Duma starts meeting with minute of silence

The State Duma started the first meeting this fall with one-minute silence.Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznyov recalled the tragedy of September 11, 2001in New York and Washington. Russian parliamentarians revered the memory ofVladimir Golovlev and Vladimir Semenkov who died this summer, victims ofthe floods in the south of Russia and those perished in the militaryhelicopter crash in Chechnya.The Speaker stressed that Duma deputies supported active steps in thestruggle against international terrorism but opposed unilateral measuresthat could undermine international security..