This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A BBC journalist has accused a senior Russian politician of sexually harassing her during an interview in his parliamentary office.

Farida Rustamova, who works for the BBC’s Russian service, is the third female journalist to make allegations of a sexual nature against Leonid Slutsky, a pro-Kremlin MP who heads the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee.

Slutsky has denied the allegations, which he has suggested are part of a political plot against him, and has threatened to sue the women for defamation. Accusations against such a powerful figure are unusual in a country where the #MeToo movement has been described by officials and state media as political correctness run amok.

Rustamova said the incident took place a year ago, while she was interviewing Slutsky about a visit to Russia by the French presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen. The BBC says it has a recording of the conversation but it has decided not to publish it.

During the conversation, Slutsky asked Rustamova if she would like to come to work for him. When she declined his offer, he allegedly replied: “You’re trying to get away from me, you don’t want to kiss me, you’ve hurt my feelings.”

When Rustamova told him she had a boyfriend that she planned to marry, Slutsky reportedly said: “Great, you’ll be his wife, and my mistress.”

Rustamova says Slutsky then began “running his hand, the flat of his palm, up against my nether region”.

“I didn’t understand what had happened,” Rustamova said. “I was just lost for words, muttering funny noises, I just went numb. I blurted out something about not coming to him again, that he had felt me up.”

Slutsky is then alleged to have replied: “I don’t feel people up. Well, OK, just a little. ‘Feel people up’ is an ugly expression.”

Two other journalists – TV channel RTVI deputy editor Ekaterina Kotrikadze and TV Rain producer Darya Zhuk – have come forward in recent weeks to accuse Slutsky of sexual harassment.

State Duma officials say there has been no proof of Slutsky’s guilt over anything, and that any alleged victims should file a complaint with its ethics committee. Slutsky has joked on social media about the alleged incident.

“Those journalist girls should have dressed more respectably … and not walked around with bare bellybuttons,” said Tamara Pletneva, head of the State Duma’s committee on family affairs. “If they think it’s frightening [in the Duma], if they are offended here, then they shouldn’t come here.”

Her comments came after Vyacheslav Volodin, the parliamentary speaker, told female journalists that if they thought it was dangerous in the Duma, they should change their jobs.

“Slutsky has powerful friends,” Rustamova said in a Facebook post. “No one has called me or threatened me, but after having made this story public, I am afraid for my safety.”