Russian airline confirms incident involving lawmaker

Russian air carrier Aeroflot has confirmed an incident aboard a plane which had to fly from St. Petersburg to Moscow, involving lawmaker Andrei Isayev from the ruling United Russia Party and his aide, company spokesman Andrei Sogrin told Russia 24 News Channel. On October 8, the crew of a plane on St. Petersburg-Moscow flight decided to remove passenger Alexander Poglazov for misconduct and disrupting public order. He was in a state of alcoholic intoxication. Poglazov came on board the plane together with Andrei Isayev. As the crew was implementing the procedure to deny transportation to Poglazov, Isayev introduced himself as a lawmaker, and demanded that Poglazov be moved to business-class section, threatening them with dismissal and problems. Eventually, Poglazov left the plane on his own accord. He was accompanied by police though. Isayev refused to fly and left as well, the Aeroflot official added. Earlier on Wednesday, first deputy head of the United Russia Party's parliament faction Nikolai Bulayev said the Party was expecting evidence from law-enforcement bodies regarding the incident. "This situation must be clarified," Bulayev said, adding that all the reports so far had been based on the account of the incident given by one person who allegedly witnessed it. "Law-enforcement bodies have no official documents on the matter yet. We'll look into it once they appear. Their evidence will make groundwork for the check," he went on. Bulayev promised to a thorough probe "looking into every detail." United Russia has no untouchables, so Andrei Isayev cannot rely on his position to protect him, he said. Secretary of the Party's General Council, deputy speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament Sergei Neverov said the Party would demand an explanation from Isayev regarding the Tuesday incident. "The incident involving Andrei Isayev is very unpleasant for us. We'll ask him to offer explanations," Neverov said. "While setting higher requirements for Party members, their statements and actions, we must begin with ourselves." He promised "a serious reaction" to the incident. Isayev chairs the parliament's committee for labor and social policy. He is deputy secretary of United Russia's General Council.