Holidays for special purposes

Deputies of all factions of the State Duma actively visit Donbass during the parliamentary recess, as speaker Viacheslav Volodin had previously called on them to do. More often than others, United Russia (ER) reports on its assistance to the residents of the DPR and LPR, whose leadership considers this “a key area of ​​the party’s work.” In addition to sending humanitarian supplies, politicians also pursue party interests – they issue party cards in the republics and organize, so far informally, the work of party structures.

Recall that at the last meeting of the spring session in early July, Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that during his vacation (it officially began on August 1), deputies could go to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and discuss issues of assistance to Donbass there. Previously, he expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that some went there during the session, missing meetings and not properly processing these business trips. And after the closing of the session, Mr. Volodin himself paid a working visit to the Donbass, taking with him the chairmen of several committees – for the CIS (Leonid Kalashnikov), for science (Sergey Kabyshev), for construction (Sergey Pakhomov), for defense (Andrey Kartapolov), on security (Vasily Piskarev).

The Duma website lists several such United Russia summer business trips: Viktor Vodolatsky to Luhansk “to provide humanitarian assistance to the population” from August 15 to September 16 (he had previously been there in July), Dmitry Sablin in July to Donetsk “to coordinate humanitarian and volunteer assistance to the inhabitants of the republic”, Andrey Kartapolov at the end of July to Lugansk “to ensure inter-parliamentary cooperation” and the head of the health committee Dmitry Khubezov to Donetsk – at the same time and with the same goal.

As the interlocutor in EP explained to Kommersant, the party deputies helped the residents of Donbass from the very beginning of the special operation, but during the summer holidays they really began to go there more actively (in total, more than a hundred trips since March).

In the ER Telegram channel in July and August, almost all publications are devoted to the help of activists of the “Young Guard of the ER”, deputies and Secretary of the General Council of the party Andriy Turchak to the residents of Donbass and the “liberated territories of Ukraine”. The party reports on the delivery of food and medicine, the evacuation of seriously ill patients, the creation of leisure centers for children, and even daisies donated to three large families in Mariupol. The press service of the EP periodically reminds the media that “40 EP humanitarian centers operate in the Donbas and the liberated territories, more than 400 thousand people received help in them.” At the same time, United Russia members hand over their membership cards to residents.

Back in June, the head of the United Russia faction, Vladimir Vasiliev, said that 41 deputies were involved in the humanitarian mission of the party. So, the Kherson region is supervised by Igor Kastyukevich, the Kharkiv region by Artem Turov, Zaporozhye by Artem Bichaev. Mr. Turchak explained in June that “the provision of humanitarian assistance to the residents of Donbass and the liberated territories of Ukraine is a key area of ​​work for the United Russia.”

CPRF also talks in his Telegram channel about sending convoys with humanitarian aid, accompanied by deputies, but much less frequently. Deputy Alexander Yushchenko, who frequently visits Donbass, says that about 70% of the members of the faction (57 people in total) were in the LPR and DPR (among them, for example, Alexei Kurinny, Nikolai Kolomeitsev, Kazbek Taysaev). According to him, the deputies, among other things, participate in the preparation of referendums on the accession of the republics to Russia. “It has now become fashionable (to support the DPR and LPR.— “b”), but we have always said that they must be recognized,” emphasizes the communist.

Actively report on trips to the Donbass in LDPR: its delegations, led by party leader Leonid Slutsky, came there with humanitarian supplies in July and August, the heads of the Duma committees Alexei Didenko and Yaroslav Nilov, vice speaker Boris Chernyshov and others also took part in the trips. According to the LDPR Telegram channel, in August, Mr. Slutsky with a “delegation of international experts” (including actor Steven Seagal) visited the pre-trial detention center in Yelenovka, “where Ukrainian artillery destroyed a hangar with Ukrainian prisoners of war,” and met with Russian military commanders in Donetsk. In the same channel, deputy Vasily Vlasov tells how he discussed areas of cooperation with the first vice-rector of the Luhansk Pedagogical University. And “thanks to the Fund (deputy.— “b”) Boris Paikin 40 children from the LPR go on vacation to the Crimea.

Leader “Fair Russia – For Truth” Sergei Mironov wrote on his Telegram channel that, in addition to food and medicine, the party handed over quadrocopters to the LPR police, which he was asked about during his summer visit. In addition to him, in particular, deputies Dmitry Gusev, Elena Drapeko, Nikolai Burlyaev came there. As Mr. Gusev told Kommersant, in the DPR and LPR, “justice centers” have been opened on the basis of party centers for the protection of citizens, which provide legal and humanitarian assistance, and also work as reception parties.

“New people” reported in their Telegram channel only that the deputy Amir Khamitov helped to issue new documents to refugees from the LPR and DPR. “There is no need to highlight this activity of our deputies, in our opinion. We don’t need PR on the tragedy of people, ”the press service of the party explained to Kommersant. Nevertheless, they reported that deputy Anton Tkachev participated in a humanitarian rally from Moscow to the Belgorod region, Amir Khamitov, Vladimir Plyakin and Vladislav Davankov escorted humanitarian convoys, and Dmitry Pevtsov, a member of the New People faction, was on tour in Donbass together in June with other artists.

Interlocutors in the parties say that in addition to helping the residents of the DPR and LPR, the deputies organize the work of party structures there, but they have not officially announced this yet, because, according to the law, they can only be created in Russia.

“To a large extent, now this is a nationwide work – to organize assistance for the Donbass, given that local residents, Russians, are now simply fighting for their survival … Moreover, among the locals there are not only people who are close to us in spirit, but also citizens of Russia. And working with the citizens of the Russian Federation and potential voters is generally the direct responsibility of the parties, ”explains the motivation of his associates, the head of the LDPR press service, Alexander Dyupin.

For United Russia, activity in the Donbass is both a derivative of loyalty to the president, and the expectation of expanding the electorate, and strengthening the apparatus positions of individual representatives of the party leadership, political scientist Konstantin Kalachev believes: “United Russia is Putin’s party. If the president deems it necessary to preserve the Russian world and expand its borders, to protect the independence and integrity of the people’s republics, to protect the Russian language, to help solve humanitarian problems, then it is logical that United Russia should be the vanguard in the Donbass.” For the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the topic of Donbass is a continuation of the traditional ideological line, an opportunity to exploit the theme of recreating the USSR again and again, the expert notes. And for the rest of the factions, visiting the Donbass is “like a rite of passage,” he adds: “The part of the Socialist-Revolutionaries that is connected with the ideological line of Zakhar Prilepin stands apart. They have gone through this for a long time. Mironov does not want to lag behind, therefore he demonstrates jingoistic patriotism of a radical nature. All factions compete in patriotism.”

Afanasy Sborov