Evgeny Kuyvashev cleared the elections of “dirt” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 153 (7354) of 08/23/2022

Yegor Aleksandrin, a self-nominated candidate for the Duma of Asbest (Sverdlovsk region), who last week called female activists “filth”, will not participate in the elections. This was announced on Monday by his father, also a candidate for deputy and current member of the Asbest City Duma from United Russia (ER) Dmitry Alexandrin. Earlier, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, who hopes to be re-elected on September 11 for a new term, demanded an apology from Mr. Alexandrin Jr., and from his father “a reaction to what happened.” For United Russia, the elections to the Duma of Asbest are fundamental: five years ago, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was able to get 11 out of 21 mandates for them.

At the end of last week, a video of the conflict appeared on social networks, which occurred between female activists of the Asbest “Auto Club” and Yegor Aleksandrin, a candidate for the Asbest City Duma in the 17th district. The footage shows how a young man is rude to the girls, using obscene language, calls their cars “buckets” and says that he “talks to the dirt as he wants.” And when asked by activists who he is, the 21-year-old candidate replies: “I am a man, and you are dirt.”

On August 19, the head of the Sverdlovsk region, Yevgeny Kuyvashev, in his Telegram channel demanded an apology from Yegor Aleksandrin and indicated that he had nothing to do in the city duma: “Young people who talk to someone like this deserve only slaps on the back of the head.” He added that the deputy should protect the interests of people, and not be rude to them. “I think he now needs to record a video message and apologize to the girls he offended. I count on the reaction of his father, the current Duma deputy Dmitry Alexandrin, ”concluded the governor.

Deputy Aleksandrin, in the recent past secretary of the local branch of United Russia, did not enter into polemics with his superiors (Yevgeny Kuyvashev also heads the Sverdlovsk branch of United Russia). On August 22, he publicly announced that his son would not participate in the elections, and he himself asked for his resignation from the post of first deputy secretary of the asbestos branch of the United Russia. In turn, Yegor Aleksandrin assured reporters that he was sorry about what had happened and that emotions “took over”.

As Maxim Bestfater, head of the propaganda department of the regional branch of the United Russia, told Kommersant, Dmitry Aleksandrin’s statement had already been considered at the local political council. According to Kommersant’s sources in the executive committee of the Sverdlovsk branch of United Russia, the option of removing Mr. Aleksandrin Sr. from the elections was initially discussed, but later the rhetoric softened.

The federal leadership of the United Russia also reacted to the quick settlement of the asbestos scandal. For example, Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the Presidium of the United Russia General Council, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, praised the Sverdlovsk governor for his personal contribution to resolving the conflict. “There is no doubt that the family public auto-da-fé happened thanks to his intervention,” Mr. Khinshtein wrote in his Telegram channel. The European Commission on Ethics also called the correct position of Yevgeny Kuyvashev, the executive secretary of the commission, State Duma deputy Yevgeny Revenko told RIA Novosti. “In this case, the regional branch, not just the regional authorities, but the regional branch of the party promptly got involved in the situation,” he said. According to United Russia, his commission controlled the situation and was in touch with the regional department.

It is not the first time that the local branch of United Russia in Asbest has found itself at the center of a scandal during the current election campaign. Thus, its representatives tried to withdraw from the elections through the court the lists of candidates from the Communist Party (United Russia questioned the authenticity of the signatures submitted to the election commission) and from the New People party (according to the plaintiffs, they incorrectly executed the documents). In the first case, the United Russia itself abandoned the claim after consultations with the party leadership, and in the second case, the statement of claim was left without consideration by the city court due to the missed deadlines for filing it.

For the United Russia, the struggle for the Asbest Duma is fundamental, says political scientist Sergei Moshkin, because the 2017 elections were won by candidates from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who took 11 mandates out of 21. ten years of work in the Sverdlovsk region, he still has a certain “stigma of non-local”. Therefore, he and his team are doing everything to show that in the Middle Urals he is “one of them”. And from this point of view, Mr. Kuyvashev’s tough statement will most likely bring him political points, Mr. Moshkin suggests. In addition, the governor, who plans to win in the first round, does not need “hot spots” on the map of the region, the political scientist adds: “Political “chaos” in Asbest is a clear catalyst for the formation of such a point of tension. That is why a probable decision is being made to neglect the election of a Duma in the city, in which the majority of United Russia will be.

Artem Ryabov, Yekaterinburg