Duma deputy regrets high assessment of colleagues’ mental abilities

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Alina Lobzina – November 14, 2012)

A State Duma deputy who was riled by the press for estimating the intellectual abilities of “the dumbest” of his colleagues above those of an average Russian, lamented the lack of control over journalists on Wednesday.

Ilya Kovtunov, member of ruling United Russia party, tweeted his apologies but got in trouble again when he was speaking with commentators from the influential Kommersant FM radio station.

“Unfortunately, Kontantin [von Eggert, Kommerant’s observer], have seen an unapproved text of a very emotional interview which lasted 1.5 hours,” Kovtunov said, according to the transcript published on the radio station’s website.

Not all ‘cream of society’

In his interview published by news website PublicPost on the previous day, Kovtunov, also a member of All People’s Front, a union President Vladimir Putin supporters, was quoted as saying: “Let’s put it this way, the dumbest Duma deputy is brighter than an average citizen.”

The statement was made in connection with Kovtunov’s career change and the opportunity to learn from his more experienced colleagues.

“I can’t say they are the cream of the society, but there are quite a few really smart people I can learn from,” the text read.

The legislator got his seat after the parliamentary election held in December 2011, which was followed by unprecedented street protests in Moscow over alleged vote rigging. Previously, he directed the Seliger summer camp for pro-Kremlin youth.

No request to check quotes

PublicPost’s editor-in-chief, Nargiz Asadova, said Kovtunov didn’t request his quotes to be checked for accuracy when he agreed to give the interview.

“A journalist has to make public the words of state officials and public figures, and not to help them look good,” he wrote in a comment on the website.

The website, however, has added Kovtunov’s apologies to the published text, marking them with a different color. Asadova also said the full and unedited version of his conversation with the journalist can be published if he insists.

Kovtunov himself in his interview with Kommersant FM said he hoped to attract media attention by producing “more positive news topics” when he was asked about his possible resignation.