An initiative group of voters supported the self-nomination of Vladimir Putin

On Saturday, a meeting of the electoral group to nominate Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate as a self-nominated person was held at the Zaryadye Concert Hall. The whole event took several hours. During the public part, the meeting participants succinctly explained their sympathy for the president, and the singer Shaman sang. Tomorrow, a number of guests at today’s event will need to again support Vladimir Putin’s participation in his decision to run again, but at the United Russia congress.

Guests flocked to the Zaryadye concert hall from early Saturday morning. A number of them, like, for example, the head of the executive committee of the Popular Front, Mikhail Kuznetsov, had to support Vladimir Putin’s nomination for the second time that day, because exactly a week ago a meeting of the small initiative group for his presidential nomination had already taken place. And someone, like the Secretary of the General Council of United Russia Andrei Turchak, had to support Mr. Putin’s nomination all weekend. After all, on Sunday there is a United Russia congress dedicated to party support for Vladimir Putin’s decision to seek a new presidential term.

Apparently, due to the presence of such a large number of events, the meeting of the electoral group in Zaryadye took place quite quickly.

All meeting participants almost immediately went to the second floor, where they had to register (at special tables with notaries) and receive a red sign on which “Putin’s Team” was written in white letters. These were voting mandates for the public part of the event. Some people had problems with them. They turned out to be too big to, for example, put them in a jacket pocket. Someone, in anticipation of the public part of the meeting, gave them to prudent comrades for safekeeping – who came with a briefcase. And some were released only to drink coffee or eat a croissant, while leaving the mandate in the line of sight.

At the public part of the event, all those present were divided into two groups. One, smaller one, sat on white chairs near the stage. Another, larger one, was located opposite them and played the role of an auditorium. Behind the first group was a large banner in red and white, on which was written “Putin’s Team. Meeting of voters.”

In addition to these words, there were others: “Russia, Help, Innovation, Together, Popular Front.” The largest font was the word “Victory”, and for some reason the faintest font was “Confidence”.

Among the meeting participants were State Duma deputies from United Russia and A Just Russia – For Truth, as well as Dmitry Pevtsov (an actor elected to the Duma as a self-nominated candidate and a member of the New People faction), senators, figure skater Alexander Plushenko, singer Polina Gagarin, former MMA fighter, and now Russian municipal deputy of American origin, Jeff Monson and others.

The meeting was chaired by Mikhail Kuznetsov. He began by saying that there were representatives of a variety of groups in the room. “Each of them knows exactly what words he would like to say in support of the president,” Mr. Kuznetsov outlined the main lines of all future speeches. The first to volunteer to support Vladimir Putin was the representative of Zaporozhye, the head of the “We are together with Russia” movement, Vladimir Rogov. In his speech, he managed to thank Vladimir Putin for “restoring historical justice” and “liberating the Russian southern lands.” He said “thank you” to “Mother Russia” for “accepting us.”

According to Mr. Rogov, Zaporozhye and other new Russian regions will sooner or later become a “prosperous land.”

He talked about “culture” and how much the upcoming elections mean for the new regions, which will allow them to “determine the future of our united Russia.” For this, Vladimir Rogov thanked everyone present.

After his speech, Mikhail Kuznetsov asked those gathered to adhere to the rules, and all the other speakers spoke quite succinctly, somewhere within a couple of minutes. “I believe that our president is the most athletic president in the world,” said seven-time Olympic champion in synchronized swimming Svetlana Romasheva. Andrei Turchak promised that United Russia members would take an active part in the upcoming election campaign. “United Russia, respond,” he called, and United Russia responded in a disciplined and habitual manner. “Industry, of course, supports our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” said Sergei Kogogin, general director of KamAZ PJSC and co-chairman of Vladimir Putin’s campaign headquarters in the last elections.

“We all understand that only under the leadership of Vladimir Vladimirovich Russia will continue its progressive development,” said another former co-chair of Vladimir Putin’s headquarters, head of the Talent and Success Foundation, Elena Shmeleva.

“We have gathered today in this Zaryadye concert hall to energize our main candidate with the energy of the tens of millions of citizens of our country who stand behind us,” said Sergei Mironov, chairman of A Just Russia – For Truth.

In general, the public part of the meeting lasted no more than an hour. After the voting, Mikhail Kuznetsov asked if anyone else wanted to speak. A pale young blond man came out to him. “Yaroslav, I wanted to say something,” Mikhail Kuznetsov turned to him. But Yaroslav, whom fans might identify as the singer Shaman (this time without recognizable dreadlocks), wanted to do what he thought “he does best”—sing. After the Russian anthem was performed by him, the meeting of the electoral group ended.

On the way out, its participants handed over their red mandates in exchange for sweatshirts with the inscription “Team Putin.” A Kommersant correspondent asked the volunteers about the future fate of the red signs. “We keep them for other similar events,” the young people answered. Note that after 2024, the next presidential elections will be held in 2030 and after amendments to the 2020 Constitution, Vladimir Putin can participate in them. “No, not for the next campaign. It’s just that there may be some similar events at this one,” one of the meeting organizers explained to a Kommersant correspondent the meaning of the volunteers’ words.

Andrey Vinokurov