, he expected to come but ‘in the situation when the list includes our foreign minister, the head of our chamber, the dialogue is out of the question’.
Aksakov added that ‘the point of the visit was to build a dialogue’ and now the visit is senseless.
RBK also reported citing the source that the more than 50 Russian MPs intended to visit Prayer Breakfast.
As we reported the ‘Kremlin report’ was presented in the US Congress on January 29. It contains 210 names close to Putin’s government. The US State Treasury presented only nonclassified part of the report. Particularly, the list includes all ministers of the Russian government, heads of the presidential administration, heads of both chambers of the parliament, mayor of Moscow and governor of St. Petersburg, leading businessmen and heads of the state companies.
The so-called ‘list of the oligarchs’ was made due to the bill ‘On Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions’. It was adopted by the US in summer 2017 as the response to the accusations of Russia toward the interference in the American election. The US and the EU imposed the sanctions against Russia due to the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Later the sanctions were extended a few times.
The National Prayer Breakfast annually takes place in Washington on the first Thursday in February. The event is organized by the US Congress along with Fellowship Foundation, a Christian organization. The business meetings and speeches take place during the breakfast. The name of the main speaker is kept in the secret until the day of the breakfast’s holding.
