The Ministry of Justice does not like trinity – Kommersant

On the evening of June 30, the Ministry of Justice published a list of new foreign agents, including Moscow City Duma deputy Mikhail Timonov. Thus, four deputies at the regional level have already received the status of a foreign agent, and three of them are in Moscow. The leadership of the Moscow City Duma has not yet commented on the situation, and a source close to the mayor’s office notes that the city authorities cannot evaluate the actions of the Ministry of Justice and law enforcement agencies. The expert believes that such a number of foreign agents in the Moscow City Duma is the result of the 2019 elections accompanied by protests, and the new status will greatly complicate re-election in 2024 for these deputies.

Recall that on January 20, 2023, Daria Besedina became the first deputy-foreign agent in the Moscow City Duma (MGD). Five months later, on June 23, deputy Yevgeny Stupin, who by that time had already been expelled from the party and faction, was declared a foreign agent. And the first of the current parliamentarians to the register of the Ministry of Justice in April 2022 was the leader of the Communist Party faction in the Komi State Council, Viktor Vorobyov. After that, he was expelled from the Presidium of the State Council, and in July 2022 he lost his paid position in parliament.

At first, her new status had almost no effect on the work of Darya Besedina at the Moscow State Duma, with the exception of the appearance of a special caption during the broadcasts of her speeches and the need for “agent” marking on the bills she submitted. But recently, Mrs. Besedina still got into trouble: as previously reported by Kommersant, the Ministry of Justice is trying to bring her and Viktor Vorobyov to administrative responsibility for the lack of marking in deputy requests, which may subsequently become a reason for initiating a criminal case and terminating their powers. Evgeny Stupin and Mikhail Timonov received the status of a foreign agent already during the summer holidays at the Moscow State Duma and have not yet had time to experience it in practice.

Recall that all three deputies were elected to the Moscow State Duma with the support of the project of the oppositionist Alexei Navalny “Smart Voting”, the essence of which was to call for voting for the strongest, according to its authors, oppositionist in the district. Daria Besedina defeated ex-mayor candidate Vadim Kumin (KPRF) in constituency No. 8, Evgeny Stupin defeated Maxim Shingarkin (Motherland) in constituency No. 20, and Mikhail Timonov defeated pro-government self-nominated Anton Molev in constituency No. 16. After his election, Mr. Timonov joined the Just Russia faction, consisting of three deputies, and even became its leader, but after three months he lost his post due to disagreements on the draft capital budget (Mr. Timonov voted against its adoption, and his colleagues voted for) . Since then, he formally remained in the faction, but repeatedly publicly stated that he considers himself a non-factional deputy.

All three deputies openly criticized the leadership of the city and the Moscow State Duma, and during the period of coronavirus restrictions, they fought for the return of face-to-face plenary meetings and even participated in a remote “plenary” several times, gathering in front of a closed meeting room. In the summer of 2020, they, along with other opposition colleagues, initiated a no-confidence procedure against Speaker Alexei Shaposhnikov (ER), accusing him of irresponsible behavior during the pandemic and concealment of income. Later, Messrs. Stupin and Timonov sent relevant requests to the commission for monitoring the income of deputies, but it did not find any violations in the speaker’s declaration. Finally, these deputies often acted as troublemakers at the meetings of the Moscow State Duma: for example, in May 2023, Evgeny Stupin so vigorously sought the opportunity to speak on a bill on changes in the electoral legislation that speaker Shaposhnikov was forced to stop the meeting.

A report on the website of the Ministry of Justice states that Mikhail Timonov participated in the creation and dissemination of materials by foreign agents, and also disseminated “inaccurate information” about the decisions of the authorities and their policies. Mr. Timonov told Kommersant that he did not agree with the decision of the Ministry of Justice and intended to challenge it in court. Answering the question whether it was unexpected, the deputy offered to think philosophically: “When you make a decision, you also evaluate the risks associated with it. When you decide to remain an independent politician in today’s Russia and honestly serve your constituents, you understand that you are at risk. And then it remains only to wait – it will arrive or it will not arrive. ”

Alexey Shaposhnikov has not yet commented on the situation. A Kommersant source close to the Moscow City Hall noted that the decisions of the Ministry of Justice on the three deputies are based on information from law enforcement agencies and the city authorities cannot give any assessment to this. “It means that law enforcement agencies had enough information to make an appropriate decision, regardless of the status and positions held by these people,” the interlocutor of Kommersant emphasized.

Political scientist Aleksey Makarkin recalls that the current composition of the Moscow State Duma was elected in the 2019 elections, which were accompanied by protests (the protests were caused by the refusal to register a number of opposition candidates): “These deputies were elected from different parties, but were supported by the protest electorate and then they themselves supported the protest movements in their work.” According to the expert, the new status will greatly complicate the possibility of these deputies being re-elected in 2024 (foreign agents are not forbidden to be nominated, but they must mark all their documents and campaigning, since the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia will not support a foreign agent candidate, and the nomination from Yabloko is unlikely, since the party has significantly purged its ranks. In addition, in Moscow, despite the presence of a liberal electorate, there is also a significant proportion of retired voters who “shy away” from foreign agents, Mr. Makarkin notes. At the same time, for the authorities, according to him According to him, the presence of foreign agents in the Moscow State Duma does not create reputational risks: “The risks are not related to who and what will think about it, but to two other circumstances: whether there will be protest actions now and how they will vote later.” will, and voting in the elections to the Moscow State Duma in 2024 will most likely take place according to the model of elections to the State Duma-2021, he believes.

Elena Rozhkova