RUSSIALINK: “Putin Re-Election Campaign Begins Enlisting Surrogates – Kommersant” – Moscow Times

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

(Moscow Times – Nov. 11, 2023) The Kremlin has begun compiling a list of influential figures that would campaign on behalf of President Vladimir Putin as he seeks re-election next year, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday, citing several anonymous sources familiar with the matter. According to the newspaper, work on organizing a so-called “initiative group” of campaign surrogates suggests […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Lenin would be baffled: Russia’s once-tame Communist Party is becoming an opposition force: The Kremlin and the party’s own leader are worried” – The Economist

Russian State Duma Building file photo

“… many Russian democrats, desperate to get Yeltsin’s successor [Putin] out of the Kremlin, find themselves voting for the Communists. … aware of the irony. … With nearly all forms of politics banned and [] Navalny behind bars, the Communist Party … [has benefited the most from Navalny’s] ‘smart voting’ strategy. … Had … votes been counted honestly in parliamentary […]

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KPRF Faces a Serious and Divisive Choice about Its Future, Skobov Says

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Sept. 27, 2021) The KPRF’s surprising success in the recent Duma elections does not presage any threat of a communist resurgence – Zyuganov’s party is as far from Lenin’s as Patriarch Kirill is from early Christianity – but it does mean that the party now is confronted by a serious choice, Aleksandr […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Police Search Communist Party Offices as Online Voting Controversy Continues” – Moscow Times

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

Moscow authorities attempted to raid the Communist Party’s city headquarters … minutes before a group of party lawyers was preparing to file a lawsuit to challenge controversial online voting results from last week’s parliamentary elections […]

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Seeing Red: Russia’s Communist Party Makes Gains In New Duma, But Does It Matter?

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Article text ©2021 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – Sept. 22, 2021 – article text also appeared at https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-communist-party-duma/31473164.html) Moscow polling station No. 151 was set up on the premises of the state Gulag History Museum, just a short stroll away from blood-curdling testimony of the crimes of Communist Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Yet, according […]

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Sarah Lindemann-Komarova: “A Change Candidate Runs for the Russian State Duma”

Russian State Duma Building file photo

Despite nerves and head winds, Natalia Pinus’s biggest challenge is defeating her and all change supporters biggest opponent: low voter turnout from an apathetic, cynical, and distracted population […]

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RUSSIALINK: “‘The Leftward Turn Is Inevitable’: In Lenin’s Hometown, Russian Communists Strive for Soviet Revival” – Moscow Times

Russian State Duma Building file photo

Despite Kremlin pressure, the party is hoping to use popular discontent over falling living standards to gain a strong showing in parliamentary elections this week. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Felix Light – ULYANOVSK, Sept. 14, 2021) When Airat Gibatdinov was born in 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika had already set the Soviet Union on its path to oblivion. But now, […]

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As Elections Loom, Russia’s Opposition Banks On Little More Than A Chance To Air Its Grievances

Russian State Duma Building file photo

Through an unrelenting campaign of intimidation and criminal prosecutions the authorities have purged the electoral field of all but a select few government critics […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russian Communist Party to be on top of ballot paper in Duma elections by draw” – Interfax

Russian State Duma Building file photo

MOSCOW. Aug 16 (Interfax) – The Russian Communist Party will be on top of the ballot paper in the upcoming State Duma elections as a result of a draw between parties held by the Central Elections Commission. The Greens will go second, and the Liberal Democratic Party will go third. The New People party will be on the fourth position, […]

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Russia May Soon Move Toward a Two-Party Model, Zemskova Says

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Aug. 4, 2021) The September Duma elections are unlikely to bring any serious surprises in the party composition of the Russian parliament, Elena Zemskova says; but rumors are swirling that the Kremlin, on the one hand, and the three systemic opposition parties, on the other, are unhappy with the current situation. And […]

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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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RUSSIALINK: “Head of Moscow CPRF office Rashkin thanks Navalny for ‘smart voting'” – Interfax

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) – CPRF candidates used all opportunities in order to win in the Moscow City Duma elections, including opposition activist Alexei Navalny’s “smart voting” tactic, First Secretary of the CPRF Moscow city committee Valery Rashkin said. “At this stage, we used everything as a party that has its own strategy, its own program for its candidates to […]

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Managing To Win: Sagging Popularity Forces Russia’s Ruling Party To Dig Into Its Box Of Election Tricks

Russia Regions Map

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – July 4, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/sagging-popularity-forces-russia-s-ruling-party-to-dig-into-its-box-of-election-tricks/30036639.html) Oleg Shein might seem like a perfect choice of a candidate to challenge the ruling-party incumbent in the race for governor in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast. A State Duma deputy who endured a 40-day hunger strike […]

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RUSSIALINK TRANSCRIPT: “[Putin] addressed United Russia party congress” – KremlinRu

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, Gesturing

(Kremlin.ru – December 8, 2018) [http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/59359] Speech at the plenary meeting of the 18th United Russia party congress. Vladimir Putin took part in the plenary meeting of the 18th United Russia party congress. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of United Russia, also made a speech at the meeting The congress delegates identified the challenges and priorities in the party’s work […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Dozens leave St. Petersburg’s Yabloko branch over differences with Yavlinsky” – Interfax

Grigoriy Yavlinskiy file photo

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 22 (Interfax) – Mikhail Amosov, a deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, said he is leaving the Yabloko party. Several dozen others in the region have also left. “The wish to decide from Moscow who will run the organization, who will be included in the bureau, the issuance of yarlyks for princedoms – unfortunately, these things […]

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RUSSIALINK: “42 Percent of Russians Say No Existing Political Party Represents Their Interests – Poll” – Moscow Times

File Photo of Dmitry Medvedev with United Russia Logos Behind Him

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 26, 2018) Forty-two percent of Russians say they don’t see a political party that adequately represents their interests, according to a new study published by a Russian university. The ratings of the ruling United Russia party have fallen to 10-year lows as public anger simmers over an unpopular pension reform signed into law earlier […]

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RUSSIALINK: “A Just Russia offers Communists to pool efforts for pension referendum – Mironov” – Interfax

Russian State Duma Building file photo

ROSTOV-ON-DON. Sept 3 (Interfax) – The parliament factions of the Russian Communist Party and A Just Russia should pool efforts to make the pension referendum happen, A Just Russia’s faction leader Sergei Mironov said at a press conference in Rostov-on-Don. “I have offered our Communist Party colleagues in the State Duma to combine efforts [towards holding the referendum]. Clearly, everything […]

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NEWSLINK: “New Role for United Russia. United Russia’s new leader, Andrei Turchak, is asserting the independence of the pro-presidential party as a distinct force in domestic politics. As the ruling regime’s power vertical begins to fragment, United Russia will now seek to take credit for its own contribution to Vladimir Putin’s victory.” – Carnegie Moscow/Andrey Pertsev

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Outdoor Rally with Microphone in Hand and Heavy Coat

“… An intriguing role is being played by Andrei Turchak, head of United Russia, who in just a few months has revamped the ruling party. Turchak is the son of Anatoly Turchak, an old acquaintance of Putin. He ascended to the top of the elite by serving as Russia’s youngest governor, of Pskov region. By becoming head of the General […]

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Yabloko and PARNAS to have separate lists at elections, unified party impossible for technical, political reasons – Yavlinsky

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) – The Yabloko party founder, Grigory Yavlinsky, believes it is impossible to establish a unified PARNAS-Yabloko party, and the most likely option is to hold talks on separating candidates in single-seat election districts, but, at the same time, keeping two party lists. “We will do all that is possible and necessary. Negotiations are under way today,” […]

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Can Russia’s ruling party restore its reputation ahead of the elections?

File Photo of Dmitry Medvedev with United Russia Logos Behind Him

The federal election campaign in 2011 was the least successful to date for United Russia, which saw its reputation tainted by accusations of vote-rigging and fraud. How is Russia’s ruling party preparing for the upcoming elections in 2016 and can it repair its tarnished image among voters? (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – YEKATERINA SINELSCHIKOVA, RBTH – February 11, […]

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Russian Skepticism about Parties Opening the Way to a Return to One Party Rule, Commentator Says

Duma Session file photo

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, May 28, 2014) The share of Russians who are “skeptical” about the value of political parties for themselves and their country is opening the way for a return to a one party system, in some ways resembling the one that existed in Soviet times, according to a Moscow commentator. In a Rosbalt.ru […]

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Interfax: Russian ministry explains suspension of Navalny party registration

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, January 22, 2014) The state registration of People’s Alliance, political party of [anticorruption campaigner and protest leader] Aleksey Navalnyy’s supporters has been suspended over the similarity of names with the [pundit] Andrey Bogdanov’s political organization, procedural violations during [the party’s constituent] congress as well as poor paperwork, the press service for the Russian Justice Ministry has said. […]

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Navalny Party Denied Registration Over Name

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 21, 2014) The Justice Ministry has denied registration to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s People’s Alliance political party, citing the existence of another organization with the same name. People’s Alliance members said they were planning to meet with Justice Ministry officials on Tuesday to discuss the government’s repeated rejections of their movement’s registration requests, Itar-Tass […]

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RPR-PARNAS party may split because of internal disagreements – statement

Map of Russia

MOSCOW. Dec 30 (Interfax) – The Republican Party of Russia-PARNAS (RPR-PARNAS) may split up in the near future, says a statement made by some members of the RPR political board on Monday. “If we cannot consolidate the three components of the party, the issue of RPR’s restoration in its classical shape as a liberal, democratic, opposition, responsible and professional party […]

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Interfax: United Russia: economic focus of presidential address derives from challenges faced by Russia

File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium Gesturing

MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) – The economic focus of the Russian president’s address to the Federal Assembly derives from the challenges faced by contemporary Russia and some of the presidential ideas will determine the national development vector for the next few years to come, State Duma deputy, United Russia General Council Deputy Secretary Olga Batalina said. “The address was largely […]

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Interfax: Putin sure new parties will offer competition to “political old-timers”

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

MOSCOW. Dec 12 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is certain that new political parties that won local elections recently will offer stiff competition to the political old-timers. “We are interested in seeing well-trained, purposeful, and professional people ready to responsibly perform their duties coming to government bodies through election mechanisms,” Putin said in an annual address to the Federal […]

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Interfax: Kudrin denies plans to set up his own party

Alexei Kudrin file photo

YEKATERINBURG. Nov 26 (Interfax) – Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who today heads the Civil Initiatives Committee, has denied any immediate plans to establish his own party. “I have no plans to set up a party,” Kudrin said at an Interfax press conference in Yekaterinburg on Tuesday, after being asked about his short-term plans, including whether or not he […]

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United Russia: Time for change?

File Photo of Dmitry Medvedev with United Russia Logos Behind Him

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – October 11, 2013 Experts advise the ruling party of Putin and Medvedev to resolve practical problems. Last week’s United Russia congress demonstrated that the ruling party remains the nation’s leading political force and has no viable rivals. Nevertheless, experts believe United Russia will need to change fast or risk […]

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Navalny may head party, have problems with opening party offices in regions – expert

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Interfax – September 16, 2013) Opposition activist Alexei Navalny will most likely continue his political career not in the 2014 Moscow City Duma elections but by opening of party offices in regions where problems are likely to occur, General Director of the International Institute for Political Expertise (IIPE) Yevgeny Minchenko said. “A lot depends on whether or not the People’s […]

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Systemic parties losing support, elites shift to new parties – Civic Initiatives Committee report

Map of Russia

(Interfax – September 16, 2013) Parliamentary parties are losing the support of regional and local elites some of whom are shifting towards new political forces, the Civil Initiatives Committee think tank suggested. “There is an outflow of regional and local elites and voters from practically every “systemic” party [which has seats at the State Duma]. Candidates are moving from one […]

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More Parties Banned From Elections in Russia – Study

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, August 14, 2013) ­ More parties have been banned from regional elections in Russia this year than in 2012, despite the Kremlin’s attempted liberalization of political legislation, a new study said Wednesday. In total, 9.2 percent of the candidate lists submitted by parties for the September 8 elections have been banned, compared with 2.4 percent last […]

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Russians aren’t enthusiastic about new parties – Public Opinion Foundation

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking At All-Russia Popular Front Gathering

(Interfax – August 5, 2013) Russians are not enthusiastic about new parties and the only interest they take is that in the very fact of their appearance, Public Opinion Foundation General Director Alexander Oslon concluded from their sociological studies. “People do not expect any concrete results from the appearance of large number of political parties. I would say they are […]

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United Popular Front supports economic amnesty

Empty Boardroom

(Interfax – June 18, 2013) Russia’s United Popular Front (ONF) supports the idea of economic amnesty. “We support amnesty for businessmen on economic counts,” Alexander Galushka, co-chairman of the ONF’s central staff and co-chairman of the Business Russia organization said at a press conference at Interfax on Tuesday. “The presumption of guilt” for businessmen must be scrapped and this chapter […]

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Putin’s Front: the end of politics?

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking At All-Russia Popular Front Gathering

(Moscow News – Anna Arutunyan, editor and correspondent at themoscownews.com – June 17, 2013) Remember the season finale of “Game of Thrones,” when Daenerys Targaryen liberates thousands of slaves, and then tells them that she didn’t give them their freedom because it’s not hers to give? The people are so struck by her gesture that they physically rally around her, reaching […]

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New Putin-Led Movement Tool for Kremlin, Not Society – Experts

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking At All-Russia Popular Front Gathering

(Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 18, 2013) ­ Last week President Vladimir Putin took the helm of a quasi-political movement officially meant to help ordinary Russians inform the Kremlin of problems that need solving. But analysts remained skeptical about the organization’s stated aims, wondering why genuine feedback from society should have to go through the president’s office. More […]

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Putin’s Popular Front to replace United Russia?

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Speaking At All-Russia Popular Front Gathering

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – June 18, 2013) Vladimir Putin welcomes wary supporters of United Russia to the Russian Popular Front. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party has been taking blow after a blow to its reputation, as several of its high-ranking members have been accused of plagiarizing their postgraduate degree theses; others have been […]

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Rogozin leads Rodina’s militarized party congress

Dmitry Rogozin file photo

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Natalia Bespalova, special to RBTH – June 14, 2013) Russia is witnessing the revival of Rodina, whose members consider themselves Putin’s “black-ops”. In early June, the conservative party Rodina, whose unofficial leader heads the national defense industry, held a congress at a location outside Moscow. Disbanded in 2006, the party is today enjoying […]

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Putin Elected Leader of the All-Russia People’s Front

File Photo of Vladimir Putin Sitting at Desk

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – June 13, 2013) When it came time to elect a leader at Wednesday’s conference of the All-Russia People’s Front, there was no need for formalities: The ecstatic crowd was already chanting “Putin, Putin, Putin!” “So are we going to vote? Are there any other nominees? Vladimir Vladimirovich, I congratulate and sympathize with […]

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Join the party!

Duma Session file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Grigorii Golosov – May 22, 2013) Grigorii Golosov is Professor of Political Science, Project Director, Center for Democracy and Human Rights Helix, St. Petersburg A concession or a ruse to ensure continued authoritarian rule? In the second of two articles examining changes in Russia’s electoral architecture, Grigorii Golosov considers the recent relaxation of Russia’s party registration rules. Between […]

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Russian pundits: United Russia’s future in limbo

File Photo of Dmitry Medvedev with United Russia Logos Behind Him

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Dan Peleschuk, special to RBTH – April 25, 2013) As United Russia’s reputation continues to suffer and Vladimir Putin voices increasing support for his People’s Front, what’s in store for the ruling party? Once an all-powerful vanguard party that helped President Vladimir Putin consolidate support and increase his influence over Russian politics, United […]

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Ten Commandments Party established in Russia

File Photo of Stained Glass Window Depicting Moses Holding the Tablets of the Ten Commandments

Moscow, February 18, Interfax – The inaugural congress of the Russian Ten Commandments Party took place in Moscow. The total of 134 delegates from 45 Russian subjects, including Christians of different confessions, Muslims, and Jews, participated in the inaugural congress on February 17. The political council, the decision making body of the party, was headed by Sergey Mezentsev, Ph.D. “I […]

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United Russia’s Liberal Platform Seen as Ploy

File Photo of Dmitry Medvedev with United Russia Logos Behind Him

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 6, 2013) The ruling United Russia party has founded a “liberal” platform calling for a major overhaul of the party in light of heightened political competition. But analysts said that the party, known as a deeply conservative force led by Kremlin loyalists, had no intention of accommodating liberal attitudes and that […]

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Russian Political Party Logos: Any Takers For ‘Skunk’ Or ‘Hamster’?

Arm and Torso of Person in Brown Sweater Placing Paper Ballot into Ballot Box

(RFE/RL – Tom Balmforth – January 22, 2013) Russian politics is so inclusive, pluralist, and teeming with new political parties that each party should adopt an animal as its insignia to make it easier for overwhelmed voters to remember which party is which. This is the solution put forward by Aleksandr Sidyakin, a 35-year old United Russia parliamentary deputy, to […]

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Rogozin’s Rodina Party Reinstated

Dmitry Rogozin file photo

Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com –  Alexander Bratersky – October 1, 2012 Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin did not attend Saturday’s reunification of his nationalist Rodina party, but the re-emergent bloc is likely to become his political vehicle, pundits and party insiders said. Alexei Zhuravlyov, a longtime Rogozin ally, was elected chairman of the party at a congress Saturday. He aims […]

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