Udaltsov calls for consolidation of left-wing forces in Russia

File Photo of Sergei Udaltsov Speaking Outdoors, Holding Microphone and Gesturing

ST. PETERSBURG. Oct 25 (Interfax) – The Left Front movement will resume its activity before the Russian presidential election, movement coordinator Sergei Udaltsov told reporters in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

“We’d like to declare that the left-wing movement in Russia is not just looking back but is also mindful of the future,” Udaltsov said, adding that it was not accidental that he was making the statement on the eve of the Russian Revolution’s centenary.

“The authorities’ attempts to demoralize and bleed the left-wing movement dry have failed” and consolidation of left-wing forces “will continue with increasing energy,” Udaltsov said. He criticized both parliamentary and extra-systemic opposition forces organizing unpermitted protests.

“We know well that these people will bring to power even more predatory and anti-popular forces, the part of our oligarchic elites dreaming of another 1990s period,” he said.

Left Front activists plan to hold primaries and elect a single candidate representing left-wing forces in the presidential election.

“No doubt, we want this election to be a real struggle for a second round and a real result,” Udaltsov said.

Udaltsov served three years in prison on the counts of organizing mass disturbances on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square in May 2012. He was released in August 2017.

[featured image is file photo from another occasion]

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