Editor-in-chief of the newspaper Parlamentskaya Gazeta (Parliamentary Newspaper) Pyotr Kotov will be relieved of his duties in connection with the publication of an article that was severely criticized by the leaders of both chambers of the Russian parliament, Itar-Tass news agency reports.
“Kotov has already tendered his resignation,” lower house speaker Boris Gryzlov said.
Last week, speaker of the Federation Council upper house, Sergei Mironov demanded that the editor-in-chief of Parlamentskaya Gazeta be fired. On June 22, which is marked as Day of Remembrance and Sorrow in Russia, the newspaper carried an article titled “Lokotskaya Alternative” which justified actions by accomplices of the Nazis in the territory of the Bryansk region during World War II.
Calling the fact of the publication “ignominious and mean,” Mironov said he had suggested to Gryzlov that the editor-in-chief be fired. The upper house backed their speaker.
On Wednesday, the State Duma lower house speaker said he talked with Kotov on Monday and that the latter “adequately appreciates the situation.”
