Bomb Damages Office Of Far-Right Russian Lawmaker

An explosion blew out windows and the door of the parliament offices of an extremist nationalist lawmaker on Tuesday, less than two weeks before parliamentary elections.

There were no injuries in the blast, which was most likely caused by a homemade bomb, the parliament’s security chief said in a statement.

The explosion occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in the office of Nikolai Lysenko, the leader of the National-Republican Party known for his outspoken far-right views.

The Interfax news agency quoted lawmaker Aivars Lezdinsh, whose eighth-floor office is next to Lysenko’s, as saying the blast destroyed Lysenko’s office window and door and blew a hole in the wall.

Lysenko told the ITAR-Tass news agency that he left the office shortly before the blast, but an aide called him back to answer a telephone call. The explosion happened before he returned. The aide had already left.