On Monday, September 20, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation gathered a protest rally on Pushkin Square in Moscow – the party did not recognize the results of the elections to the State Duma in the capital due to questions about electronic voting. About 200 people came to it . On Saturday, September 25, the communists are going to hold another action called “For Fair Elections.”

The mayor’s office refused to approve this action, citing inadequate restrictions, and the police and the Prosecutor General’s Office warned about the inadmissibility of participation in it. Roskomnadzor threatened to block the website of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which has a banner about the upcoming rally; for calls to participate in the action, the police detained the leader of the Left Front, Sergei Udaltsov. According  to the publication Sota, on Friday, September 24, the police were on duty at the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party and the Moscow City Duma, where there are several Communist deputies.

In addition, the police came home to the protesters on September 20: in particular, they visited the candidates for the State Duma in Moscow districts Mikhail Lobanov, Sergei Kurgan and Sergei Obukhov. Moscow municipal deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Sergei Vlasov was detained on September 23 and taken to the department, where he was handed a protocol on participation in an uncoordinated action.READ ALSO

According to a Meduza source close to the presidential administration (AP), the Communists are being given to understand that calls to take to the streets are “crossing the line” and should not be done: “You can make statements, talk about non-recognition [of the election results] , judicial appeal. But don’t argue [with the authorities] on the streets. “

Meduza’s interlocutor draws attention to the fact that the leaders of the Communist Party speak out about the actions, but rather cautiously. “[Leader] of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Gennady Zyuganov, is negotiating with [the head of the presidential administration] Anton Vaino about how the Communist Party can steer out of this situation,” the source explains.

According to him, the Presidential Administration believes that the communists received a “decent result” on party lists and put several people in “uncoordinated” single-mandate constituencies. For example, Leonid Kalashnikov and Oleg Smolin, who won single-mandate candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, were opposed by very weak candidates from United Russia.

“[Communist Party leader in Komi] Oleg Mikhailov passed through the district, Zyuganov included in the list without any agreement [with the Kremlin, the former Irkutsk governor from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation] Sergei Levchenko and [the founder of the Buryat OMON, former Irkutsk senator] Vyacheslav Markhaev. These are truly protest politicians, now they are in the Duma. What else? Whoever wanted, even more, ”says a source close to the Presidential Administration.

In turn, Meduza’s interlocutor, close to the United Russia leadership, claims that after the elections, Gennady Zyuganov already met with Anton Vaino, his first deputy in charge of internal politics, Sergei Kiriyenko, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. “His main demand was the cancellation of the results of electronic voting in Moscow. However, he was given to understand that no one would do this, ”he says.

“As for the demand to abolish electronic voting, Zyuganov has always said this, starting with the announcement of electronic voting,” spokesman for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Alexander Yushchenko told Meduza. – As for the meetings with those whom you have listed, I can neither confirm nor deny. Because even if these meetings took place, they are not public.

Meduza’s source in the Communist Party of the Russian Federation says that Zyuganov himself “understands” that the Kremlin and the mayor’s office will not back down from their position, so he wants to achieve status posts for the Communist Party in the Duma: “For example, two, not one vice-speaker, as it was in the last convocation. More committees with communists in leadership positions. “

At a meeting with the party activists of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which took place on September 23, Zyuganov spoke out rather cautiously and even tried to calm down the communists. 

“Our party has brought together a huge layer of talented people. But show maximum restraint in this harsh time. Show endurance and resilience … There are two towers in the Kremlin. One tower is a state-patriotic one, it has always conducted and continues to conduct a dialogue with us. And the second tower is liberal-cosmopolitan. This is, in fact, the fifth column, ready to tear Russia apart at any moment. Our task with you is to rally all the best forces around us so that our country will peacefully and with dignity come out of the severe systemic crisis, “ he said to fellow party members.

In turn, the first deputy chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Yuri Afonin, said that the scandals around electronic voting “shook this system.” “Now we are filing a lawsuit and will, together with the public, prove the viciousness of electronic voting,” he promised.

The leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will not declare non-recognition of the election results as a whole, challenging only the results of electronic voting – and are discussing how they will work in the State Duma, a source in the party told Meduza. The secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Novikov, has already told Kommersant about the committees that the communists would like to lead.

Meduza asked its press secretary about the official position of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on the recognition or non-recognition of the elections. “This is a political statement to be made by the leadership of the party. Of course I cannot . Such statements are made on the basis of the results. Today the results have only been summed up. This is a question for the chairman. I know exactly what has already been announced: the results of the electronic voting are not recognized, ”said Alexander Yushchenko.

Some regional branches of the Communist Party are going to take people out into the streets so that the leadership of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation would take a tougher position: “at least in words, so that there is no compromise,” says a source in one of the regional branches of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. “If we are silent, the feds will be all the more silent,” he adds.

“The action“ For Fair Elections ”has been declared on the federal level, – the press secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation replied. – With regard to regional [actions] – some regions announced a meeting with voters. Each region has its own way. “

(C)MEDUZA 2021