State Duma second half of the 1990s, the Duma became an important forum for lobbying by regional leaders and businessmen looking for tax breaks and legislative favors. The work of the leading committees, such as those for defense, foreign affairs, or budget, attracted a good deal of media attention and lobbying activity. In the early 2000s, following the 1999 parliamentary elections, the pro-presidential Unity party and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation were the leading forces in the State Duma. A 2016 exposé by Dissernet showed that 1 in 9 members of the State Duma had obtained academic degrees with theses
Duma (DC Comics) funeral of Dream. Duma's sacrifice in taking the key enlightened Remiel, who subsequently accepted the heavy burden of rehabilitating lost souls. Duma also appears at the funeral of Dream of the Endless in , where he gets up and "speaks", but being the angel of silence, simply sheds a single tear which effectively communicates his feelings to all those present. Following the end of the "Sandman" series, Remiel and Duma give up ownership of Hell in a complex sequence of events in the "Lucifer" spin-off series. This is the first time we hear Duma actually "speak", when he defies Remiel