Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
His death was announced shortly after the voting with no prior hints at him being ill.
During a session in the State Duma in Russia in July 2025, lawmaker Mikhail Tarasenko was recorded as casting 11 votes, according to parliamentary records reported by The Moscow Times at the time.
That’s not suspicious in itself, but shortly afterward, Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told deputies that Tarasenko had died.
Volodin said the United Russia party member had been “very sick,” without giving further details. The disclosure came during the same sitting in which Tarasenko’s votes appeared.
Questions raised
The measures up for voting included legislation on Russia’s withdrawal from the Ramsar Convention on wetlands and a bill allowing widows of soldiers killed in Ukraine to use their husbands’ cars before formally inheriting other assets, according to BBC News Russia.
Novaya Gazeta noted that this was not an isolated incident. In a similar case last year, a deputy who was too ill to attend a session still had a vote registered.
Under State Duma rules, proxy voting is permitted if a lawmaker provides a valid explanation and hands over their voting card to colleagues.
Official response
Outlets suggested Tarasenko’s case could also involve proxy voting, given the narrow gap between the recorded votes and the announcement of his death.
Later on the same day, as Tarasenko’s death was announced, ethics committee member Evgeny Revenko told the business daily Kommersant that Tarasenko’s votes were the result of a “technical malfunction,” implying they were registered after his death.
Tarasenko was born in 1947 in the southern city of Taganrog. Before entering politics, he spent much of his professional life in Russia’s mining and metallurgical sectors.
Sources: Express, The Moscow Times, Novaya Gazeta, BBC News Russia
