‘House of Fools’ remark sparks row between top Russian officials

The speaker of the State Duma has taken issue with Russia’s top investigator for allegedly slighting the legislature

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, has accused a fellow senior official of insulting voters by jokingly calling the legislature a “House of Fools.”

The strong reaction followed remarks by Aleksandr Bastrykin, who heads the Investigative Committee of Russia. During a debate at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum on Thursday about migration controls, Bastrykin, an avid proponent of tightening immigration, complained that MPs have been slow to implement expected reforms.

”I’d really want to know when our State Dura – sorry about that – approves good laws,” he said.

”Dura” means “foolish woman” in Russian and resembles the word “Duma”, the name commonly used for the lower house of the national legislature.

Volodin, Russia's top MP, took offense at the supposed slip and told journalists that Bastrykin had offended all Russian citizens who elect members to the chamber.

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Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, commenting on the issue later on Thursday, said Bastrykin “in no way wanted to offend” MPs, but rather sought “to draw their attention to the need for legislative changes in the field of migration” by quoting “one of multiple comments on social media.”

The “House of Fools” joke isn’t new; it was introduced into Russian political slang by journalist Vladimir Pozner in 2013, before quickly correcting himself, as he was criticizing a proposed law that would affect the press and him personally.

While some people took the apparent slip of tongue as intentional, Pozner insisted it was a mistake and apologized in a later episode.