Russian parliamentary deputies elect committee chairs

Newly elected deputies on Wednesday divided key posts in the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, and appointed heads of parliamentary committees. The number of Duma committees declined from 32 to 29. The United Russia party was handed command of 15 of them, including the key foreign and budget committees. The Communist Party will head six committees, including the Defense Committee. The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party and A Just Russia will chair four committees each. United Russia member Sergei Naryshkin, the former head of the presidential administration, was voted in earlier today as parliamentary speaker. Boris Gryzlov, the former Duma speaker, left his post last week after eight years in the post.