Sergei Udaltsov was suspected of justifying terrorism

The coordinator of the Left Front movement, Sergei Udaltsov, was detained on Thursday on suspicion of justifying terrorism and taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is providing legal support to its ally, but is refraining from making political statements for now – until the details of the case are clarified. The expert believes that the communists will not spin the story with the support of Mr. Udaltsov, but they will not renounce him either in order to avoid reputational losses in the eyes of the protest electorate.

Sergei Udaltsov’s lawyer Violetta Volkova told RIA Novosti that he was taken for questioning to the Investigative Committee in connection with the initiation of a case under the article on justification of terrorism (Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code, up to seven years in prison). His apartment was searched. The reason for the criminal prosecution was the activist’s posts on social networks, but which ones are still unknown. Over the past two months, Mr. Udaltsov, in his Telegram channel, stood up for comrades from the “Left Front” Dmitry Chuvilin and Rinat Burkeev, who were arrested in March last year in Ufa and charged with creating a terrorist community. However, they were not sentenced; the trial will begin only on January 30.

State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, wife of the coordinator of the “Left Front” Anastasia Udaltsova told Kommersant that she was away during the search and, in order to comment on the situation, she “would like to first understand what specific words written or spoken” became the reason for initiating a case .

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation promised to provide legal assistance to Sergei Udaltsov, and party lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky visited the Investigative Committee on Thursday, where he signed a non-disclosure agreement.

First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Yuri Afonin told Kommersant that the party will not make political statements until it understands the situation. “We have now involved a legal service,” the deputy emphasized. And the head of the press service of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Alexander Yushchenko reminded Kommersant that Mr. Udaltsov is not a member of the Communist Party: “Nothing is clear yet – for what and for what he is being charged. Udaltsov is not a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The statement, apparently, should be made by the Left Front.”

“Left Front” is part of the headquarters of the protest actions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In November 2023 the movement planned to hold “People’s primaries 2024” to determine a single presidential candidate from the left-patriotic opposition. It was assumed that the Left Front would propose to nominate the winner from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. But at the last minute, organizers announced that the primaries were being postponed due to interest from law enforcement agencies. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation initially distanced itself from the Left Front initiative, and on December 23 it nominated State Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov for president. Sergei Udaltsov wrote in his Telegram channel then that he had not heard of “any primary or regional cell proposing to nominate Kharitonov for president,” and assumed that such a decision of the congress “would not arouse enthusiasm either in the party itself or among allies.”

Let us recall that in the summer of 2014, Sergei Udaltsov was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for organizing riots on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow in May 2012, as well as planning similar actions in other regions of Russia. The last time the coordinator of the Left Front was detained was in December 2023 for holding an unauthorized rally on Red Square.

Political scientist Alexei Makarkin believes that in the current conditions, Sergei Udaltsov is “rather a problem” for the communists.

“The Communist Party of the Russian Federation fluctuates along with the state line and strives to adapt and minimize risks. On the one hand, it has extensive experience in reaching agreements with the authorities, on the other, it is the most oppositional of the parliamentary parties,” explains the expert. “While the Communist Party of the Russian Federation actively acted as a party that uses the opposition trend and seeks to gather various opposition forces into its electorate, Udaltsov is quite was welcomed by her leadership, because she had to work with activists of varying degrees of protest. But now different times have come, and the main thing for the Communist Party is to survive.” In addition, although Mr. Udaltsov has become more moderate, in the eyes of the Kremlin he remains “still the same,” the political scientist believes. Alexey Makarkin suggests that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will not renounce Sergei Udaltsov, since this would become a big reputational problem for it, but it will not be drawn into a large campaign to support him.

Ksenia Veretennikova