1996 Russian Elections Made a Putin Inevitable, von Eggert Says

Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, June 2, 2021) Twenty-five years ago, Russia had its last presidential election in which the outcome was not ordained. But after Boris Yeltsin’s orchestrated victory, Konstantin von Eggert says, the country entered yet another non-democratic era in which the rise of someone like Vladimir Putin was inevitable. In that sense, the independent […]

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Putin Driving Russia to Where the USSR was in 1991, Zyuganov Says

Kremlin and River

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 22, 2020) Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the KPRF which is the only parliamentary party that has come out against approving the constitutional amendments by referendum, says that Vladimir Putin’s recent actions have been “not simply disappointing but depressing.” In the course of a wide-ranging 3,000-word interview with Anastaya Melnikova of […]

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Zyuganov Says He’s Loyal to Putin Out of Fears of Disorders

Kremlin and River

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, June 25, 2019) In an interview in advance of his 75th birthday, KPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov says he has been loyal to Putin for the same reason he did not challenge the results of the 1996 election: he fears disorder in Russia now just as he feared war in 1996 — with […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Zyuganov calls for gathering political elites in Kremlin, scrapping pension reform” – Interfax

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) – Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has declared the necessity of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and the political elites to discuss the domestic situation, including the possibility of scrapping the pension reform. “Once again, I insist that he [the president] gather influential people in the Kremlin so that we could discuss the unfolding […]

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The struggle for new blood and the future of Russia’s Left; A new candidate is helping to reinvigorate Russia’s left-wing politics ahead of the presidential election, but what space will there be for voices and movements from below? (excerpt)

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(opendemocracy.net – Christopher Moldes – February 28, 2018) Christopher Moldes got his MA in Slavic and Eurasian Studies, and is a writer and translator living in the Washington, DC area in the United States. He is a contributor to Global Voices’ RuNet Echo project. [Full text opendemocracy.net/od-russia/christopher-moldes/struggle-for-new-blood-and-future-of-russia-s-left] In a televised interview broadcast before the Communist Party of the Russian Federation’s […]

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Interfax: Zyuganov files complaints over biased coverage of Communist candidate’s campaign

Satellite Dishes

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) – Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov urged President Vladimir Putin on Monday to take measures to stop the use of TV programs to spread “counter-propaganda” against the Communist Party’s presidential candidate, Pavel Grudinin. In his letter to Putin, which was shared with Interfax, Zyuganov pointed out that Grudinin has publicized “a substantive, detailed, and constructive […]

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Communist Party Leader Zyuganov Says He’s Not Running for President (Yet)

File Photo of Kremlin Aerial View, adapted from .gov source

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 8, 2017) The longtime leader of Russia’s Communist Party denied that he’s running for president in 2018 – less than 24 hours after seemingly announcing his candidacy on state-run television. Gennady Zyuganov said on the centennial anniversary of the October Revolution on Tuesday that “every organization” within his party had backed his candidacy for […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin] Meeting with Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Kremlin.ru – June 28, 2017) Vladimir Putin met with leader of the Russian Federation Communist Party (KPRF) faction in the State Duma Gennady Zyuganov. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Zyuganov, we are meeting for one of our regular sessions to discuss your activities. As you know, I recently met with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and with [A Just […]

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Young, Hipster and Red: Meet Russia’s New Generation of Communists; The crusty shell of Russia’s Communist Party may be associated with pensioners, but the movement is undergoing a face-lift

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Bradley Jardine, Ola Cichowlas – May 1, 2017) When the creaking, bureaucratic Soviet state suddenly collapsed in 1991, Andrei Klychkov was just a schoolboy in Kaliningrad, Russia’s exclave in north west Europe. Now, twenty-six years on, Klychkov is a lawyer – with crisp presentation and sharp suits. He’s also the communist candidate in Moscow’s mayoral […]

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