Candidate for mayor of Moscow from SRZP found another left-wing ally

The candidate for mayor of Moscow from the party “Fair Russia – For Truth” (SRZP), State Duma deputy Dmitry Gusev and chairman of the civil coalition “Third Force” Igor Skurlatov signed on Wednesday a memorandum of cooperation as part of the capital’s election campaign. According to Mr. Gusev, this alliance will help him attract “all patriots and real communists” to his own and at the same time to the party side. Mr. Skurlatov, on the other hand, considers SRZP as a conductor of the ideas of the “Third Force” in the systemic political field.

Created in August 2022 by Igor Skurlatov, the Third Force public movement is positioned as the successor to a number of national-patriotic organizations: the National Salvation Front (FTS), the Renaissance party of Valery Skurlatov and the Free Russia movement. But the participation of the leader of the movement in “big politics” has so far been limited to his nomination from the Patriots of Russia party to the State Duma-2016 (“If you want a rich husband, vote for Skurlatov,” the candidate promised then). Nevertheless, the Right-wing Russians introduced Igor Skurlatov to journalists as a “representative of left-wing patriotic forces.”

Two days ago Dmitry Gusev informed about the general desire of Muscovites to return to the USSR, thus substantiating their pre-election alliance with the Communists of Russia party. This time, Mr. Gusev came to the conclusion that after of death the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin, real patriots have only one option in the upcoming elections – to vote for candidates from the SRZP.

“All those who believe that the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation are countries with which they are obliged to reckon, which are obliged to participate in political decision-making, all those who believe that the Soviet Union won the Great Patriotic War under the leadership of Stalin, all those who believe that the Soviet Union was the best social state – they have a choice, – Mr. Gusev reasoned. – This is a common decision: to vote for the candidate from A Just Russia. This applies to all patriots and all true communists.”

The candidate did not disclose specific figures that could increase party ratings thanks to the newly formed alliances, advising those interested to wait for the election results.

Igor Skurlatov warmly supported such aspirations of the Socialist-Revolutionaries: “Honor and praise (to the leader of the SRZP.— “b”) to Sergei Mironov for gathering in his party everything good and good that is in the country, everything patriotic and socially oriented in the parliamentary field.” In the non-systemic space, exactly the same benefits were accumulated by the “Third Force”, the politician boasted.

He called “a constructive attitude towards the central government and President Putin”, “understanding that the NVO is not just an operation, but a clash of forces of good and evil”, as well as “support for the principles of social justice” as the key principles for selection to his organization. “We interpret it (social justice.— “b”) is good, so our organization brings together not only representatives of leftist ideologies, but also centrists and rightists,” said Mr. Skurlatov.

In the arms of the SRZP, the “Third Force”, according to its leader, was brought by the “search for a partner” in the systemic political field: “A month ago we met with Mironov and signed an agreement on cooperation.”

According to Igor Skurlatov’s calculations, in the future only two political parties will remain in the Russian political configuration — the ruling party and the SRZP: “The second party, which should be formed on the basis of A Just Russia – For Truth, should unite both systemic and non-systemic patriotic forces and should not even be an opposition, but a constructive addition.

True, entering the systemic field required “victims,” the politician admitted: “We try not to make some points public, but it was not easy to part with such figures as Igor Strelkov (former defense minister of the DPR, former member of the political council of the Third Force “, detained on July 21 on suspicion of public calls for extremist activities.— “b”)”. However, the current moment is not suitable for non-systemic political work, Mr. Skurlatov believes: “We must decide and take a clear position, (divisions.— “b”) there is no “systemic-non-systemic” now, there are only friends and enemies of Russia.

Political scientist Konstantin Kalachev calls the alliance with the “Third Force” for the SRHR “a resource for the future”, since this organization “can not boast of fame in Moscow.”

Although Dmitry Gusev, who linked his career prospects with the Social Revolutionaries, “his patriots” will come in handy, the expert suggests: “Sooner or later the question of leadership in the party will arise, and the very fact that he becomes an assembly point for patriots adds weight to him.”

Mr. Kalachev assesses the idea of ​​“unifying previously considered marginal movements around the SRHR with the prospect of some of their members joining the party” as “working”: “The party is in search. In order to compete on equal terms with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to become the center of crystallization of something new.” Nevertheless, for the party members there is always the risk of “losing the old and not bringing the new to mind,” the political scientist adds.

Grigory Leiba