Russian Duma faces host of issues

Russia’s State Duma is opening its spring session, which will be the last before parliamentary elections. People’s representatives have a number of important issues on their agenda.

The deputies are expected to vote to reduce the number of privileges lawmakers have at the moment, including special license plates which fast-track them through the traffic on Russia's busy roads.

The Duma is also expected to ask the new U.S. Congress for closer co-operation.

On top of that, they'll also be considering moving the Constitutional Court from Moscow to Saint Petersburg and work on encouraging the U.S. to remove the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which is one of the main obstacles to Russia's membership of the World Trade Organisation.