Russia's Central Electoral Commission has begun swearing in hundreds of deputies in the Lower House of Parliament, the Duma.
In the December election, the pro-presidential United Russia party won by a landslide, claiming 315 of the 450 available seats. All but eight of its deputies are now officially part of the Duma, with the remaining ones due to be registered in the next few days. The other parties to have made it past the seven per cent threshold are the Communist party, the Liberal Democratic party and the Fair Russia party.