A Russian lawmaker has threatened to revoke the parliamentary accreditation of journalists from a popular TV channel, following a report it aired on sexual harassment allegedly committed by a member of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).
The deputy speaker of the State Duma, LDPR member Igor Lebedev, said on Twitter on February 23 that his party would raise the issue of cancelling the Dozhd TV journalists' accreditation in Russia's parliament.
"I consider yesterday's accusations by the Dozhd journalists against Duma member Leonid Slutsky about sexual harassment to be a harsh violation of ethics and criminal law, and an insult," Lebedev wrote, saying the LDPR faction would "move to cancel" their accreditation.
Three female journalists working in the parliament's lower house had told Dozhd TV on condition of anonymity that Slutsky had sexually harassed them inside the State Duma.
Slutsky has rejected the accusations.
On February 22, LDPR leader Zhirinovsky, who is also a presidential candidate, told Dozhd TV that he would talk to Slutsky about the issue.