MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - The U.S. Senate supports the idea of inviting Russian officials to attend its hearings on topics related to Russia, a senior Federation Council member said Monday.
Mikhail Margelov, head of the foreign relations committee in Russia's upper parliamentary house and co-chair of the joint Federation Council-Senate working group, said he had suggested the idea last month to Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kan, whose security and cooperation commission initiated a hearing on the Yukos affair and its implications for Russia's political and business climate. Margelov told Brownback that inviting insiders to have their say could help the Congress reach more objective conclusions on Yukos and other Russia-related issues.
According to Margelov, Brownback said he welcomed the idea and that in the past he and his fellow senators had made several unsuccessful attempts to engage the Russian side in the debate.
Margelov said the two of them would discuss details at a meeting of the Federation Council-Senate group shortly.
