What is a State Duma Deputy? In _Death and the Penguin_ , Viktor interviews the State Duma Deputy Aleksandr Yakornitsky. (He is also referred to simply as a "State Deputy"). I'm aware that the State Duma is the lower chamber of the Russian Legislature. However, what is a "deputy" in this context? I'm hoping that I'm not missing something obvious, but I'm slightly confused as to what the individual's exact position is in the government, especially given that the novel is set in Ukraine rather than Russia. Can someone clarify? **Edit:** It's later stated that all of Viktor's subjects up to that point, including the politician, had been from Kyiv. Why was that particular individual part of the Russian legislature?

The current Legislature of Ukraine is called the Verkhovna Rada. The State Duma is Russian, not Ukrainian. (Legislatures in both are evidently called Deputies, though).

Given that this book was written in Russian, it's possible that the author simply selected a term that readers would have been familiar with (even though it's technically not correct).