Russian media mount boycott of parliament amid sex scandal

MOSCOW – Russian media outlets say they will stop sending reporters to cover the lower chamber of the Russian parliament after it exonerated an influential lawmaker who has faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment.

Three female journalists have come out with detailed accounts of how Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, behaved inappropriately toward them in the past years. The Duma’s ethics committee convened on Tuesday and found “no violations” in Slutsky’s behaving.

The decision has caused outrage in media circles. The Ekho Moskvy radio station announced on Wednesday that it would stop sending reporters to the Duma because it deems it unsafe, joining RBC which recalled all of its Duma reporters and Kommersant which said it would not be using Slutsky for comment.