Sergei Mironov re-elected as Chairman of A Just Russia

On May 20, the congress of A Just Russia re-elected Sergei Mironov as party chairman. Gennady Semigin (former leader of the Patriots of Russia) and Zakhar Prilepin (former head of Za Pravda) remained in their positions as co-chairs (since 2021) despite rumors about possible changes in the leadership of the Right Russians. The organs of the party’s collective leadership were also renewed at the congress.

For the first time in many years, one of its founders, secretary of the presidium Oleg Shein, did not join the presidium of the central council. Shortly before the congress, he announced that he would cease to lead the Astrakhan branch of A Just Russia because of disagreements with the new course of Mironov’s party. Leadership of the faction in the Legislative Assembly, he also left.

The congress was opened by party leader Mironov, who began by reading out a greeting sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin to the delegates. In his address, the head of state noted that the Right-wing Russians “are rightfully considered one of the leading political forces in the country,” which relies on “the basic principles of social justice and patriotism.”

Mironov presided over the congress, but State Duma deputy Yana Lantratova, who had previously worked in the executive branch (now joined the presidium of the Central Council of the Right Russians), was elected secretary. At the beginning of the congress, they presented party awards to the participants in the military operation, including 21 fighters of the Oplot battalion (the entourage of the congress and printing products also reminded of the hostilities).

After that, the secretary of the presidium of the central council of the party for political issues, Dmitry Gusev, said that he considers the “high intellectual potential” of the party that the majority of congress delegates have higher education: 205 out of 211. Separately, he mentioned the chairmen of regional branches in the annexed territories – from the Donetsk branch was represented Elena Drapeko (First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture), from the LPR Gennady Tarakanov, Chairman of the Council of the Slovak Republic in the Zaporozhye Region Yuri Onishchuk, and head of the Kherson branch Igor Shchepelin. Their congress participants met with applause.

After Gusev’s report on the state of the delegates, Mironov again raised the topic of the special operation – he spoke about the party’s participation in humanitarian projects, recalled that A Just Russia has been working in new regions since 2014, and others. The delegates also honored the party members who died in Donbass with a minute of silence. And Mironov proposed to nominate the current President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, for the elections in 2024, since his actions correspond to the “goals and objectives” of the party.

This is not the first such experience for the party – in 2018 it no longer nominated its own candidate, despite the fact that such an idea had opponents, including the same Shein. Participation in elections, we note, is not only political, but also practical for the party: for each vote given to its candidate, it receives one-time state funding. Probably, A Just Russia will lose it in 2024 as well.

On behalf of Prilepin, who is undergoing rehabilitation after a car explosion in the Nizhny Novgorod region, his press secretary Elizaveta Kondakova read out an appeal at the congress. In his speech, the co-chairman of the party noted that the militia must be constantly active so that the country is always ready for the “time of troubles.” In his opinion, if the militia had already existed in Russia in 2014, the country’s border would be farther now. Prilepin stressed that now the party is betting on citizens, not elites. “We are not against everything bad and for everything good. We are for the truth, for the truth of the normal majority,” Prilepin said.

He also stressed that there are currently 42 wars in the world, and those who call for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine want only “Russia’s capitulation.” The co-chairman of the party said after the attack that he would return to the war zone after his recovery.