Parliamentary factions differed in their assessments of acceptable criticism of the actions of the authorities for party members

Against the backdrop of the military operation in Ukraine, Russian parliamentary parties set certain limits for the permissible criticism of the decisions of the current government by ordinary members. Each party has its own stop lines. Deputies from United Russia (ER) and the Liberal Democratic Party say that party members, by virtue of their status, should be able to evaluate the consistency of their own rhetoric of the current domestic political situation on their own. In the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and “A Just Russia – For the Truth!” (SRZP) “Kommersant” was informed that on all key issues the party issued policy statements implying the absolute solidarity of the party members. New People (NL) believe that the boundary between healthy criticism and discrediting is determined by the goal setting of the speaker.

According to the parliamentary parties, their representatives should follow their statements on the special military operation (SVO). For inaccurate words on this topic, sanctions may follow. So, on Monday, Vedomosti, citing its own sources, reported that United Russia was holding consultations on the statements of Konstantin Zatulin, the first deputy chairman of the CIS Affairs Committee. A member of the UR Duma faction, a deputy at one of the public events said that Russia had not achieved the declared goals of the NWO. The media claim that for his words, Mr. Zatulin may lose his post. Sources of “Kommersant” in the Duma faction of United Russia heard about this discussion. According to the regulations of the Duma, decisions on the dismissal of the chairmen of the State Duma committees and their deputies from office are taken by a vote of all deputies (a simple majority is needed) and are formalized by resolutions of the chamber. Mr. Zatulin himself told RBC that his remarks are “pulled out of context” and “quoted what they like”, thereby violating the “integrity of presentation”.

In a conversation with Kommersant, another deputy from United Russia, Andrei Alshevsky, said that ordinary party members can traditionally express their point of view on certain issues before a decision is made on a particular issue. In the future, party members are asked to publicly adhere to a consolidated position. “We are constantly in contact with both the party and factional leadership,” Mr. Alshevsky said. “If you want to ask if it was like in the old days, so that the party organizers publicly considered everyone’s personal file, and so on,” this was not the case. . If the leadership deems it necessary to have a conversation with colleagues (regarding the violation of party discipline.— “b”), it will do it … We all perfectly understand what is happening, and we are aware of our actions, deeds and words. And everyone is responsible for their actions and words. Moreover, we are endowed with power – we are still deputies of the State Duma.

A similar position is held in the Liberal Democratic Party. The deputy head of the LDPR faction in the State Duma, Yaroslav Nilov, told Kommersant that there are no special guidelines regarding public statements (or the criticism contained in them) in the party: “All of our deputies are adults who understand what is happening and understand what is possible speak publicly and what not, where you can add emotions and where you can’t, and how certain public statements can be used in anti-national interests.

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation outlined the boundaries of acceptable rhetoric for party members for a long time, Yury Afonin, deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, told Kommersant. According to him, all key issues related to the development of the country are stipulated by the party program and the relevant statements of the party leadership. The theses stated in this way require the speakers to stand in solidarity with them in any public presentation of their own position. “This applies not only to a special military operation, but to a whole range of issues in the development of the country, including ideological issues and issues related to the attitude to power,” Mr. Afonin pointed out. policy statements of Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov. We carried out extensive explanatory work … In public speeches, communists must proceed from the party’s position and not violate the party’s statutory norms in word, text or deed. Members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation can express their criticism during intra-party, non-public events, Mr. Afonin said. On the issues of the military operation in Ukraine, we recall that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation “is pursuing a line of solidarity with the ruling United Russia party and President Putin” (commentary to the article by the international department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece “On the imperialist war in Ukraine and the position of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation” dated May 17, 2022 of the year).

Representatives of the SRZP also refer to restrictions due to party documents. Member of the party presidium, deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Education, Yana Lantratova, said that the relevant provisions are being developed strictly within the framework of an internal party discussion. “In order to work out our position, we always listen to all the opinions presented in order to find the most reasonable point of view,” said Ms. Lantratova. “None of our deputies, regional and federal, is limited in their activities. But if someone at some point realizes that he does not share the views of the party and begins to convey completely different views to the voters, then sooner or later this person changes the party. Undoubtedly, in any party there are limits of acceptable statements for members of the party, and even more so for the deputy corps. These restrictions are due to statutory documents and ideological ones (party program, manifestos, memorandums, resolutions).” Recall that the SRHR regulated unconditional support for the military operation in Ukraine during the XII Congress (the leading body of the party) in May 2023.

The New People Party assesses the permissibility of criticism (including criticism of the army) based on the motives of those who allow it. Vladislav Davankov, Vice Speaker of the State Duma from the IP, believes that only those remarks that were made with the aim of discrediting can be considered discrediting: “The boundaries between healthy criticism and discrediting the army are simple. If the goal is to help people, then there is no need to be silent. Some do not receive payments, or there are cases of arrests for yellow and blue clothes. These are excesses on the ground that are not related to the actions of the army. Such criticism does not discredit, but helps.”

Grigory Leiba, Ksenia Veretennikova